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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Aquaponics/Urban Sustainability: Nutrient Film Technique channel construction

Member Arthur uses drill press/hole saw to cut holes for net pots for his Aquaponic system:
A look inside the nutrient channel:


This project is currently active at Carver elementary school in Richmond, Virginia. There was an unused greenhouse which was dormant for lack of a 'green thumb' among faculty.

Arthur used a little ingenuity and his connections at VCU to make a thriving Aquaponic system that helps teach children about food production in an urban environment.

The goal is to create scholars of Science that value healthy and organic food that otherwise would not have access to such resources which have a high cost of implementation.



A brief summary of Aquaponics:

Aquaponics employs the idea that plants need a source of nitrogen to grow, one of which is fish urine. The nitrogen is unavailable to the plants until a sufficient source of bacteria allows nutrient uptake by the plants.

Incidentally, fish excrement allows for this bacteria to thrive. The plants filter out harmful materials and a closed loop and sustainable version of hydroponics is created.

Follow this project at: http://www.carverponics.org/

[by ed]


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