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NYC Apartment Aquaponics

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Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#81

Post by inigyou »

inigyou wrote: post #57
embedding-shape wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don't put your UPS under a fishtank, folks You know, maybe I should reconsider having my UPS at the bottom of a rack that contains one server in the middle with liquid CPU cooling... Or just add a liquid sensor between them somewhere perhaps.

Eh, it's probably not that bad, especially if you have more stuff in between. How much liquid is in the server? Contrary to popular belief, one drop of water on the case of an electronic rarely breaks it. You do need to get a substantial amount inside the electronic to break it. I remember building a water sensor kit as a kid and going to the bathtub to try sensing water and my mom rushed in and stopped me because I…

also... if your server's leaking you probably don't care if the power also gets interrupted.

Unless the UPS catches fire, which would be bad.

You could put some absorbent or barrier material in between for paranoia. Don't need a whole new rack, although you could.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#82

Post by throwaway2037 »

inigyou wrote: post #36
pipe2devnull wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

But big tanks do need extra support. This is a relevant thing to post in case someone is thinking about scaling it up. The Pfizer building in NYC almost collapsed after they tried to build a swimming pool on the roof. This happens semi-regularly when building owners ignore, or don't consult, engineers about rooftop swimming pools. Every owner wants one and doesn't want to be told no.

"almost collapsed"? Probably an overstatement.

If anyone wants to read more about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfizer_Building#Structural_det...

    > This happens semi-regularly when building owners ignore, or don't consult, engineers about rooftop swimming pools.
Another wild overstatement. Yeah, I'm sure the city approved this office to residential converstion with a rooftop swimming pool that has no engineering analysis. "This happens semi-regularly": Can you provide other examples? I couldn't find any with a cusory Google search.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#83

Post by mythrwy »

voakbasda wrote: post #47
dandaka wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are people obsessed with idea of "produce their own X"? When we learned to specialize, we have achieved low cost, scale and sophistication.

As a small farmer, I will tell you that, without exception, home-farmed food is immeasurably better than the food in grocery stores. Appearance, taste, nutrition are all superior to store-bought equivalents. Cost is the only metric where store bought food wins.

Yep. I grow around 1/3 of my food and most of my produce in the warm months. I have put a lot of effort into selecting flavorful varieties and making a flavor assisting soil medium. I cook based on what is available at the time.

It's a lot of work and not terribly cost effective (if you count labor) but it's also fun work.

But the real payoff is the quality of the food and it feels kind of weird sometimes, like, I'm not uber wealthy, I'm not a movie star nor famous person and yet this is possibly some of the highest quality food available I'm eating. Flavor and probably nutrition as well.

I made this eggplant parmesan last night and everything in it but the salt and oil and breading was from my garden. The tomato sauce, the herbs, the garlic, everything. All fresh picked that day. It's unbelievable how delicious it was I really wish I could share the experience.

Store produce seems like a ghost now, like this faint shadow of the taste produce should have.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#84

Post by nikanj »

qdotme wrote: post #46
Epa095 wrote: post #40

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.

Because gallon of fuel weighs 6lbs! As a scientist and an adult immigrant to the US, I came to appreciate both systems as useful for different objectives. Celsius/Metric is neatly rooted in science - where it truly shines by removing /most/ of the conversion factors (but does it? we still have, today, speed of light that should be 1 , Avogadro and Boltzmann constants are just odd numbers you memorize too) - but doesn…

[dead]

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#85

Post by [deleted] »

marcosdumay wrote: post #69
ryukoposting wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who cares? When you buy a couch, are you thinking "will this couch offset the value of the square footage it occupies" or "will this couch be comfortable and match my décor?" I'm glad someone is doing something fun in their home.

Yes, when you decide to buy a couch it's because you looked if it's the best use of the space you can do.

[deleted]

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#86

Post by davidkoenit »

ryukoposting wrote: post #56
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…

Who cares? When you buy a couch, are you thinking "will this couch offset the value of the square footage it occupies" or "will this couch be comfortable and match my décor?" I'm glad someone is doing something fun in their home.

I always grow some kale in my house just because it's a fun thing to do.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#87

Post by ornornor »

ryukoposting wrote: post #56
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…

Who cares? When you buy a couch, are you thinking "will this couch offset the value of the square footage it occupies" or "will this couch be comfortable and match my décor?" I'm glad someone is doing something fun in their home.

A couch is more comfortable to sit on that an hydroponics system, all else being equal. I’d pick the couch every time.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#88

Post by esseph »

qdotme wrote: post #46
Epa095 wrote: post #40

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.

Because gallon of fuel weighs 6lbs! As a scientist and an adult immigrant to the US, I came to appreciate both systems as useful for different objectives. Celsius/Metric is neatly rooted in science - where it truly shines by removing /most/ of the conversion factors (but does it? we still have, today, speed of light that should be 1 , Avogadro and Boltzmann constants are just odd numbers you memorize too) - but doesn…

> 0F being "coldest you'll experience in a place humans commonly live"

It gets MUCH colder than this all the time in the northern US, let alone Canada and Alaska, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#89

Post by qdotme »

esseph wrote: post #88
qdotme wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because gallon of fuel weighs 6lbs! As a scientist and an adult immigrant to the US, I came to appreciate both systems as useful for different objectives. Celsius/Metric is neatly rooted in science - where it truly shines by removing /most/ of the conversion factors (but does it? we still have, today, speed of light that should be 1 , Avogadro and Boltzmann constants are just odd numbers you memorize too) - but doesn…

> 0F being "coldest you'll experience in a place humans commonly live" It gets MUCH colder than this all the time in the northern US, let alone Canada and Alaska, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.

Well, where? I live in MA, lived in NH and visited MSP quite frequently, also spent a winter in Toronto… but even a quick search suggests that in MN it “dips” to negatives Fahrenheit, occasionally, with monthly Jan averages in low single digits.

Most of inhabited Canada is a thin sliver by the US border, or coastal which stabilizes the temperature around freezing quite well. Ditto with Norway.

Can you share a good example of a large (say 500k+ metro area, the “commonly”) city that actually dips below 0F daytime regularly? Murmansk comes to mind.. maybe..

Re: NYC Apartment Aquaponics

#90

Post by Freedom2 »

vasco wrote: post #44
dandaka wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are people obsessed with idea of "produce their own X"? When we learned to specialize, we have achieved low cost, scale and sophistication.

The idea of self sufficiency either from individualism or associated with a sense of "being prepared" is enticing. But growing something yourself is also cool in itself. Watching a plant grow, eating the tomato you grew tastes better than the one you bought. If seen as a hobby it isn't more pointless than 3d printing dragons.

I think the problem is that a lot of soil here in the US isn't up to the quality of other countries. It may be tastier and healthier to eat imported tomatoes than ones that we even grow ourselves.
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