AutoMicroFarm is now open-source
blog.automicrofarm.com
blog.automicrofarm.com
"You get vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans as well as fish for your harvest. I have researched and implemented the best practices of aquaponics so you don't have to. It's easy and convenient to maintain: just plant, prune, harvest, and feed the fish!"
For those like me that hadn't heard of this neat concept yet.
Another quote: "Like solar panels, but for your food: [imagine] being able to produce the majority of your food in your backyard, a few dozen feet from where it would be consumed."
Sounds pretty cool to me.
It might be worth using another word on the website, in addition to aquaponics, to make the concept more vivd. Something like "self-" something or "auto-" something (sorry, can't think of anything!).
I know you have other descriptions on the site, but the title in the end is "an aquaponics farm", and this is probably how other people will describe it to friends/etc.
I have some constructive criticism about these designs.
1) Sand does not allow water to flow quickly enough and makes it more difficult for oxygen to get to the roots. You might end up with anaerobic zones in the grow bed. Use a grow media that is bigger (pebbles and/or hydroton are good options). Make sure the pebbles are not sharp though, you want smooth or rounded. Your hands and your grow bed liner will thank you.
2) Timing circuitry adds complexity and another point of failure, just make it run continuously. Pumps for a backyard scale aquaponics system don't consume that much electricity.
3) Depending on stocking density you may want to aerate the water so your fish don't die. Air stones work, but running the pump continuously and agitating the surface of the water will do far more.
4) Don't put the pump in the fish tank. Ideally use a sump tank that the water overflows from the fish tank into a sump tank that is lower. If you have to put the pump in the fish tank, make sure it is not at the bottom of the tank, put it about 1/4 to 1/2 way down the tank. That way if a tube springs a leak, or if the grow beds don't drain and overflow, or any other unforeseen failure comes up, you don't pump all the water out of your fish tank and kill them.
5) No need for PEX. Just stick with simple 1/2" PVC. They are cheaper and more common. Especially the fittings. PVC is perfectly safe for aquaponics. People bring up safety concerns but they are unfounded. The concerns for PVC safety are when using high pressure or hot water (neither of which is a concern with aquaponics).
6) Read up on fishless cycling to prepare the water before putting in the fish. If you use ammonia make sure it is just ammonia (no bleach or perfumes). You can speed up the cycling if you get something that has the nitrifying bacterial already. You can buy solutions that contain bacteria or just get it from an existing system / pond.
7) Get the pH dialed in before adding the fish. The nitrifying bacteria like a pH of around 8 for optimal growth but once they are establish, move the pH to the ideal balance for your plants / fish. The nitrifying bacteria will grow fine at any pH once fish are introduced so setting the pH to 8 while cycling is really only an optimization to speed up bacteria colonization.
8) Once fish are added, move the pH very slowly (ideally only 0.2 pH per day). Sudden pH changes are harmful for your fish.
1) The sand-based system is based on Dr. McMurtry's aquaponics research at NC State University. Here are a list of publications about it: http://iavs.info/publications/ In general, coarse sand is a great substrate for plants. Both research and my own experience show no problems with aeration or anaerobic zones forming when set up correctly.
2) The timers are really no more complex than the pumps, so I really don't see them as adding that much complexity.
3) The way the water drains through the sand means it keeps dripping and agitating the surface for several hours after the pump stops pumping water to the vegetable beds. Of course, if you plan on maxing out the stocking density, you should add bubblers.
4) Because the water starts trickling through the sand seconds after the pump starts, you only have ~10-15% difference in water height.
5) If you want to eat the fish, might as well try to eliminate anything that might get into the fish through the plastic. It doesn't add that much cost.
6) That's a good idea, but adds the requirement of finding pure ammonia available for sale.
7 and 8) I think most people will just add filtered tap water and go with whatever pH that is.
If there was a solution to the fish food bottleneck (which is essentially a protein bottleneck) I'd be more interested in something like this. Currently it just shifts the problem of sustainable food production somewhere else.
Are there ways to sustainably create your own protein-rich fish food? Perhaps some kind of insect farm? But that just shifts the problem again. Maybe an insect trap which attracts wild insects from the environment?
Here's an example of a BSFL composting bin: http://www.thebiopod.com/
For example: https://www.theaquariumwiki.com/The_Nitrogen_Cycle
Any time you introduce animals into a food system you're adding at least one trophic level, dropping your output by at least 90%.
Thanks for that thought-provoking line. My vision is for the average quarter-acre lot to produce a variety of food for the family living in that house, including veggies, fruit, nuts, beans, fish, eggs and optionally chicken (or other small fowl), honey, mushrooms, and more.
If efficiency were the goal, you would need some kind of algal bioreactor that could grow the genetically-modified algae that would provide for all your dietary needs, as envisioned by Soylent: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/soylents-real-plan-is-to-re...
I planted half the veggie beds with seeds, which are just starting to grow. I was interested in trying root vegetables, so I have sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions growing. Check back in a month, I should have pictures of a veritable jungle :).
- Purchasing a kit from the button on top of the page (I assume it's a kit - although the sale button does not say that), it does not say anything about the contents included (apart from the picture I've seen somewhere on the blog), nor the required size, nor where in the world you ship it, nor if shipping is included or how much it is extra. Way down the page I see something about that you'll help to set it up for people in NC Suggestion: Link to the description below where you state more information about what's inside
- When you make statements like " A well-run AutoMicroFarm will produce enough vegetables and fish to pay for itself in six months." - I want to see data!
- The open source documentation should include drawing and layout examples of your product to be more complete
- There's unfortunately no information about what if you want to expand your construction. What's the maximum planting area size for the size of the fish tank/amount of fish?
- You should think about selling individual components - especially those that are not commonly available in hardware stores
I'd offer my services for documentation and fixing the website, but I fear that I'd need to play with it myself in order to understand things better - and I cannot go to NC because I don't feel safe going there being a transsexual.
There has to be a way to present HN with a gift without someone going to extremes to make it come out negative.
I'm not sure if you're doing this on purpose or not but this open sourcing of the plans seems to be in response to the original launch of the product where people were complaining about the price of the kit, and could they please have the plans instead.
I've worked on many open hardware projects the past 6 years. Documentation is a huge problem with the majority of open hardware projects.
So what makes a good open hardware documentation?
My first measure for that is "is the documentation good enough so I can acquire all the materials for building it on the other side of the world".
My second measure is "is the documentation good enough for getting me started without wasting a lot of money on trial and error".
My third measure is "is the software or other important information still up to date".
> My second measure is "is the documentation good enough for getting me started without wasting a lot of money on trial and error".
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4SAAq6j3vXkUDU3OXh5cXk5OUk...
See for yourself, the first one seems to be covered, the second one is up to you.
> My third measure is "is the software or other important information still up to date".
It appears that yes, this is the case (since there is no software and what you consider 'important' might be a small inconsequential detail to me...).
So, can it be better? Yes, obviously, it is really fresh off the press by the looks of it.
Maybe one idea would be to put the documentation in Github as a markdown document, that way others could make pull requests if they have something useful to contribute.
Instead of github, I think I'll use readme.io for the documentation, at the suggestion of Rory with FarmBot.
Believe me, I'm not trying to release vague documentation in order to sell support. I'll be improving the website and the documentation in short order, based on the suggestions from people like yourself. My goal is for anyone to be able to buy the parts and install the AutoMicroFarm based only on the documentation. But that will take time.
I'll reply to your comment again when I have made improvements.
Thanks,
Andrew
- How big or how small can the system be?
- are the planters/pool included in the price? (i get the impression it' just tubing...)
- what garden zones will this grow in? [1]
- how much sun and/or shade is necessary?
- does it include / can it be combined with a compost system?
- The system as shown is really the minimum size. You would increase the size by buying as many systems of this size as you need.
- Yes, the pools are included in the price. Everything is included except for the fencing.
- If you can grow a conventional garden in your zone, you can grow in an aquaponic garden. It's just a matter of what plants/fish are suited for your area. Really, your lower temperature bound is 50F, when the bacteria converting the fish waste to plant fertilizer start slowing down their activity. Of course, a well-insulated greenhouse mitigates this concern, but adds cost. Practically speaking, I would say that zones 3 and above work well without some kind of insulating structures or heating mitigation.
- This depends on what plants you are trying to grow. But practically speaking, you probably want full sun at least six hours per day.
- It doesn't include a compost system, but would work well paired with http://www.thebiopod.com/ to produce black soldier fly larvae that will self-harvest into the fish tank and provide the fish with supplementary feed.
The project itself is very interesting, and I wish I owned a backyard in which to set up a garden like this.
Check out Open Source Ecology's (and now, Open Building Institute's) work in that area: they have a house with an attached aquaponics greenhouse, the designs of which are all open source.
http://opensourceecology.org/aquaponic-greenhouse-workshop/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/622508883/open-building...
What air temperature ranges does the fish pool tolerate?
Thanks again.
The minimum temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but that is a limit for the bacteria, not the fish. The maximum temperature is whatever can be found the natural bodies of water, practically speaking probably around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course, it all depends on the fish you are raising.
Plants have plenty of water being on the obvious ones.
Also, they tend to be fairly low maintenance once set up correctly. Just add food (most fish can go up to a week without feeding without any negative consequences if needs be).
Water usage is much lower (evaporation and what is absorbed into the plants is the only loss).
Plants grow better (they have easier access to nutrients and plenty of water).
The negatives are that the upfront costs are much more and you have to have some knowledge of the Nitrogen cycle and creating a comfortable environment for your fish.
Here are just a few advantages over a traditional garden:
* You get fish
* Better yield, due to items mentioned below
* The optimal watering cycle, followed by a drain cycle, means the plants get the air, water, and nutrients they need multiple times a day.
* The water being reused means you need only 10% of it
* Going organic is really easy: just feed the fish organic fish feed
* No soil diseases
* Virtually no weeds (I’ve picked ~3 weeds over the course of the 1.5 years I ran my initial proof-of-concept prototype)
* Minimal maintenance: only need to plant, harvest, prune, and feed the fish
In any case, this is a moot point, because most gardeners do not have irrigation systems. And if you're just starting out, there is no guarantee you will have good soil. Our backyard has 1-2 inches of sod, then solid clay underneath. We had to do a lot of work (or pay a lot of money) to amend that soil to the point where it produced a good harvest.
Yes, of course fish is the actual difference. Although you can obviously just stock a pond with fish anyways.
>Also, your irrigation system must be fine-tuned to deliver just enough water to the plants you are growing, so it doesn't drain to other plants that you did not have any intention of watering.
No it doesn't. Even in drought areas the amount of water needed to water a garden is negligible as long as you don't make the mistake of leaving it bare earth.
>In any case, this is a moot point, because most gardeners do not have irrigation systems
Virtually all of them do, they are called sprinklers.
>And if you're just starting out, there is no guarantee you will have good soil
That's true, especially in modern subdivisions where they scrape off the top soil, sell it, and then back fill with clay excavated for the basement, leaving you with no soil and a thin layer of sod that needs constant watering to survive. But I think it is still cheaper to just do a normal garden. All you need is some organic waste to pile up in layers, no need to try to fix the clay below, just ignore it: http://organicgardening.about.com/od/startinganorganicgarden...
That is assuming you have a pond. And even in that case, you need to get rid of the nitrogen build up somehow: either frequent water changes, or bio-filtration (which is a form of aquaponics).
> No it doesn't. Even in drought areas the amount of water needed to water a garden is negligible as long as you don't make the mistake of leaving it bare earth.
You do realize that not all water goes to the plants you're targeting, right? Some of it will run off and/or water other plants that you're not harvesting. That was my point about the water.
> Virtually all of them do, they are called sprinklers.
The burden of proof is on you to prove that virtually all gardeners have sprinklers (the automated ones, anyway... we were discussing automated irrigation systems).
> But I think it is still cheaper to just do a normal garden. All you need is some organic waste to pile up in layers ...
Sure, it's cheaper when you have organic waste available for free in a convenient fashion (i.e. not something you have to haul from your city's waste center). Also cheaper when you just want the veggies, not the fish. A lot of people enjoy eating fish, however. If you want to grow fish and veggies in your backyard, aquaponics really is the best choice.
Yes. And that does not matter at all, which is what I said.
>The burden of proof is on you to prove that virtually all gardeners have sprinklers (the automated ones, anyway... we were discussing automated irrigation systems).
You said they don't have irrigation systems, not that they aren't automatic.
>And even in that case, you need to get rid of the nitrogen build up somehow: either frequent water changes, or bio-filtration (which is a form of aquaponics).
Trying to pretend normal aquatic plants existing in a normal pond is the same as your aquaponics system, and thus your system "wins" is disingenuous in the extreme.
>Sure, it's cheaper when you have organic waste available for free in a convenient fashion (i.e. not something you have to haul from your city's waste center).
How is hauling it from your city's waste center more expensive than your $500 setup exactly? A truck rental is $20.
>If you want to grow fish and veggies in your backyard, aquaponics really is the best choice.
For some people it may be, but this insistence on making unsupported sweeping claims reeks of snakeoil salesmen. I grow fish and veggies. It costs me $0. How would your system be better?
I know me, and I am the laziest gardener ever so low-maintenance is about the best perk there could be.