How We Built a Vertical Aquaponics System in a Tiny NYC Apartment
NYC Apartment Aquaponics
My boyfriend John and I designed a compact, vertical aquaponics system for our one-bedroom New York City apartment to overcome space constraints. We share our step-by-step build guide, recent improvements like better drainage and lighting, and hard-learned lessons about cycling tanks and avoiding overfeeding. Our setup supports shrimp, snails, and leafy greens, proving that urban farming is possible even in small spaces.
We learned the hard way that many of these popular species can have major immunity issues and may be bred in poor conditions.
- NoLinkToMe
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 Kentucky land. Then you pay $170 a year to power the system for again, 1 square meter.
Meanwhile the 1 square meter produces like less than $100 in annual produce.
Green house farms like in the Netherlands have perfected this growing method and it’s quite effective. Home food production is a joke by comparison just like home anything production of a commodity product.
So fun DIY projects but as a serious way to grow food it’s terrible, not economical or sustainable. I tore down my project the same year I built it, taught me a lot but made no sense to continue.
- WillAdams
I can still remember ads for the "Biotron" flourescent grow system in various magazines back in the '70s --- the ad featured roses, but of course the actual usage was typically for growing marijuana. (Later that name was co-opted by the Micronauts toy line/comic books for a character).
The O Garden seemed an interesting modern spin (couldn't resist the pun):
https://www.coolthings.com/ogarden-rotating-indoor-planter-w...
(but I think they went under? The footprint was kind of extravagant)
I still think someone needs to work up a unit designed to fit next to a refrigerator --- bonus points for circulating filtered air so that the heat from the fridge is harvested for the plants.
The other option I've been curious about is a window unit mounted like an in-window air conditioner (maybe you could combine the two? harvest the condensate and heat for the benefit of the plants?)
- keiferski
My favorite part of Gibson’s Count Zero was always the hydroponic gardens covering an entire floor of a New Jersey housing complex. Probably not as realistic as the setup in the link, but both are still very cool ideas.
- leobg
For once a post that’s not about AI on HN’s front page again. And the main comments are about liability risk?
- comrade1234
Isn't weed legal now in NY?