Quote Originally Posted by Neil H
While I am not an active member [...]
YOU ARE NOW!

I would like to address some of the things you said in parts as your post is quite comprehensive. First of all, welcome to the forum. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we are all very happy you have decided to join our discussion, and wow what a discussion.


Quote Originally Posted by Neil H
Of course the final closing of the loop is to eliminate costly fish foods, while I will not discuss this in this first post, I believe that the trend towards protein recycling and the use of the humble maggot will ultimately solve this issue.
You have made 2 excellent points here. First, the rising cost of fish food due to the heavy reliance on fish meal as the protein source for fish feeds coupled with the rising cost of energy results in a rising cost of fish feed worldwide. The associated cost increase in fish production significantly narrows the profit margins attainable for low to medium value fish thereby eliminating the viability of some business models and, in some cases, in entire geopolitical areas of the world.

Second, any type of nutrient recycling in a closed system needs to approach high efficiency to become part of a commercially viable model. The spirit of the aquaponics movement aims to do just this. The BIG IDEA here is that we need to turn byproducts into coproducts in our production systems. This is not limited to agricultural systems. This philosophy has been at the heart of human progress and innovation from before recorded history. It's nothing new. What is new are the scientific discoveries and their subsequent applications to technology that fuels all of this "tinkering" we are all doing. For example, a lot of ideas I have independently come up with that seem so amazing and revolutionary often become reality in just a few years. Someone else figures it out just the same or sometimes in a better way! There are millions of people out there with the right education and intellect to come up with the best ideas of our time. To draw analogy, Einstein was just the guy that got off his butt and published his papers and let the world know "HEY WE CAN DO THIS!" In no way was he the only human being during his time that had figured out or would have figured out the same ideas. Similarly, we all share the same thoughts and concerns for this world and I hope we can all move forward together so that our children and our children's children will have a chance to carry on their fathers' work.