we install and operate standardized aquaponics systems for suburban backyards so that middle-class families can get more passive income and the local community (families, groceries, restaurants) can have cheap, fresh, organic, low-carbon-footprint food year-round

Think of what solar panels do: they take some latent real estate and turn an annoying bill (electricity) into an enduring source of small-scale passive income. Our aquaponic "solar farms" will do the same thing for vegetables and fish: where once there was an incentive to eat unhealthily to save money and spare inconvenience, now each and every household will have so much healthy food that they eat super healthy by default AND make money (we'll help sell their excess produce to local grocery stores and restaurants!)!

Prototype 0.1: NFT Growing Unit (#1)

Our first prototype was a geometrical and economic proof of concept for an aquaponics layout style known as NFT ("Nutrient Film Technique"). We designed and built a plywood holder for 40' of 3" PVC tubing, measuring water flow quantity and rate while assessing ways to lower build complexity for streamlining production (either for in-house manufacturing speed, or designing "kits" to sell). Its construction came out significantly under time and budget!

This also gave us a sense for placement and aesthetic concerns: How big does our design turn out to be? What does it look like when installed? Where could it be placed? How heavy is it? With this information, we've been able to refine our value hypothesis, namely that most middle class suburbanites have sufficient unused space on their property to install a non-intrusive aquaponics system. We came away with even more questions than we went in with, marking the experiment a solid success!

Prototype 1.1: Functioning NFT system (#1)

In our second prototype, we are looking to connect Prototype 0.1 (and/or 0.2, depending on timing) with a large (500 liter) fish tank and filtration system for the purpose of a full-scale functional demonstration (and grounds for learning). Design is complete, but construction is forthcoming (due to being shut down as a "nonessential" business during the COVID-19 pandemic).

In theory, each such 500L tank will be able to support 2-3 growing units at a time (depending on the fish inside). The most important learnings from this experiment should center around the startup time: how long does it take sufficient bacteria to grow? To what extent can various types of fish survive outdoors in the PNW? How easy is maitenance—do we need to hire technicians, or can each system-owner maintain their solar farm without much training or potential for catastropic errors? What software / subsystems could be useful to streamline the process?

Prototype 0.2: NFT Growing Unit (#2)

P0.2 will be a second-iteration NFT plant holder improved with knowledge gained from P0.1. Among other things, we will eliminate an alternating ~1% slant on each tube which took an absurd proportion of P0.1's manufacturing time to measure and make specific, and was proved functionally irrelevant by water flow testing on P0.1 after assembly. By removing this misguided design feature, all similarly-looking parts will be made interchangeable throughout the process; this should speed up assembly significantly!

Another gigantic time (and money) sink was the transition of water between each tube; the options were to pay $12 per PVC U-bend, or drill holes and cement our own small pipes. We did the latter, but it was painful (and the pipes didn't have end-caps at the end). Instead, we've designed a 3D-printable end-cap-with-channel piece for this role!

P0.1 was slow to design and measure, being engineered in a composition book while sitting on a recliner (with power tools running in the background). Transitioning design to CAD has already slashed that time overhead significantly!

Like P1.1, P0.2 is fully designed but production is currently in limbo due to the WA state stay-at-home order.

If you are interested in an installation, buying produce/fish, or investing in our company, please contact us!