The next deliverable that we developed was a prototype design. This was an aquaponic system design that we aimed for the average person to be able to build. Deciding on a design was not simple. It took a lot of consideration of different system, hearing recommendations from the field and lots of research. We did this by looking at online resources, conducting interviews with hobbyists and professionals, along with working with our sponsors. Our sponsor Burton Julius was very helpful in deciding what systems the average person in Namibia would be able to build.
When it comes to the materials that we chose to be included in our system, our interviews were crucial. Both hobbyists and professionals gave a thorough insight into what works well in a system and what does not. The specific design that we proposed can be in the manual below.
This manual is aimed to walk someone how to construct a similar system, proposing our design as a guiding aid. We also discuss why someone may want to build the system and what materials could be used and we included in our design. If you would like to see a clearer image of the manual, please see the PDF below.
We hope that this prototype design gives a full picture of everything we have learned goes into an aquaponic system. While it is a simple design, it still takes the understanding of the system and how it functions, in order to construct it. You could potentially even use this manual in order to help you build your very own system!
For a more detailed walk through of our design (made in CAD), please see our next post. This post has an instructional video of how to build the system, showing each part individually and how they fit together. Seeing the visual in the video can help in making the aquaponic system truly come alive!
To create the manual infographic we used canva.com
All sources can be found at the bottom right infographic listed under references