Problem

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a shortage of essential goods, including food. To address this issue, we aimed to create an at-home bioponics aquaponics system that could produce enough food for a family of four indefinitely. However, we faced several challenges in the process.

The first challenge was finding a way to provide organic nutrients for the plants without using fish waste due to the lack of availability during the pandemic. Additionally, we needed to ensure that our design was sustainable and could be used as an off-grid irrigation rainwater catchment system.

Learn more about our project here.

Solution

We decided to use vermicompost as our organic nutrient source instead of fish waste. We combined it with lava rock to house bacteria for conversion into usable plant nutrients. This solution not only addressed the issue of fish waste availability but also created a sustainable and eco-friendly system.

To make our design an off-grid irrigation rainwater catchment system, we connected it with an irrigation system that allowed us to use compost tea from the bioponics aquaponics system as a natural fertilizer for our garden. This solution helped us achieve our goal of creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that could produce food and water without relying on external resources.

Impact

Increased access to fresh produce during the pandemic
Reduced reliance on external resources for food and water
Improved sustainability and eco-friendliness of the system

"Our bioponics aquaponics system not only provided us with fresh produce during the pandemic but also helped us become more self-sufficient and sustainable in our daily lives."

Team

Team Member #1 - Biologist
- Researched and selected appropriate plant species for the system
- Designed and implemented the vermicompost-lava rock nutrient system
Team Member #2 - Engineer
- Designed and built the irrigation system to connect with the bioponics aquaponics system
- Developed a rainwater catchment system to make the design off-grid and sustainable

Sustainable Bioponics System for Pandemic Food Supply