Ultimate Aquaponics setup

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I actually thought I already posted about this bad boy which unfortunately is only a design concept from Philips.  For those that are not familiar:

Aquaponics is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment.

Aquatic animal effluent (for example fish waste) accumulates in water as a by-product of keeping them in a closed system or tank (for example a recirculating aquaculture system). The effluent-rich water becomes high in plant nutrients but this is correspondingly toxic to the aquatic animal.

Source Wikipedia

This system is called the BioTower, the first 2 levels are hydroponic plants with the third being algae.  The fourth layer contains shrimp and fish which produce organic waste which is stored in the bottom layer.

The lights are powered using optical fibers from the sun and the methane from the organic waste powers the lights at night.  The plants and seafood can then be consumed all powered by the various ecosystems.

I couldn’t even imagine what something like this would cost if it came out of the design phase, though a simple cover over the organic waste and this would make a great conversation piece.

Aquarium with plant filtration system powered by fish poop (aka aquaponics)

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Yet another design concept, though seems like there are definitely plans for this one to go into production next year.  The concept is very simple, fish poop in the water, pump brings “soiled” water to filter through some river sand, bacteria converts “impurities” to nitrates, and finally the plants absorb the nitrates as food returning cleaner water back to the fishes.

Now this has a couple of good target markets for environmental friendly types  who can feel good about the natural filtration of the water.  Second is lazy types who can use this as a reason to not have to change the water for an extra week.  I fall under both categories so if priced right I may be seeing one of these on my desk in the next year, unless the price is horrendous in which I will be creating my own version which I will be sure to share here.

[Duende Studio via CoolHunting vi Gizmodo]

IKE