Flourish Farms is a 3,200 sq ft urban aquaponics farm run by Colorado Aquaponics and has been operating at the GrowHaus in NE Denver since 2012. Ownership is proud to announce a positive net profit for 2015. While our farm is small we run a highly efficient operation minimizing expenses in areas such as packaging, distribution and labor. Farm revenues are based on fish and plant revenues with less than 2% coming from tours (we provide free tours twice a week and only charge for private tour groups). Not included in the revenue is the fact that the farm donates 10% of its produce to the GrowHaus to support its food basket distribution program so we consider it an added bonus that we are able to fulfill our donation goals and still remain profitable.

What makes the farm successful is a focus on 6 to 8 core products that we can consistently grow really well week in and week out. The farm serves between 8 to 10 local restaurants and markets each week which are all located within five miles of the farm. We perform our own distribution twice a week which allows us to stay in close contact with our chefs. Maintaining good relationships with our restaurants and providing a high quality product are key factors to the success of the farm.

The farm is run by one full time employee who manages day to day operations including product harvesting, seeding, delivery, pest management, amendments, fish feeding and general administrative functions. Flourish pays rent and utility expenses to the GrowHaus for use of the greenhouse.

We are looking forward to another great year and we expect continued increases particularly in fish revenue as we have several hundred fish that are now ready for harvest in early 2016. These fish include a population of approximately 200 hybrid striped bass averaging about 2 lbs each, and over 450 Tilapia between .5 to 2 lbs. We will be aggressively selling fish to our neighbors and restaurants over the coming months.

JD Sawyer of Colorado Aquaponics returns to the Aquaponics Podcast! JD is Owner and CEO of Colorado Aquaponics which started in 2009. JD shares what he has done with decoupling the fish tanks from the grow beds in an aquaponic system, and various other topics.  http://aquaponicsfarmer.com/2015/04/05/appodcast015/

Some of things we talk about are:

• Aquaponics System Decoupling
• Emergency backup oxygen supply system for fish
• Solenoid valve in back up air supply
• Idea for having fish and grow space in separate buildings
• Risk management for aquaponics farms
• 4 foot grow beds vs. 8 foot beds
• Micro greens
• Improving grow space
• Mental Health Center of Denver Project

Aquaponics is the raising of fish and plants in recirculating systems whereby the fish provide nutrients to the plants and the beneficial bacteria and plants help to return the water clean to the fish. It’s a highly productive eco-system with many extraordinary benefits, most notably its ability to conserve water with minimal if any discharge.  While there is plenty of information out there about the benefits of aquaponics, let’s talk about some specifics regarding system design that could be particularly important for mitigating some of the risks and challenges often found with aquaponics. To provide some context and scale, I’m using my aquaponics facility, Flourish Farms which occupies a 3,200 sq ft greenhouse. However, these ideas are applicable to any scale system.

When the fish system is running on its own loop, the hydroponic system can also continue flowing via its own pump. In our farm, water pumps from the last deep water culture trough back to the first trough maintaining continuous flow through all four troughs. This can also be run through a second sump. 

·         Power failures and a lack of good backup, monitoring and alerting systems.

·         Loss of water due to a blockage, overflow, rupture or operator error.

·         Poor temperature control and water quality management. Variability in temperature can be highly stressful on fish and if you are not able to properly control temperature, fish may stop eating. If your fish stop eating this affects the nutrient dynamics in your system.

·         Fish disease can also creep up quickly if the temperature, water quality and health of the fish are not being regularly monitored or you are not quarantining fish upon arrival from other sources.

As is often the case in commercial aquaponics, the majority of the revenue is in the plants so having your plant system entirely dependent on your fish system creates a single point of failure scenario which can be avoidable in a decoupled system.  If you have an issue with your fish system for any of the reasons cited above or more, you can still continue to run your hydroponic system on an organic nutrient solution so that you are able to maintain your production crop, your customers and your revenue stream.

When reconnecting the two systems, it will be important to ensure ammonia and nitrites have been fully oxidized and are at safe levels for the fish. Water temperature, pH, Alkalinity and other factors affecting water quality may not be properly aligned between the fish and plant system so adjustments to these levels may be necessary to make a seamless transition and minimize stress on your fish. There may also be other elements of the hydroponic nutrient solution that could be problematic for fish at certain levels. For example we raise hybrid striped bass which are sensitive to potassium.  It is always important to do your homework when you are considering adding something to your aquaponics environment. Thinning out the solution and exchanging with fresh water may be required to help reduce any potential toxicity and allow you to safely reconnect both environments. 

JD Sawyer, Colorado Aquaponics