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NYC Apartment Aquaponics

erinmurphy.dev

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Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#11

Post by bitcurious »

throw9394999 wrote: post #2

> 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).

> If tank fails, you are liable for water damages and home insurance DOES NOT cover that.

Whether an aquarium is covered by home/renters insurance is specific to the policy and aquarium size, not consistent enough to make statements like this. This aquaponics system is essentially a planter on top of a low stock aquarium.

I will say that the shelf supporting the aquarium seems inadequate to the job, increasing the risk.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#13

Post by keiferski »

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.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#14

Post by NoLinkToMe »

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.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#16

Post by keiferski »

NoLinkToMe wrote: post #14

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 Kentuc…

By this logic, doing anything yourself is inefficient and a waste of time.

However, I think that by reducing it purely to a monetary number, you are not measuring things correctly. Part of the output of doing DIY things is the knowledge, experience, and fun that comes from doing it. If you insist on putting a dollar sign on that, I’m sure it ends up being much more equal.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#18

Post by pipe2devnull »

throw9394999 wrote: post #2

> 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).

Structural support in the floor? There are people that weigh more than this. It’s only 20 gallons

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#19

Post by cogman10 »

pipe2devnull wrote: post #18
throw9394999 wrote: post #2

> 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).

Structural support in the floor? There are people that weigh more than this. It’s only 20 gallons

I looked it up, you are looking at 160lbs (75kg).

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#20

Post by Gigachad »

NoLinkToMe wrote: post #14

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 Kentuc…

No one is reading this thinking it’s going to replace industrial farming. It’s just fun
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