NYC Apartment Aquaponics

I love the idea of hydro/aquaponics and built a system as a student more than a decade ago. It’s a fun project.

But as a form of agriculture it’s a spectacularly bad idea at home.

This setup is about 1 square meter of NYC space, that’s about $18k. Meanwhile agricultural land goes for about $2/m2, or 9000x less. Then you spend $700 in parts to set up the 1 square meter, even if you put the system on cheap rural Kentucky land. Then you pay $170 a year to power the system for again, 1 square meter.

Meanwhile the 1 square meter produces like less than $100 in annual produce.

Green house farms like in the Netherlands have perfected this growing method and it’s quite effective. Home food production is a joke by comparison just like home anything production of a commodity product.

So fun DIY projects but as a serious way to grow food it’s terrible, not economical or sustainable. I tore down my project the same year I built it, taught me a lot but made no sense to continue.

Cool project. I wonder how large a tank you need to get room fle aquatic animals you would actually eat.

And as a small aside, idk how one can write sentences like this and not immediately revolt and switch to metric:

  Since a gallon of fresh water weighs roughly 8.34lbs, we estimate this puts the entire weight of the system’s water somewhere between 170 and 250lbs.

I recommend starting with deep water culture if you want to get into this sort of thing. Aquaponics is like hardcore mode. Shopping for fish so that you can grow plants is a really neat idea, but not where I would start if I didn't want to get frustrated in a hobby setting. DWC becomes very stable once you learn how to properly inoculate the plants with beneficial fungi. Just make sure you have a contingency for power outage. The only downside is that mature plants will die very quickly in this system if the air pump fails. A lot of what you buy can be re-used for the other kinds of systems.

My favorite part of Gibson’s Count Zero was always the hydroponic gardens covering an entire floor of a New Jersey housing complex. Probably not as realistic as the setup in the link, but both are still very cool ideas.

I can still remember ads for the "Biotron" flourescent grow system in various magazines back in the '70s --- the ad featured roses, but of course the actual usage was typically for growing marijuana. (Later that name was co-opted by the Micronauts toy line/comic books for a character).

The O Garden seemed an interesting modern spin (couldn't resist the pun):

https://www.coolthings.com/ogarden-rotating-indoor-planter-w...

(but I think they went under? The footprint was kind of extravagant)

I still think someone needs to work up a unit designed to fit next to a refrigerator --- bonus points for circulating filtered air so that the heat from the fridge is harvested for the plants.

The other option I've been curious about is a window unit mounted like an in-window air conditioner (maybe you could combine the two? harvest the condensate and heat for the benefit of the plants?)

I had a very similar setup in my college apartment. The main difference is that I had two shelves of plants in shallower tubs. I grew a ton of micro tomatoes and herbs. It was awesome.

I know the ship has sailed, but wouldn't something like "zoohydroponics" be more descriptive than just changing from Greek-rooted hydro to Latin-rooted aqua?

Fun project! But with that tank uncovered like that and sitting in a closet look out for mildew and mold to grow in your closet.

For once a post that’s not about AI on HN’s front page again. And the main comments are about liability risk?

A few years ago, I read in a book that it is feasible and safe to manufacture colloidal silver at home using electrolysis. I was intrigued, because my father had conducted many similar projects with success, in the kitchen, in the garage, and in the backyard, as he worked for EH&S. The Dunning-Kruger swelled within me.

I reviewed photographs of the home lab setups, and I evaluated ingredient/supply/equipment lists. I even inquired at my credit union's branch whether they could sell me silver bullion, which was hysterical in retrospect.

Then, as I slept on it a few nights, I had nightmares of this electrolysis lab just getting out of hand, taking over my bathroom (where there is actually no space for anything else) and just ruining my dull, ordinary life. I don't even have any roommates or family living with me here.

So of course I decided not even to try this. This NYC apartment seems similarly constrained. If I were their landlord, I would dread finding someone running this kind of crap. Insurance and liability are the biggest problems here. They should go purchase a home if they want to play around.

> in our one-bedroom NYC apartment ... Bigger tank = better

If tank fails, you are liable for water damages and home insurance DOES NOT cover that. We were flodded by neighbours, the damage was $20.000 in cheap east europe commie block.

Plus bigger tanks need structural support in floor (steel beams).

Isn't weed legal now in NY?