Gunnar Shaffer: So an Aquaponics system is basically using aquatic life and plants and you're going at a symbiotic relationship so that the plants can be fed by the fish and your only input is your fish food. So your fish food is basically eaten by the fish, the fish turn it into waste automatically. There are different bacteria that then transform that into fertilizer for the plants.
Francisco Quintanar: I'm basically in charge of the control systems and the embedded systems. Well basically, it's just we want to make this system accurate. So we're gonna incorporate some sensors and LCD screens, so people can easily see what's going on with the system.
Cindy Achieng: So my main roles in the project are working on the chemistry of the water, to make sure that the plants get their nutrients and the fish grow well, and bacteria as well. I also worked on the battery system, and calculated how much energy storage we needed for the system.
Chris Soensken: My main role was more of the mechanical side of the project. So water flow, the pumping, piping, I had to deal with all the friction losses and power and size the pumps so that it could actually do the work. And then also so that it would fit within our power budget.
Gunnar Shaffer: We would like to thank our faculty and facility services here at John Brown, without them it would have been impossible to implement this project. We would also like to thank our sponsor, which is Hidden Creek in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Francisco Quintanar: So it's this whole integration part that is so hard because these four minds working separate some times. So you have to come together and present a good project, and a working project for this organization.
Gunnar Shaffer: And getting that all together has been, very challenging, but proved to be very rewarding when it did work.