architect:
Our design started out as an irregular design. It was going to have the fish tank on the top, and the plants on the bottom. However, that idea was quickly scrapped after we decided that the plants would not have enough room to grow. There was a lot of ideas that flew around, but we eventually ended up on our current design, where we have six boxes sitting on top of the fish tank. Each of these boxes are used to plant a separate plant, and the water flows through in two different pipes, and flows out the sides of the box. I think our biggest challenge was actually coming up with the design. We ended up with our design after going through three or four other designs. We kept on adjusting the one with the boxes on the bottom, thinking that we might be able to get it to work. We gave up on that design because it was both too complicated, and the plants would be very short due to the minimal space above the plants. When we moved to the design with the boxes above the aquarium, we had another dilemma, we thought that it would be better if we had something like brackets on the bottom, and then we thought it might be too complicated. Eventually, we made the bottom of the boxes of one row one piece. This saved us having any extra pieces to produce as well as allowed us to let the boxes rest on top of the aquarium without anything holding it but the bottoms of the boxes. A complicated explanation, however there are not many ways of describing how the boxes sit on top of our aquarium. I think this process taught us a lot about the building and design process, seeing as we did make a lot of edits and a lot of mistakes. A really good example of this is that when we got the pieces we discovered several things that were either forgotten, or we did wrong. The first thing, was that I forgot to add holes where the tubing on the boxes would go to travel through the boxes. The second thing was that when I scaled the drawing differently due to the different piece size, I didn't account for the boxes on top. In other words, the boxes we have are now offset from the piece they sit on. I think we lost some space that could've been used for planting, as well as it may disrupt the aesthetics of the aquaponics tank. It has taught me, personally, that you need to be careful and check and recheck something before you decide to submit for the final copy.
builder:
Currently we are in the middle of building the prototype for our aquaponics kit. We have been sanding all of our pieces for the past few days. All our pieces were cut badly so we had to sand all of them to make the sides straight. Our design had a lot of boxes so we have a lot of pieces to sand. All of us worked together to sand all the pieces so we would get done faster. Sometimes we sanded the pieces badly like some of the sides got curved because we sanded badly. That prolonged the process because we had to go back and re-sand those pieces. We glued a couple pieces already. We glued one of the sided to the base of the aquarium. We can't glue anymore anymore pieces because the measurements were wrong. We cut those pieces and we are sanding them now so we can glue them. We glued three of four sides of one of the small boxes. We have have to get a few pieces cut because we need holes in them and we forgot to put them in.
Our plan is to first complete all the sanding. We need to finish that before we do anything else. After we finish that, we will start gluing. We will assemble the aquarium first, then do the small boxes.
I learned a lot of lessons during this project. I learned that even the smallest mistake can ruin the whole project. We have to plan everything before we start building and before we get our pieces cut. We had a couple wrong measurements and we didn't put holes in enough pieces. We should've double and triple checked our final blue print so we wouldn't have to get them cut again. While gluing, we should have about three people helping: one to glue, one to make sure the sides are aligned, and one to make sure the piece is straight. When we glued, we only had two people, one gluing and the other holding the pieces in place. The piece slid a little to the side and was glued like that. Now it is permanently like that. It's not bad enough to ruin the whole kit, but it it isn't aligned and isn't as good as it could be. I don't think it will leak, but we should've had more people helping on that so we could prevent that from happening.
contractor:
The process in which it takes to build a working and running aquaponics system in very a hard task. There are many little tasks our group had to accomplish the duration of this project was very long. The first step we had to take was to make a rough outline of the design of our system. We had to make a scale drawing of it to find out the dimensions of our system. After we made a scale drawing we made a model with the demotions we came up with. The model was made up of cardboard, it was a rough draft of the model by making this model it helped us work out certain flaws in our design. While we were making the model we were also working on our kickstarter material. On the kickstarter we had to have a description of our product, a video explaining the product and what was going on, and rewards for people who donated money to our project. We had to change the detentions a little before we made the next model. Our design was six individual boxes, but the problem was that we didn't know how to circulate the water through the boxes back into the tank. We solved the problem by drilling whole in the sides and putting gas kits into the boxes so that the tubes could go through. In the middle of this process I was thinking about the team I got and I was thinking that I was really lucky because they always on task and they know what there objectives are. This model was made out of styrofoam. The goal of this model was to make it as precise as we could try to make no mistakes. This one really counted because it was the one right before the actual model that we would make out of plexiglass, and when we have to make it out of plexiglass we can't make any mistakes. The one thing we know we could fix right after we built the model out of plexiglass the platform the boxes was sitting on. Our model had six boxes and it was sitting on a platform of the tank but we made it to short so it collapsed into the tank. We were ready for the plexiglass, but before we could get the plexiglass we had to write down all of our detentions in detail, how much we want where we need the holes. We sent it to a laser cutting plexiglass professional, but when we got the pieces back the cuts of the plexiglass were not exactly 90 degrees. This was a huge problem for our group because we have so many pieces it took us a long time to sand them down to 90 degree angles. It set us back from building for a while. When we got the plexiglass we also noticed that we forgot to put on the pieces sheet that we needed holes in some pieces this did not really set us back because we had to sand for so long, when we were done sanding the pieces were done getting wholes cut into them. We also forgot to a count for the 1/4 inch over lap of the plexiglass on one of the pieces so we had to cut it down a little and sand it. After that we were ready to build the final model out of plexiglass.
More Descriptive Pitch:
We are the creators and designers of the MPX Aquaponics system and we are students at Mid Pacific Institute. Our team is made up by Kai Wilding(salesman), Marshall Mamiya(documentarian), Sean Hochman(builder), Austin Nakamura(Architect), and Josh Millar(contractor) and we are all 9th grade students. We have always thought of sustainability as a huge part in our lives. And through our learning to 9th grade we have learnt about sustainability and our earth. As we have all grown up in the debt and low resources of past generations we have always hoped we could make a difference in this world and create a sustainable future for our generation and future children. Every last one of us in this project are just young hopeful students, who have been given an opportunity to make a difference. And now with your help we can reach our dream. We can create a more sustainable lifestyle for everyone and change the world.
Aquaponics uses a safe Eco system that doesn't require chemicals or enhancing materials to grow the plants. The waste that is produced by the fish is used by the plants for them to grow. This valuable resource allows you to have a sustainable amount of fish and plants for your use. Instead of going to the store and buying vegetables and fish you can take some from your own aquaponics system. It will save you money by shorting your water usage water compared to other growing methods. Across the United States fresh water has been decreasing for us to drink throughout the years. About one quarter of the world's population is in the state having water storage for themselves. The aquaponics system will hopefully help lower that percent because of the fact that aquaponics system use less amount of water compared the original agriculture method that uses irrigation.
Our aquaponics system has a fish tank on the bottom and the 6 individual grow beds on the top. The pump sends the water from the fish tank through the grow beds nurturing the plants using the fish's manure. Since you don't want your plant's roots wet all day long the pump is on a timer. The timer is on for 2 hours constantly circulating the water. When the 2 hours is up the water will flow back into the fish tank. Since the water isn't absorbed by the soil so you do not have to use as much water, as you would in traditional agriculture. Due to evaporation you have to refill the tank only once a week.
Our design started out as an irregular design. It was going to have the fish tank on the top, and the plants on the bottom. However, that idea was quickly scrapped after we decided that the plants would not have enough room to grow. There was a lot of ideas that flew around, but we eventually ended up on our current design, where we have six boxes sitting on top of the fish tank. Each of these boxes are used to plant a separate plant, and the water flows through in two different pipes, and flows out the sides of the box. I think our biggest challenge was actually coming up with the design. We ended up with our design after going through three or four other designs. We kept on adjusting the one with the boxes on the bottom, thinking that we might be able to get it to work. We gave up on that design because it was both too complicated, and the plants would be very short due to the minimal space above the plants. When we moved to the design with the boxes above the aquarium, we had another dilemma, we thought that it would be better if we had something like brackets on the bottom, and then we thought it might be too complicated. Eventually, we made the bottom of the boxes of one row one piece. This saved us having any extra pieces to produce as well as allowed us to let the boxes rest on top of the aquarium without anything holding it but the bottoms of the boxes. A complicated explanation, however there are not many ways of describing how the boxes sit on top of our aquarium. I think this process taught us a lot about the building and design process, seeing as we did make a lot of edits and a lot of mistakes. A really good example of this is that when we got the pieces we discovered several things that were either forgotten, or we did wrong. The first thing, was that I forgot to add holes where the tubing on the boxes would go to travel through the boxes. The second thing was that when I scaled the drawing differently due to the different piece size, I didn't account for the boxes on top. In other words, the boxes we have are now offset from the piece they sit on. I think we lost some space that could've been used for planting, as well as it may disrupt the aesthetics of the aquaponics tank. It has taught me, personally, that you need to be careful and check and recheck something before you decide to submit for the final copy.
builder:
Currently we are in the middle of building the prototype for our aquaponics kit. We have been sanding all of our pieces for the past few days. All our pieces were cut badly so we had to sand all of them to make the sides straight. Our design had a lot of boxes so we have a lot of pieces to sand. All of us worked together to sand all the pieces so we would get done faster. Sometimes we sanded the pieces badly like some of the sides got curved because we sanded badly. That prolonged the process because we had to go back and re-sand those pieces. We glued a couple pieces already. We glued one of the sided to the base of the aquarium. We can't glue anymore anymore pieces because the measurements were wrong. We cut those pieces and we are sanding them now so we can glue them. We glued three of four sides of one of the small boxes. We have have to get a few pieces cut because we need holes in them and we forgot to put them in.
Our plan is to first complete all the sanding. We need to finish that before we do anything else. After we finish that, we will start gluing. We will assemble the aquarium first, then do the small boxes.
I learned a lot of lessons during this project. I learned that even the smallest mistake can ruin the whole project. We have to plan everything before we start building and before we get our pieces cut. We had a couple wrong measurements and we didn't put holes in enough pieces. We should've double and triple checked our final blue print so we wouldn't have to get them cut again. While gluing, we should have about three people helping: one to glue, one to make sure the sides are aligned, and one to make sure the piece is straight. When we glued, we only had two people, one gluing and the other holding the pieces in place. The piece slid a little to the side and was glued like that. Now it is permanently like that. It's not bad enough to ruin the whole kit, but it it isn't aligned and isn't as good as it could be. I don't think it will leak, but we should've had more people helping on that so we could prevent that from happening.
contractor:
The process in which it takes to build a working and running aquaponics system in very a hard task. There are many little tasks our group had to accomplish the duration of this project was very long. The first step we had to take was to make a rough outline of the design of our system. We had to make a scale drawing of it to find out the dimensions of our system. After we made a scale drawing we made a model with the demotions we came up with. The model was made up of cardboard, it was a rough draft of the model by making this model it helped us work out certain flaws in our design. While we were making the model we were also working on our kickstarter material. On the kickstarter we had to have a description of our product, a video explaining the product and what was going on, and rewards for people who donated money to our project. We had to change the detentions a little before we made the next model. Our design was six individual boxes, but the problem was that we didn't know how to circulate the water through the boxes back into the tank. We solved the problem by drilling whole in the sides and putting gas kits into the boxes so that the tubes could go through. In the middle of this process I was thinking about the team I got and I was thinking that I was really lucky because they always on task and they know what there objectives are. This model was made out of styrofoam. The goal of this model was to make it as precise as we could try to make no mistakes. This one really counted because it was the one right before the actual model that we would make out of plexiglass, and when we have to make it out of plexiglass we can't make any mistakes. The one thing we know we could fix right after we built the model out of plexiglass the platform the boxes was sitting on. Our model had six boxes and it was sitting on a platform of the tank but we made it to short so it collapsed into the tank. We were ready for the plexiglass, but before we could get the plexiglass we had to write down all of our detentions in detail, how much we want where we need the holes. We sent it to a laser cutting plexiglass professional, but when we got the pieces back the cuts of the plexiglass were not exactly 90 degrees. This was a huge problem for our group because we have so many pieces it took us a long time to sand them down to 90 degree angles. It set us back from building for a while. When we got the plexiglass we also noticed that we forgot to put on the pieces sheet that we needed holes in some pieces this did not really set us back because we had to sand for so long, when we were done sanding the pieces were done getting wholes cut into them. We also forgot to a count for the 1/4 inch over lap of the plexiglass on one of the pieces so we had to cut it down a little and sand it. After that we were ready to build the final model out of plexiglass.
More Descriptive Pitch:
We are the creators and designers of the MPX Aquaponics system and we are students at Mid Pacific Institute. Our team is made up by Kai Wilding(salesman), Marshall Mamiya(documentarian), Sean Hochman(builder), Austin Nakamura(Architect), and Josh Millar(contractor) and we are all 9th grade students. We have always thought of sustainability as a huge part in our lives. And through our learning to 9th grade we have learnt about sustainability and our earth. As we have all grown up in the debt and low resources of past generations we have always hoped we could make a difference in this world and create a sustainable future for our generation and future children. Every last one of us in this project are just young hopeful students, who have been given an opportunity to make a difference. And now with your help we can reach our dream. We can create a more sustainable lifestyle for everyone and change the world.
Aquaponics uses a safe Eco system that doesn't require chemicals or enhancing materials to grow the plants. The waste that is produced by the fish is used by the plants for them to grow. This valuable resource allows you to have a sustainable amount of fish and plants for your use. Instead of going to the store and buying vegetables and fish you can take some from your own aquaponics system. It will save you money by shorting your water usage water compared to other growing methods. Across the United States fresh water has been decreasing for us to drink throughout the years. About one quarter of the world's population is in the state having water storage for themselves. The aquaponics system will hopefully help lower that percent because of the fact that aquaponics system use less amount of water compared the original agriculture method that uses irrigation.
Our aquaponics system has a fish tank on the bottom and the 6 individual grow beds on the top. The pump sends the water from the fish tank through the grow beds nurturing the plants using the fish's manure. Since you don't want your plant's roots wet all day long the pump is on a timer. The timer is on for 2 hours constantly circulating the water. When the 2 hours is up the water will flow back into the fish tank. Since the water isn't absorbed by the soil so you do not have to use as much water, as you would in traditional agriculture. Due to evaporation you have to refill the tank only once a week.