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General => General discussion => Topic started by: Sam on 08 October 2013, 11:23
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Hi, I hope you don't mind me popping in here as I'm just wanting some thoughts on a final year design project at university.
I'm researching aquaponic growing systems (will explain further down) and require some insights from people exactly like yourselves.
Aquaponics is really simple. You have a fish tank with goldfish, turtles, tilapia or any other fish really. Linked to this, you have a small pump as you would in any fish tank that pumps water to plants growing in a growing medium (think those tiny red stones that nearly all shopping centers in the 90s used to 'grow' fake plants in). The plants extract the nutrients left in the water via the fish erm... cough pooping cough cough and in doing so filter the water, proving clean water to the tank i.e. never clean out the tank. If that doesn't make sense, check out this project to get the basic idea in video format...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2142509221/home-aquaponics-kit-self-cleaning-fish-tank-that-g
I'm just wondering peoples thoughts on perusing a project following this concept. Ideally I'm looking for parent feedback from people without a garden and would have to grow in the home if they wanted too. I'm not restricting feedback to just those however!
My 'manifesto' for the project is as follows (just to give you a little more insight into my train of thought, which is nor wrong nor right)
The worlds population is set to increase to 9.7million by 2050 and this will put huge strains on global resources. Things like oil, energy and rare earths will become increasingly scarce but these are things, as a planet, we can adapt to. Food and Water is going to make the biggest impact on our lives.
Food is becoming quickly something that very few of us have any control over. Tesco is the new allotment and super farms of 100,000+acres in the US are intensively farming GM crops covered in an array of pesticides and chemicals. People are beggining to revolt against this, but we have
forgotten how to grow. Aquaponics provides an easy, sustainable and, most importantly, expandable platform on which to practice the ‘art’ of growth.
Phew, thanks for reading this far! So, I'm looking for feedback on the idea. Think what restricts you from growing in the home, keeping pets, lack of green fingers, think as wide as you can tall.
Thanks for your time and I hope you lot on here wouldn't mind been prodded a little more in the future!
Sam :smiley:
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People who dont have gardens generally have no room in there flat.
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couple of issues; your manifesto energy is going to be scarce and food and water will become issues, two of these are required for your solution. If I was short on water I doubt i'd be keeping a fish tank :undecided:
How much nutrients can you get from a standard fish tank? I'd assume not enough to solve the potential world food shortage problem. you might get enough to grow a supplement to your food supply. hydroponics / auqaponics are limited to which foods you can grow, specifically the ease of root vegetables.
It's a good idea but I can't see it being more than a window sill box or counter size growing area.
As a design project it's a good idea, but aren't you just ripping off the kickstarter idea?
and lastly, oil there is plenty of the problem is we (globally) don't have big enough co2 budget to actually use it (what's left in the ground). Rare earth metals aka the lanthanides are far from rare. You're right on the food part, if we continue with our current eating habits e.g. livestock which is expensive (in terms of resources) to farm, opposed from one of the suggestions of switching to insects which are much much cheaper to farm gram per gram.
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1) Keeping pets in a tight space means not much freedom cruel in some aspects
2) The volume of growing veg is limited, better off with herbs.
3) The idea of using waste is not new some houses use recycled toilet water
4) I would rather explore Oxygen Hydrogen from things like Algae using natural sunlight as a source of fuel.
5) Many people who have no gardens use allotments as a hobby to grow things.
6) Not sure what you need Sam my internet is on the blink. :tongue:
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I think that looks pretty cool.
I wouldn't necessarily be interested in growing the kind of veg you could just buy from a shop, maybe more niche stuff like rare chillies or foreign stuff would suit the smaller scale.
I've been thinking about putting a plant wall in the studio for a while now, maybe hooking it up to the pond or something would be a green way of keeping it healthy.
(http://plushemisphere.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/indoor-plant-wall-ideas-design1.jpg)
The only things that would put me off are the sound of the pump and the water running constantly and the cost of having it switched on all the time.
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People who dont have gardens generally have no room in there flat.
I'm looking into doing something that no designer should ever do... design for themselves. I live in a tiny flat with my missus, she really wants a garden and loves growing potted plants on windowsills etc. which is one of the things that got me thinking, how can we grow something productive (and legal) in here? The project will focus, i'm hoping, on the needs of a small flat/terrace house. Size, ease of maintenance and Yeild will need to be balanced. I'm not trying saying a couple of peppers will change the world but teaching people to grow again is a start. If even one in twenty then head out and buy a few tubs etc to grow more I will view that as a success!
1) Keeping pets in a tight space means not much freedom cruel in some aspects
2) The volume of growing veg is limited, better off with herbs.
3) The idea of using waste is not new some houses use recycled toilet water
4) I would rather explore Oxygen Hydrogen from things like Algae using natural sunlight as a source of fuel.
5) Many people who have no gardens use allotments as a hobby to grow things.
6) Not sure what you need Sam my internet is on the blink. :tongue:
1) Will need to look into this, it is possible to design around this however with fish (after some initial research) by creating 'infinity' tanks. This is either done with obstacles or the design of the tank as a whole.
2) Herbs will grow quite happily on a saucer. I'm thinking small quantities of peppers, small carrots or even a simple but flavorsome lettuce.
3)The methodology behind it is far from new, but so far no one has had any real sucess in adapting it for home/small scale use. This is what I want to explore.
4)This is heading into science/engineering, I'm a BA design student :grin:
5)I want to encourage people to do this! Learn how to grow behind closed doors and then unleash your skill set onto the world with confidence.
6)My connection is sh!te at home but good in the Design School.
I think that looks pretty cool.
I wouldn't necessarily be interested in growing the kind of veg you could just buy from a shop, maybe more niche stuff like rare chillies or foreign stuff would suit the smaller scale.
I've been thinking about putting a plant wall in the studio for a while now, maybe hooking it up to the pond or something would be a green way of keeping it healthy.
(http://plushemisphere.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/indoor-plant-wall-ideas-design1.jpg)
The only things that would put me off are the sound of the pump and the water running constantly and the cost of having it switched on all the time.
I want to take a step back from the plant wall, do things small scale and make it edible! What does your studio practice?
Thanks for all the feedback guys and keep it coming! :smiley:
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couple of issues; your manifesto energy is going to be scarce and food and water will become issues, two of these are required for your solution. If I was short on water I doubt i'd be keeping a fish tank :undecided:
How much nutrients can you get from a standard fish tank? I'd assume not enough to solve the potential world food shortage problem. you might get enough to grow a supplement to your food supply. hydroponics / auqaponics are limited to which foods you can grow, specifically the ease of root vegetables.
It's a good idea but I can't see it being more than a window sill box or counter size growing area.
As a design project it's a good idea, but aren't you just ripping off the kickstarter idea?
and lastly, oil there is plenty of the problem is we (globally) don't have big enough co2 budget to actually use it (what's left in the ground). Rare earth metals aka the lanthanides are far from rare. You're right on the food part, if we continue with our current eating habits e.g. livestock which is expensive (in terms of resources) to farm, opposed from one of the suggestions of switching to insects which are much much cheaper to farm gram per gram.
Sorry Ridg, knew I had missed someone out.
It's a good idea but I can't see it being more than a window sill box or counter size growing area. Is pretty much where i'm heading!
As a design project it's a good idea, but aren't you just ripping off the kickstarter idea? Developing a better solution, a solution that looks better than a white plant pot that can contain three one inch fish and grow some 'erbs
Thanks for the feedback :smiley:
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I like this, i get to keep my fish and grow some cannabis to help my monthly income.
I like the idea, but i think in a home environment, regardless if you have kids or not (I have a child), you won't be interested in growing crops of any form, but something more interesting, exotic flowers and maybe some edible ones, but the main feature will be aesthetic. Running costs can be kept minimum, its only going to be a small pump (15w?) regardless if its in a house or flat, UK houses are merely shed's to most of the developed world. Costs of running can be further reduced by using LED grow lights for the plants, and if the plants are ontop of the tank in the design phase I wouldn't have the plants branch all the way back to the edge, I'd leave a inch or two gap so the grow lights light also enters the tank to illuminate it.
Really this idea is good, but really for an industrial scale to world hunger, IE, imagine you could build a 10 storey flat, purely with this equipment, you'd end up with a dense multi-story crop and fish farm... Which is a good idea as you would use less land to create the yield of a big farm and it would be eco friendly.
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I like this, i get to keep my fish and grow some cannabis to help my monthly income.
I like the idea, but i think in a home environment, regardless if you have kids or not (I have a child), you won't be interested in growing crops of any form, but something more interesting, exotic flowers and maybe some edible ones, but the main feature will be aesthetic. Running costs can be kept minimum, its only going to be a small pump (15w?) regardless if its in a house or flat, UK houses are merely shed's to most of the developed world. Costs of running can be further reduced by using LED grow lights for the plants, and if the plants are ontop of the tank in the design phase I wouldn't have the plants branch all the way back to the edge, I'd leave a inch or two gap so the grow lights light also enters the tank to illuminate it.
Really this idea is good, but really for an industrial scale to world hunger, IE, imagine you could build a 10 storey flat, purely with this equipment, you'd end up with a dense multi-story crop and fish farm... Which is a good idea as you would use less land to create the yield of a big farm and it would be eco friendly.
Thanks for the feedback buddy. I would be using an LED system and only a small pump, perhaps even simply gravity fed system if the tank was above or around the plants. I agree that the system would be brilliant on an industrial scale and has proved to work incredibly well in the far east, middle east regions and across in the US. As for growing, that's up to you, as long as you are learning how to grow it's working! :smiley:
Keep the feedback coming guys, thanks in advance :smiley:
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Carrots wont grow in water alone. All root veg need soil.
Peas and beans and other such crops, also cabbages/broccoli
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oh Len, you don't need soil, you can use various replacements for it. Google "hydroponics"