From Project to Passion

Just because… that’s all I could think of. Why would you build an aquaponic vegetable garden in your apartment?

“I like it. It’s cool”, I thought. “I like the idea of growing veggies. I like the technology aspect of it.” Whatever reason I gave it didn’t matter, because what mattered was that I thought it was cool and I enjoyed doing it.

Throughout the first half of my time at Northeastern, I did things purely analytically. What will make me the most money? What will provide me the best opportunities down the road? What would my parents think? So much of this kind of thinking clouded my mind from making the clear choice: do the things that make you happy. Do the things for which you feel passion.

Do what excites you.

This is an example of doing things for the hell of it, and letting the path unfold along the way. It all started with a casual interest in farm technology, which developed into a full-fledged dedication into a field and a mission. In just under a year I went from knowing nothing about urban farming, to working with a team of engineers on commercial and consumer plant growing products.

Aquaponics is a method of growing vegetables (indoor or outdoor). The system acts as an entirely self-sufficient ecosystem that circulates the water through the plants and back into the tank. Essentially the fish eat food, convert that food into waste that dissolves into the water, then the water gets pumped into the grow bed and is absorbed by the growing plants. The water is then cycled back down to the fish tank in order to complete the cycle.

A basic aquaponic system contains the following components:

1. A grow bed for veggies and fruits.
2. A tank with fish that produce nutrients for the plants.
3. A water heater to maintain proper temp for fish and plants.
4. A pump that sends water up to grow bed and timer to turn pump on/off automatically.
5. A bell siphon: for automatically draining water back into tank periodically

When designing my system I had to figure out what size grow bed I wanted and how big of a tank I needed to accommodate it. I had to reconcile two known rules:

1. Only 1–2 inches of fish per gallon of water.

2. 1 pound of fish per square foot of grow space.

The grow tray I decided on was a total of 8 square feet of grow space. This meant that I had to fit 8 pounds of fish into the tank. Based on these restrictions I chose a 55-gallon tank in order to fit several Koi fish comfortably. I chose Koi fish because they are incredibly hearty and eat a lot of food — and hence lots of waste for the plants.

What it looks like

Here you can see the frame construction. We bought the 2x4s, sanded them down, and did two coats of stain to help them blend in with the brick of the apartment.

At this stage the 55-gallon fish tank was installed with everything except the fish. The frame was just finished up and dropped over the full tank. As you can see there is a long air-stone in the tank. This is to aerate the water, which is super important in making the dissolved nutrients available to the plants.

Here you see the 4'x2' grow bed made of food grade plastic. On the right you see a small PVC tube sticking out of the plastic. This will be covered by a large PVC tube with a cap that creates an auto-siphon when the water reaches a certain level. This allows the system to automatically fill up and empty out without an extra pump/timer.

I implemented a 100 gallon/hour pump and set in on at timer of 15/15 on and off in order to fill the grow bed quickly. Then the grow bed would empty though the bell siphon every 30 minutes. This is an important part of the aquaponic growing process and plants prefer a mix of wet and dry periods.

At this stage I added three crucial components to the system. The first is the grow medium (white rock like substrate), which allows the plants to form roots in order to grow. The second thing is the water pump that brings water up from the tank to the grow bed (top left tube). Lastly, I added the grow lights (two 125 watt fluorescents).

The final system in operation!

At the beginning of this project I had no idea how it would all come together, but as I began to do my due diligence, it became more and more doable. I want this to be an example for anybody who wants to make something but doesn’t know how. I learned absolutely everything I needed to know online. It may be obvious, but the Internet is an incredible resource for learning how to do almost anything.

Start reading. Start dreaming. Start doing. You never know where it will take you.