GLOBAL
AQUATICS
| FEQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |
|
1. What is meant by Scale of Economics in an aquaculture system?
A. Scale of economics in the simplest terms means the number of pounds of fish or quantity of fish needed to be produced and sold
at the current market price to pay all cost of the operation and make enough profit for the owner- operator. In general the smaller
the system, the more it costs to build and operate per pound produced. This is 4 because certain fixed costs remain the same no
matter how many pounds are produced. For instance, assuming that the owner of a system pays an employee $24,000 per year to
work for him. If the employee is operating just one tank of fish, then the cost per tank per year is $24,000. However, if that same
employee is operating 24 tanks then the annual cost equals $1,000 dollars per year per tank. The same goes for equipment installed
in a system. If, for instance, one filter unit costing $6,000 will operate from one to ten tanks of fish and only one tank is installed, and
the tank will produce 6,000 lbs. of fish per year, then the initial cost of the filtration is $1.00 per pound for the first year's production.
However, if ten tanks are installed the initial cost of the filtration is spread over all ten tanks and the cost is only $ .10 per pound of
annual production. In other words, the more a system produces, the less per pound it costs to build, operate and maintain it, thereby
creating a higher margin of profit. It is for this reason that we explain that a system must produce approximately 200,000 lb. per year
for the owner/operator to pay all bills and still make a good living exclusively from fish sales from the system.
2. Are there any benefits of using rectangular tanks over round tanks?
A. We think so. It must be remembered why anyone uses round tanks in the first place. A round tank is really just a cylinder holding
the water. Because water exerts pressure equally in all directions when placed in a cylinder, round water vessels can be
constructed very cheaply using the minimum thickness of materials. The advantages of this fact is, round tanks can be transported
to a site and quickly set up. However, this convenience is the only quality of a round tank and this lends no particular advantage
where production is concerned. It should be remembered that it is production that pays the bills and the fact that the tanks were
easy to install should not be allowed to over shadow future performance. The most obvious first drawback to a round tank is they
are space intensive. A round tank in a rectangular room means there is going to be a lot of wasted space in that room in the corners
that the tank does not cover. Another draw back is the fact that a round tank has no difference in length or width, therefore water
circulation can only occur in a circular motion. Many early designers use to explain that this circular motion was the most effective
way to remove solids, because the vortex in the center acted like the vortex in a toilet. They obviously flunked out of physics class
because the two vortexes are caused by different dynamic effects. In a toilet the vortex is caused by gravity. This occurs when the
valve is flushed there is a sudden opening at the bottom of the bowl. As the water drops through the hole, gravity and the Earth's
rotation take control and causes the water to swirl around the void left by the water that has already escaped through the bottom.
This causes a partial vacuum at that point and sucks everything into it. In a round tank the circular motion may resemble a toilet
vortex, but instead of being caused by gravity and a partial vacuum, it is being caused by water flow from a pump. This water flow is
greater on the outer edge of the tank then in the center, therefore a certain amount of the solid waste in the tank will travel towards
the center. However, the problem is, waste deposited along the outer edge of the tank may have to orbit the tank hundreds of times
before it finally makes its way to the center. In the mean time it is being churned and homogenized the entire time and can cause
water quality problems as it slowly disolves. In a rectangular tank the water flow is generally in a straight line from one end to the
other. This would mean that a solid deposited in one end of a 25 foot long tank can only travel 25 feet, and in one direction, before it
hits the bottom solids trap. In most system designs the time required for the trip may only be a matter of minutes. Therefore the solid
is removed in it's entirety before it has a chance to dissolve in the water column and cause water quality problems.
3. Since the S-92 system utilizes a central filtration system for all tanks in the system, doesn't this mean if one tank of fish get a
disease eventually all of the tanks will get it?
A. Not at all. First it must be understood what causes a fish or any other living animal, including humans to get sick. What we call
sickness simply means that for some reason the conditions got right for some virus or bacteria to attack a fish. Just as people are
constantly surrounded every minute of every day by cold germs and other viruses, the same is true within a fish culture system. A
normally healthy person has enough body strength and immunities to continually ward these viruses off. As we know, in cold, wet
weather a person is more likely to catch a cold because the adverse weather and climate conditions can stress a person's immune
system and leave them vulnerable to be attack by these pathogens. Many people move to more favorable climate areas to lower
their chances of getting sick. The same is true within any fish culture system whether it be ponds or tanks. The fish are constantly
surrounded by what are referred to as, "Opportunistic pathogens". These "Bugs" are just waiting for a fish's immune system to
weaken, for any reason at all, and then they attack the fish and take over. The way to prevent a fish from weakening is to prevent
stress. Stress in a fish can come from a number of things including poor water quality, sudden changes in temperatures, poor
oxygen levels, poor surrounding environmental conditions such as outside noises or sudden changes in lighting levels, and a host
of other conditions adverse to the fishes peace of mind. We have, during experiments on the subject, taken several dozen
deliberately stressed and weakened fish and placed them into a tank of 2000 healthy fish. Within days the stressed, sick fish were
dead and floating on the surface, but the healthy resident fish, who had not been stressed, continued on as though nothing had
happened. Once again, the most important factor to consider concerning fish health is, "Keep the fish happy".
4. Are expensive computer and monitoring systems really necessary in fish culture?
A. No. But then again, the insurance on your house is not really necessary for the purpose of living in the house either. However, if
your house burns down and you have insurance, then it turns out to be a good investment. Computer monitoring and controls serve
two main purposes. First of all, computer monitoring allows the operator to evaluate the conditions of the system at all times, even
when he is not at the facility. By watching trends he can keep the environmental conditions at a level that will eliminate the stresses
mentioned above. Also, by keeping track of the conditions he can get maximum growth and production performance from the
culture and keep his operating cost in line. However, there are many people operating systems without this type of monitoring who
do very well because they spend a lot of time on the job working with the fish. For a hard working, dedicated owner/ operator this is
acceptable. However, in a situation where the owner is depending on employees who may not be quite so dedicated and are only
waiting for quiting time each day, it pays to have a computer keep records. One part of controls that a serious operator cannot work
without is a monitored alarm system. This is like the insurance policy. Since the system is made up of many different life support
devises it is imperative that these be watched at all times, twenty four hours a day. Obviously, it is not possible to keep a human eye
on the conditions at all times, therefore we must depend on sensors to watch for us. These sensors usually watch only oxygen and
water levels. The first time the sensors warn the operator in the middle of the night that the oxygen levels in a tank have dropped
too low they will have paid for themselves by preventing the loss of a valuable crop.
5. What type of fish should I raise?
A. Aquaculture is basically a manufacturing business. As with any manufacturing business a person must produce a product that he
feels has a good demand in the market place and will produce a good return profit. Aquaculture is generally spoken about in the
press as the production of food fish. However, aquaculture includes anything that is raised in a water environment. As far as finfish
are concerned, they can range from food fish for human consumption, ornamental fish for home aquariums, or baitfish for the sport
fishing industry. It is up to the individual operator to examine the local market potential and determine what area he feels would be
best to supply. One thing that many people ask about are various types of known food fishes that are caught in the wild such as
flounder and cod, etc. These deep water ocean fish are not now, and probably will never be the most productive animals to raise in
captivity. There are many fish such as Stripped-Bass, Tilapia, Catfish, Trout, etc., that have proven to be good species to grow in
artificial environments. It is these species that should be concentrated on. As aquaculture slowly replaces wild catch species as the
main fish supply source, consumers will eventually find preferences for one or two main types of aquacultured fish and it is these
species that will dominate the market and become a staple in the family diet. At this time the Tilapia shows great promise of
becoming the dominant species (although this could change someday with the development of a new breed). In some areas
Stripped Bass have a good market and of course the Catfish has continued to have increase demand each year. For many
owner/operators, especially those doing their own marketing, it may be wise to grow several different species of fish in order to
better serve their customer's request.
6. How much money can I make in aquaculture?
A.The answer can vary greatly depending on many factors, none of which necessarily have anything to do with volume produced. As
far as volume is concerned there are many records of systems being built that were designed to produce millions of pounds per
year, but they proved to be a financial failure. On the other hand, there are hundreds of small operations run by family members that
are a financial success. First it must be recognized that there are may layers to the marketing of fish to the consumer. A farmer
selling his product to a wholesaler will generally receive only about 50% of the amount that a store will eventually sell it to an end
user for. This is because both the wholesaler and the grocer have added a percentage markup to the product. The highest profit for
a farmer will be when he sells directly to the end user, be it a housewife shopping for the family or a restaurant owner buying for his
menu. It is the same with baitfish and ornamental fish. A sport fisherman may pay $3.00 per dozen for bait minnows from a dealer who
paid a farmer $2.00 per pound for the minnows which contained 36 or 50 per pound. Therefore, a farmer selling directly to the
fisherman is going to make more money. It is exactly the same for ornamental fish growers. For farmers growing 100,000 lb. of fish
per year the buyer is usually a wholesaler. The wholesaler will further distribute the product and perhaps do the processing. Under
these circumstances the farmer can generally expect to profit between $.25 and $.50 per pound for his product. He can further
enhance his profits by selling a portion of his product direct to the end users such as restaurants who will come to the farm and
make the purchase. This is where the scale of economics comes into play. Based on the above mentioned profit per pound, a farmer
producing 200,000 pounds per year can achieve a take home pay of $50,000 plus per year. Of course another factor concerns the
efficiency of the operation. A farmer running a poorly managed operation with a large mortality rate or feed waste is growing to lose
several cents on every pound of fish he produces.
7. I have an idea for my own design. Will any of the componets found in the S-92 System work for me?
A.In most cases the answer is yes. But the question is, what have you designed? If your new design includes a complete filtration
system, then of course you don't need ours. However, if you are in need of bio-filtration, then we can help you. It would be the same
with the oxygen injection system. many of our componets can be retro fitted around a different design. We recomend that if you are
designing a system of your own you send us the details (all information is confidential) and we will evaluate the design and tell you if
any of our componets will enhance it. (Yes, we have seen many unique designs that we could not use anything we make) . This
evaluation service is free for the first inquiry. The same thing goes for people who have older systems and who would like to
up-grade them.
A. Scale of economics in the simplest terms means the number of pounds of fish or quantity of fish needed to be produced and sold
at the current market price to pay all cost of the operation and make enough profit for the owner- operator. In general the smaller
the system, the more it costs to build and operate per pound produced. This is 4 because certain fixed costs remain the same no
matter how many pounds are produced. For instance, assuming that the owner of a system pays an employee $24,000 per year to
work for him. If the employee is operating just one tank of fish, then the cost per tank per year is $24,000. However, if that same
employee is operating 24 tanks then the annual cost equals $1,000 dollars per year per tank. The same goes for equipment installed
in a system. If, for instance, one filter unit costing $6,000 will operate from one to ten tanks of fish and only one tank is installed, and
the tank will produce 6,000 lbs. of fish per year, then the initial cost of the filtration is $1.00 per pound for the first year's production.
However, if ten tanks are installed the initial cost of the filtration is spread over all ten tanks and the cost is only $ .10 per pound of
annual production. In other words, the more a system produces, the less per pound it costs to build, operate and maintain it, thereby
creating a higher margin of profit. It is for this reason that we explain that a system must produce approximately 200,000 lb. per year
for the owner/operator to pay all bills and still make a good living exclusively from fish sales from the system.
2. Are there any benefits of using rectangular tanks over round tanks?
A. We think so. It must be remembered why anyone uses round tanks in the first place. A round tank is really just a cylinder holding
the water. Because water exerts pressure equally in all directions when placed in a cylinder, round water vessels can be
constructed very cheaply using the minimum thickness of materials. The advantages of this fact is, round tanks can be transported
to a site and quickly set up. However, this convenience is the only quality of a round tank and this lends no particular advantage
where production is concerned. It should be remembered that it is production that pays the bills and the fact that the tanks were
easy to install should not be allowed to over shadow future performance. The most obvious first drawback to a round tank is they
are space intensive. A round tank in a rectangular room means there is going to be a lot of wasted space in that room in the corners
that the tank does not cover. Another draw back is the fact that a round tank has no difference in length or width, therefore water
circulation can only occur in a circular motion. Many early designers use to explain that this circular motion was the most effective
way to remove solids, because the vortex in the center acted like the vortex in a toilet. They obviously flunked out of physics class
because the two vortexes are caused by different dynamic effects. In a toilet the vortex is caused by gravity. This occurs when the
valve is flushed there is a sudden opening at the bottom of the bowl. As the water drops through the hole, gravity and the Earth's
rotation take control and causes the water to swirl around the void left by the water that has already escaped through the bottom.
This causes a partial vacuum at that point and sucks everything into it. In a round tank the circular motion may resemble a toilet
vortex, but instead of being caused by gravity and a partial vacuum, it is being caused by water flow from a pump. This water flow is
greater on the outer edge of the tank then in the center, therefore a certain amount of the solid waste in the tank will travel towards
the center. However, the problem is, waste deposited along the outer edge of the tank may have to orbit the tank hundreds of times
before it finally makes its way to the center. In the mean time it is being churned and homogenized the entire time and can cause
water quality problems as it slowly disolves. In a rectangular tank the water flow is generally in a straight line from one end to the
other. This would mean that a solid deposited in one end of a 25 foot long tank can only travel 25 feet, and in one direction, before it
hits the bottom solids trap. In most system designs the time required for the trip may only be a matter of minutes. Therefore the solid
is removed in it's entirety before it has a chance to dissolve in the water column and cause water quality problems.
3. Since the S-92 system utilizes a central filtration system for all tanks in the system, doesn't this mean if one tank of fish get a
disease eventually all of the tanks will get it?
A. Not at all. First it must be understood what causes a fish or any other living animal, including humans to get sick. What we call
sickness simply means that for some reason the conditions got right for some virus or bacteria to attack a fish. Just as people are
constantly surrounded every minute of every day by cold germs and other viruses, the same is true within a fish culture system. A
normally healthy person has enough body strength and immunities to continually ward these viruses off. As we know, in cold, wet
weather a person is more likely to catch a cold because the adverse weather and climate conditions can stress a person's immune
system and leave them vulnerable to be attack by these pathogens. Many people move to more favorable climate areas to lower
their chances of getting sick. The same is true within any fish culture system whether it be ponds or tanks. The fish are constantly
surrounded by what are referred to as, "Opportunistic pathogens". These "Bugs" are just waiting for a fish's immune system to
weaken, for any reason at all, and then they attack the fish and take over. The way to prevent a fish from weakening is to prevent
stress. Stress in a fish can come from a number of things including poor water quality, sudden changes in temperatures, poor
oxygen levels, poor surrounding environmental conditions such as outside noises or sudden changes in lighting levels, and a host
of other conditions adverse to the fishes peace of mind. We have, during experiments on the subject, taken several dozen
deliberately stressed and weakened fish and placed them into a tank of 2000 healthy fish. Within days the stressed, sick fish were
dead and floating on the surface, but the healthy resident fish, who had not been stressed, continued on as though nothing had
happened. Once again, the most important factor to consider concerning fish health is, "Keep the fish happy".
4. Are expensive computer and monitoring systems really necessary in fish culture?
A. No. But then again, the insurance on your house is not really necessary for the purpose of living in the house either. However, if
your house burns down and you have insurance, then it turns out to be a good investment. Computer monitoring and controls serve
two main purposes. First of all, computer monitoring allows the operator to evaluate the conditions of the system at all times, even
when he is not at the facility. By watching trends he can keep the environmental conditions at a level that will eliminate the stresses
mentioned above. Also, by keeping track of the conditions he can get maximum growth and production performance from the
culture and keep his operating cost in line. However, there are many people operating systems without this type of monitoring who
do very well because they spend a lot of time on the job working with the fish. For a hard working, dedicated owner/ operator this is
acceptable. However, in a situation where the owner is depending on employees who may not be quite so dedicated and are only
waiting for quiting time each day, it pays to have a computer keep records. One part of controls that a serious operator cannot work
without is a monitored alarm system. This is like the insurance policy. Since the system is made up of many different life support
devises it is imperative that these be watched at all times, twenty four hours a day. Obviously, it is not possible to keep a human eye
on the conditions at all times, therefore we must depend on sensors to watch for us. These sensors usually watch only oxygen and
water levels. The first time the sensors warn the operator in the middle of the night that the oxygen levels in a tank have dropped
too low they will have paid for themselves by preventing the loss of a valuable crop.
5. What type of fish should I raise?
A. Aquaculture is basically a manufacturing business. As with any manufacturing business a person must produce a product that he
feels has a good demand in the market place and will produce a good return profit. Aquaculture is generally spoken about in the
press as the production of food fish. However, aquaculture includes anything that is raised in a water environment. As far as finfish
are concerned, they can range from food fish for human consumption, ornamental fish for home aquariums, or baitfish for the sport
fishing industry. It is up to the individual operator to examine the local market potential and determine what area he feels would be
best to supply. One thing that many people ask about are various types of known food fishes that are caught in the wild such as
flounder and cod, etc. These deep water ocean fish are not now, and probably will never be the most productive animals to raise in
captivity. There are many fish such as Stripped-Bass, Tilapia, Catfish, Trout, etc., that have proven to be good species to grow in
artificial environments. It is these species that should be concentrated on. As aquaculture slowly replaces wild catch species as the
main fish supply source, consumers will eventually find preferences for one or two main types of aquacultured fish and it is these
species that will dominate the market and become a staple in the family diet. At this time the Tilapia shows great promise of
becoming the dominant species (although this could change someday with the development of a new breed). In some areas
Stripped Bass have a good market and of course the Catfish has continued to have increase demand each year. For many
owner/operators, especially those doing their own marketing, it may be wise to grow several different species of fish in order to
better serve their customer's request.
6. How much money can I make in aquaculture?
A.The answer can vary greatly depending on many factors, none of which necessarily have anything to do with volume produced. As
far as volume is concerned there are many records of systems being built that were designed to produce millions of pounds per
year, but they proved to be a financial failure. On the other hand, there are hundreds of small operations run by family members that
are a financial success. First it must be recognized that there are may layers to the marketing of fish to the consumer. A farmer
selling his product to a wholesaler will generally receive only about 50% of the amount that a store will eventually sell it to an end
user for. This is because both the wholesaler and the grocer have added a percentage markup to the product. The highest profit for
a farmer will be when he sells directly to the end user, be it a housewife shopping for the family or a restaurant owner buying for his
menu. It is the same with baitfish and ornamental fish. A sport fisherman may pay $3.00 per dozen for bait minnows from a dealer who
paid a farmer $2.00 per pound for the minnows which contained 36 or 50 per pound. Therefore, a farmer selling directly to the
fisherman is going to make more money. It is exactly the same for ornamental fish growers. For farmers growing 100,000 lb. of fish
per year the buyer is usually a wholesaler. The wholesaler will further distribute the product and perhaps do the processing. Under
these circumstances the farmer can generally expect to profit between $.25 and $.50 per pound for his product. He can further
enhance his profits by selling a portion of his product direct to the end users such as restaurants who will come to the farm and
make the purchase. This is where the scale of economics comes into play. Based on the above mentioned profit per pound, a farmer
producing 200,000 pounds per year can achieve a take home pay of $50,000 plus per year. Of course another factor concerns the
efficiency of the operation. A farmer running a poorly managed operation with a large mortality rate or feed waste is growing to lose
several cents on every pound of fish he produces.
7. I have an idea for my own design. Will any of the componets found in the S-92 System work for me?
A.In most cases the answer is yes. But the question is, what have you designed? If your new design includes a complete filtration
system, then of course you don't need ours. However, if you are in need of bio-filtration, then we can help you. It would be the same
with the oxygen injection system. many of our componets can be retro fitted around a different design. We recomend that if you are
designing a system of your own you send us the details (all information is confidential) and we will evaluate the design and tell you if
any of our componets will enhance it. (Yes, we have seen many unique designs that we could not use anything we make) . This
evaluation service is free for the first inquiry. The same thing goes for people who have older systems and who would like to
up-grade them.