how viable do you think a greenhouse in delaware is? i have been seriously contemplating it, and have a business plan/cost analysis drawn out. I know one of the most prolific greenhouse in the USA is anthony calfos in pittsburgh. I sleep with his book like its my bible. I feel delaware would be a good place becuase
real estate is cheep
winters are TOO cold
summers arent TOO hot
cooling is one of the biggest expense of running a green house, and is why many in the more tropical locations dont do so well. In delaware we would only have 2-3 months were cooling is a major problem.
Located near many major airports withing 2-3 hour drive.
no sales TAX
power is on 99% of the time
downfalls:
not much local distribution of product(but we have the internet)
The only thing i dont have priced, included in my cost analysis is a land, property taxes, permits, fees. I would need to find a viable location, with a good chunk of land. I am able to find greenhouse kits localy for less than 1000. I have plans to build cement holding tanks. Heating/cooling will be geothermal for reduced operational costs. I would need investors/loans and grants. I can get a good deal on industrial air blowers through my dads supplier, which would be used for waterflow, aeration. Also I would need someone with a decent background in chemistry that could help me with making salts, and calcium, alk maitnence on such a large scale. I would not want to test everyday, and basic equations would determine additions, which i can do, but molarity and chemical strength and all gets me(i got high before chemistry). I would love to do something of this scale, but dont have the capital, time and connections to pull this off as a one man operation. Is there anybody as passionate as me about the dream of a greenhouse? Im sure every reefer has fantasized about it, but theres fantasizing and imagining the possibility of it as a reality.
I mean hell, im sure i could throw some xenia in my swimming pool and harvest that daily :D. If i could find an out for it i could have a decent paying job Dont forget about GSP, mushrooms and all the other weeds of corals people buy, which may be the most profitable. Also i am sure there may be other markets for corals other than retailers/hobbyist. Im sure could get scientific grants, sell specimins for scientific observation, allow scientists to observe at the facility, which all could be profitable.
well enough of my rambling, lemme know what you think
I could write a book on this topic. Will have to comment later when I have more time. I WOULD not suggest jumping into this right away though as for the one success story you think you have heard there are another 20 failures.
i have read, and read, and read some more, about many failures. i would love to hear your comments as you seem very knowledgable from what i have seen. IF this ever became a possibility, I wouldn’t start until I had a market a little more solid than a website I made.
I would love to hear if someone knows of a good location or anything that would help.
I tried propogation with artificial lighting, inside of tanks and it got too expensive, and is not profitable. electric bill went from 250 to over 600 within a month, when i had a 400 gallon stock tank setup, and this was in the summer without a need for heating.
i have beat this horse to DEATH by now… jon knows! but as part of a lfs, we would LOVE to get locally cultured stuff. i truly fell that shipping/prior conditions r the biggest problem with getting in livestock. if someone was to start something close, i would love to be part of it. even move some stock fo it once its running…
Jon and i have discussed and debated this idea at length. like he said, going into the subject would literally be akin to writing a book.
:TWOCENTS its far from an ideal scenario. there are other environmentally sound, and cost efficient ways to get MUCH better results without using a greenhouse. unfortunately, they require MUCH more capital upfront.
if you havent been to Dr Macs, then its worth checking out. its a good idea to note a couple of things about his greenhouse.
1)there is a LARGE gap in quality between the frags in his GH and inside.
2)as far as i know, there arent high $ pieces in the GH. its more or lessed used to cultivate “budget” frags.
3)the GH is only one small part of his overall aquaculture model
Im not convinced that GHs cant work, i just think as it stands right now, GHs for aquaculture are more hype than substance.
If you don’t already own it purchase this book as well: http://www.practicalcoralfarming.com/
Offers some good advice and has several views in it that are different then Sprung and Calfo’s(not always easy to find). It is far from perfect. Has some fairly big mistakes in it, but if you are serious you should get as many view points as possible. The book is also less then $20.
Have you read through Steven Pro’s threads on marinedepot? Do not follow it as a model of how to do things at all. Won’t comment about this one too much in a public forum, but catch me in person sometime.
Anyone with a head on there shoulders would recommend starting slow and working your way up. If you seriously want to consider this as a biz move try doing it with a single aquarium to start. Keep track of every expense, every coral sold, and your growth records.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:6, topic:2412”]
GHs for aquaculture are more hype than substance.[/quote]
Some of the people who pushed them the hardest 3-4 years ago are now back peddling on their advice. Many who used to say things like, you can not make money with out natural sunlight, now say it would be a good idea to start off with a small model indoors and work your way up. Many people with deep pockets have set up green houses and grown… algae.
noi had to sell my macna tickets 1000 dollars, my macna fund, was stollen from me 3 days before macna while i was in the hospital with blood poisoning.
i had a 400 gallon stock tank for sps propogation, so i know the expense of indoor propogation. I did xenia and shrooms in a standard tank. i had a website up for sale and i also sold frags to bill but the expenses were too much for the income, so the venture didnt last too long. like i said, i have a pretty good business plan, and cost analysis(startup and maitnence). I have a log book for this venture. As i get new thoughts i write in it, and also have a detailed list of supplies, equipment, chemicals, etc… and their costs.
it is always good to get a new perspective on things so thats why i posted here.
if anyone is interested in talking further into this, we could have a face to face convo. I have everything pretty well optomized for the lowest startup, and running costs, it involves alot of DIY on equipment.
the plan includes a 6 month adjustment to artifical lighting for corals. the use of the sun/moon for light is for free light :D, and also to help encourage different means of reproduction than fragmentation, budding, mitosis, and other asexual means of propogation. some things such as calfo’s event with the caspian jellyfish would have ben impossible without the stimuli from natural sun/moon light. i feel that the lunar/solar cycle i a big stimulus along with tidal stimulus on coral reproduction. aquaculture will not become self sustaining IMHO untill more viable means of reproduction are established. another opinion of mine is that coral harvesting is going to be shutdown by our governments soon as the deteriation of the reefs become worse. its best to jump into a business that may/will be booming before S@!T hits the fan
ken, pretty much my plan. i know how to install a geothermal heatpump so that should save me around 10 grand on labor. i was gonna go a little nicer on the green house and get dual layered poly carb for extra insulation. but it is still pretty cheap. throw some ridge vents on the one side and fans on the other side hooked up to a thermostat, to assist in cooling
Dont forget about GSP, mushrooms and all the other weeds of corals people buy, which may be the most profitable. Also i am sure there may be other markets for corals other than retailers/hobbyist. Im sure could get scientific grants, sell specimins for scientific observation, allow scientists to observe at the facility, which all could be profitable.