The system you’ve been reading about will be auctioned off at the September 2011 Aquaponics Association Conference this weekend on Saturday, the evening of 17 September.
My problem? How to get this sucker from Northern Virginia to Orlando, Florida.
Someone else’s problem? How to get this sucker for Orlando, Florida, to their place.
I figured the bidding pool would shrink significantly if the system was too big to fit in a standard vehicle. So here we go, packing the bits up and loading them into the back of my minivan. I left both seats in the van, since there’s no guarantee someone wanting to take this home will have thought to remove seats from their van.
It can work. You can take the 365 Aquaponics System with you – an investment you wouldn’t have to leave behind if life turned upside down. You’d have to leave the most the water behind, as well as the fish. You might even want to gift all but one grow bed worth of media to a friend. But at the end of the day, you could pick up and take it with you.
I look forward to seeing many of you in Orlando, at the Aquaponics Conference. But the anticipation can’t be better than the friendships and memories I’ll have to look back on when it’s all done.
Here's some more pictures:
Hi Meg,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed sitting by you at the conference. Just a note - the Rubbermaid troughs are impossible to purchase without paying an enormous amount for shipping.
I found one on Ebay that said $15 shipping, so I ordered it. I then received an invoice for another $120 so I cancelled the order.
I have found no local sources for this product.
It is frustrating to say the least.
Jimmie
Have you checked local agricultural stores for tanks? There are various other brands/manufacturers that produce something very like what Rubbermaid makes.
ReplyDeleteAnother alternative is to plumb together smaller bins - folks do this with halved 55-gallon drums, and I've seen a few systems where they take sturdy plastic bins and plumb them together. Here's a thread at aquaponics.hq of discussing a slimline system and video of another design using Rubbermaid bins bought at local hardware stores.
I got those exact same "stock tanks" (water troughs)at the local feed store for less than the classical blue barrels that everyone starts with
ReplyDeleteVery cool that you were able to find these locally and inexpensively.
ReplyDeleteI've also seen the 300 gallon Rubbermaid tanks online at Ace Hardware - I think the deal is they will deliver it to your local Ace Hardware store, and you don't have to pay additional shipping. For a 300 gallon tank, you have to either have a huge truck or strap it on top of your car...