David, Thanks again for your offer to come by while in Columbia. I regret that I won't be available. Please congratulate your son and thank him for his sacrifice and commitment to our country. Steve

Well if you are getting a heavy accumulation of fish poop in your raft beds, then you probably need better filtration before your raft beds or less fish.

I'm not sure if there are any detritivores that would eat huge enough ammounts of fish poop from a raft bed.

However, gammarus might be able to help you some http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammarus

Hey David, I just have two aquariums ornamental fish: Angels, Zebras, Cats and fin tails (algae eaters).  One tank is 10 gal and the other is 30.  I've had organic gardens my entire life until this year.  I recently had to sell my house and move to an apartment.  No outside room to experiment.  Not many jobs for administrative assistance these days.  I'm still diligently looking for temporary so I can stash away $$ for the move.  I too want to get totally involved in setting up aquaponics at schools and helping to educate students about it.  Show Low will be within 30-60 minute drive of where we probably will be so I think it would be cool to work help each other launch.  If everything happens how I want, May will be when we can start building and installing everything.  Keep me posted and I'll do the same.

David,  I will need a lot of assistance.  I will be attending two SCORE workshops, one related to all aspects of putting together a business plan and the other for managing your cash flow.  I will get Will's book today. Glad to hear first hand that it was helpful.  I'm going to try to plan a drive out to Arizona hopefully before winter, say late October and I would love to include a tour of your aquaponics set up and of anyone else's if possible.  I would eventually like to do this on a large scale so I will contact Dr. Brooks. Thanks again.

Hey David, Thanks for the add. Glad to connect with someone local to AZ. You mentioned you have a connection with someone for all size Tilapia. What breed and do you know what their asking price is?

What are your thoughts regarding the different species of Tilapia?

Thanks again

hi david sorry i missed you my life has been all over the place and no Internet

Hi David ,  Thank  you  for  your  friendship,  my  wife Dawn Marie and I  welcome  you with open arms. We are new to aqua farming we have been doing research on this project for about a year. We like to spend our time before we spend our money ha ha. We live at the crossroads of Show Low and Vernon ,we have two and a half acres and we have been here since 2004. I belong to a few farming co-ops and I will start a business class at the Small business administration in Show Low in the fall. I expect to be growing late this year and selling next year . We have a small shed 15 ft. by 30 ft. We will start small and grow from there.We are both retired ... Time on our hands ...We are just beginning,..We pray for guidance, We are pleased to be a part of this new way of life for all, Thanks, Danny & Dawn Lopez