A week or so ago I ran into an interesting idea at a lawn and garden show. One of the displays was of a vertical garden. It had a forty gallon tank and was an excellent use of space. They said their best customers were home owners and restaurants since the unit takes up very little space and grows an abundance of plants.
It was hydroponic, but I believe the idea would easily work for aquaponics as well. The benefits of aquaponics out way the waste produced in hydroponics. Fortunately, aquaponics is not damaging to the environment since there is no need to dispose of the nutrient mixture in the water. Aquaponics also outproduces hydroponics once the system matures past six months. Check out this youtube video for more benefits of vertical gardening.
The neat thing about the vertical garden I saw was its ability to move. With such a small tank it could be moved indoors when the temperatures outside got too low for plant growth and bacteria survival. Since the days can be very warm and the nights get cold, the system could be moved outside during the day and indoors at night; thus making it easy to capture as much sunlight as possible. The sun grows plants the best. I like LED lights, but the sunshine is free.
LED Grow Lights are by far the best solution for indoor lighting. When you take into account the amount of energy they save over traditional HID lighting, the units pay themselves off very quickly. In fact, I believe the up front investment can be paid off with one round of cucumbers. Good wholesome, organic cucumbers sell for more than other cucumbers and a four by four foot LED light is sufficient to grow an enormous crop. Of course that does not even account for the amount of energy saved by just not running a HID light. Read more information here.
To your successful urban farming,
Scott
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