The Darkside of Aquaponics

This is a link to a discussion I started about the reality of aquaponic gardening. 
If you are thinking you would like to design an aquaponic system, and grow and abundance of food in a perfect nutrient cycle - Then READ THIS FIRST.

What about those claims of "Lettuce in 5 weeks"?  Is it true? 

Lettuce at 52 days Utility cost $67.00

Lettuce at 58 days no supplemental light.

LOL... I guess you could have eaten these plants at 5 weeks.

The aquaponics industry is full of wild claims.  You may have heard about the balance aquaponics brings to gardening.  Supposedly the fish food will provide all the nutrients save maybe the chelated iron.  If so why is there so much discussion about balancing nutrients within the system?

The claims that vegitables will grow faster stronger more disease resistant are hype.  Aquaponics is not that simple. There areaquaponic farms that consistently produce above average crops, but be aware they do it with professional farming techniques and pay close attention to the details.  It's like anything else; it only works if you are well trained to do the job.

So you say "I'll take a class and become a professional aquaponic farmer".   I'm not going to tell you all these classes are a sham, but the truth is most who teach aquapponics do so to make ends meet.  They often don't even run a profitable aquaponics farm.   This industry is so new that there are no real credentials.  When's the last time you heard someone say they were majoring in aquaponics?  Beware of the scams.

You may be wondering why I still practice aquaponics.  It's certainly not for profit, or to lower my food bill.  I simply like doing it, but after one year I have decided to sell my fish, and convert to Bioponics.  I've also decided to plant with the seasons and not expect much growth during the Winter.  No more heating bills. No more lighting bills. No more fish food.