INTENSIVE COMMERCIAL AQUAPONICS SYSTEM DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION LEARNING EXPERIENCE  

Happy Fish Aquaponics is a family farm located just north of Minneapolis/Saint Paul Minnesota.  We are an intensive commercial aquaponics farm that is just finishing up construction.  Happy Fish Aquaponics (HFA) consists of a 5,000 square foot pole building and a 16,000 square foot greenhouse.  The aquaponics system consists of over 12,000 gallons of aquaculture tanks and over 8,000 square feet of deep water culture grow space with room to add media beds and Dutch buckets.

Construction began in the summer of 2014 and most of the labor for the entire project was performed by us and our families.  The first summer was dedicated to constructing the pole building and its utilities, e.g. well, septic system, heating and plumbing.  The summer of 2015 was dedicated to building the Poly-Tex greenhouse and the subsequent winter was spent installing the electrical system, grow lights, fans, heaters and greenhouse controller.  This summer was dedicated to putting together the actual aquaponics system.  

HFA worked with a consultant and supplier to help us design our aquaponics system.  We had taken 2 aquaponics courses, the Nelson and Pade course, and the Pentaire Aquatic Eco course.  After having taken both courses, each offering a different approach to commercial aquaponics, we decided to build a more automated system that will allow for us to easily increase production without needing more labor.  

We both do not have a background in aquaponics and this is our first venture in the agricultural industry.  There exists a very big learning curve.  All throughout the construction process, every day was a learning experience.  Looking back, there are many things we would do differently in respect to the construction process and system design.  There were many challenges we had to overcome, including breaking very expensive equipment.  However, now that we are coming to the end of this phase of our project, we are very proud of our accomplishments and look forward to being a part of the aquaponics industry and helping to expand it.  We hope that our experiences can help others save time and headaches.