It has been more than 20 years since Rakocy modified the technology, yet there are no
known successful commercial systems based on his design. One purpose of the work highlighted
in this publication is to remedy this. However, we can now see in hindsight that aquaponics is
economically challenging. It cannot tolerate low prices for vegetables, low system biological
performance, high capital expenses, or high operational expenses and remain profitable
(Tokunaga et al.) In some Pacific Islands, vegetables are very expensive because they must be
imported by airplane. Aquaponics has the advantage of producing vegetables that taste uniquely
good and are grown organically, as fish and pesticides are incompatible. In particular, our
objectives were to develop systems that require less capital investment and to develop operating
instructions that are based on basic biology and chemistry. Systems should have clear chemical
specifications, and remedies for chemical imbalances should be provided.