What would you say if I told you: “You should increase your food security right now”? or “You should have fresh fish, herbs and vegetables at your back door, available all seasons”? I could build an aquaponics system monitor to make it easy!
You might say something like:
Why grow stuff?
During times of crisis, governments have encouraged citizens to grow their own produce.
Whether you believe we’ve nearly reached a crisis point or not may not even matter if you know the pride of harvesting your own fresh produce.
Ever experienced the theraputic sound of trickling water as the smell of fresh basil wafts by while enjoying your morning coffee among your aquaponics system?
More pragmatically you save money and sometimes you just can’t be arsed going to the shops for fresh herbs, amirite?
With a basic system running you you have access to fresh sweet herbs and vegetables for every meal taking pressure off your weekly grocery bill.
You could scale it up any time the proverbial, hits the fan.
Why don’t most people do it?
People are put off growing their own produce because they work long hours, generally short of time and like to go on holiday.
Basically, they don’t have time and don’t like to be tied down.
I’m working on making a seemingly complex system into something that is accessible to all people because ALL people should have the pleasure and security of home-grown food.
We can do this using the modern breakthroughs in ‘Internet Of Things’ technologies. We could have an aquaponics monitoring system.
But first, let’s start at the beginning.
What is aquaponics?
“ Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (the soil-less growing of plants) that grows fish and plants together in one integrated system. The fish waste provides an organic food source for the plants, and the plants naturally filter the water for the fish. The third participants are microbes (nitrifying bacteria). These bacteria convert ammonia from the fish waste… into nitrates. Nitrates… that plants can uptake and use to grow. Solid fish waste is turned into vermicomposting that also acts as food for the plants.”
These systems require knowledge, time and effort.
Many people desire such a system but are put off by the complexity of balancing this biological process.
Sometimes we see problems in the area of fish deaths that can be catastrophic to the entire system. Users must manually test the water quality keeping them tied to the location of the system.
My precious little fish nearly died when I was on holiday.
I left the feeding to my housemate, who overfed them.
When I returned to sideways-swimming-fish, who don’t usually do that, I was shocked.
I managed to save them, but only just in the nick of time, the water had already become septic.
How will technology help?
By adding sensors for PH(acidity), water temperature, ammonia( NH3) and other system parameters. Owners can be linked up to a web service that advises and educates the system owner.
During setup users will input the parameters of their system, such as fish tank volume and fish species.
The software would advise the user on how to manage their specific system.
For example, all species of fish have an optimal water temperature range and stocking densities.
My application would monitor and record data so alert messages can be sent to the user’s telephone in real-time before any catastrophic event.
Imagine that, I could have sent a text to my housemate before the fish got sick. Or even better she could be alerted with the advice not to feed them and in the case of emergency steps to follow.
This system monitor should be “Trump proof” if ya know what I mean. : )
In addition, the recorded data would be available visually so users can look back at the history of their system to make better decisions going forward.
Why stop there? The sky’s the limit.
After the development phase of monitoring, alerting and advising it’s possible to have everything automated.
Imagine, being on holiday, pressing a button to feed the fish while lazing beside a pool with a cocktail. Or checking in on ‘fish cam’ while at a boring meeting on your business trip.
You simply plant, stock the fish and harvest the finest food in the world, because its YOUR food.
Is it a product?
We should all try to leave a positive impact on the planet and its people, but hard work should be rewarded.
I would like to sell and install the product for profit one day. However, I’m a believer in open source code and community development. I wouldn’t like to limit access to this to people who need it the most.
The plan is to keep the code and build instructions open-source but restrict commercial use/theft.
Any advice on intellectual property would be great as it’s completely out of my scope of knowledge so please contact me if you have knowledge on this subject.
In summary!
Isn’t growing your own fresh produce absolutely amazing? Whatever your motivation is aquaponics is awesome but some people do find it a little complex.
My project is an ‘Internet of things’ aquaponics system monitor to make the system easier to own and prevent failures. Phase 2 of the development process would be the automation of the system.
Realistically, what I’m trying to do is quite large. A software company wouldn’t do it for under 100k. I’m gonna need your help.
I’m currently drawing up software architecture, promo material, deciding on software solutions and looking for interested people.
Here’s what you can do:
Join the project on GitHub:
https://github.com/Trevorjoel?tab=projects
Follow all posts about the topic: Here
Architecture documentation draft:
Architecture draft .drawio
Architecture draft PDF
Project requirements/overview draft:
Aquaponics project req-draft
Promotianal infographic:
Promo-intro-to-AP
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