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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Aquaponics on display

Orr Center project highlights sustainability by growing indoors

Marcus White
Posted 10/17/18

ORR - There is something growing inside the Orr Center, and it’s been a long time coming. After a few unexpected delays, the center is debuting their latest project, an aquaponics system designed …

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Aquaponics on display

Orr Center project highlights sustainability by growing indoors

Posted

ORR - There is something growing inside the Orr Center, and it’s been a long time coming. After a few unexpected delays, the center is debuting their latest project, an aquaponics system designed to highlight a sustainable means of growing food year-round, even in northern Minnesota.

“We want to show people they can be sustainable in their house,” Executive Director Wendy Purdy said. “We try new things to show them how it’s done.”

The center has repurposed an old classroom to house the project, and built the necessary, non-mechanical components out of other repurposed material including old gym floor panels for the tables and river rocks to form the base to hold vegetation in place.

The result is a closed ecosystem within the classroom, free from the constraints of variable year-round temperatures.

Aquaponics works as a two-fold system. Fish grow in a tank attached to a large rubber-lined platform. The platform is filled with small rocks, spread to a depth of a few inches, and vegetable seedlings are set within the rocks, providing enough of a substrate to allow their roots to take hold. Every three hours, a pump in the fish tank discharges a portion of the tank’s water up onto the platform, which then slowly gravity- drains back into the tank. Each flooding provides a new round of water and nutrients from fish waste to the plants and the plants purify the water as it returns to the fish tank, eliminating the waste.

For now, the system is still in an experimental stage, and the center is stocking their fish tank with about 140 goldfish and minnows. Eventually, says Purdy, the center would like to grow tilapia or blue-gills so the fish can also be eaten at maturity.

That’s the idea behind aquaponics, which is supposed to provide both vegetables and meat in a sustainable manner.

For now, Purdy said, there are no plans to sell any of the fish raised by the project since the state requires different certification to sell fish or meat products than it does for vegetables. There are no plans as of yet as to what will happen to the fish if they are unable to be used anymore.

The only part of the process that requires humans is feeding the fish and harvesting them along with the vegetables when they are ready.

Light will eventually be provided by bright LED lights to mimic the sun. Purdy said the ultimate goal is to take the room off the power grid and have it entirely sustained through solar energy.

In order for the whole project to work, Purdy said, the room must be kept above 70 degrees.

The project began two years ago but is only now ready for the public to take part. Purdy said the center is developing classes for the public to come in and learn how the aquaponics process works.

The first produce to come off the tables, which includes tomatoes, peppers and lettuce among several other vegetables that grow above ground, will also be available in about two to three months.

“Food systems are part of our non-profit,” Purdy said. “We have a short growing season in Minnesota, but we grow more if we use spaces in our homes.”

The cost of the system is about $1,500 for the basic certification and the mechanical pumps. Purdy said the center spent about $500 extra to build out tables and other spaces to house the equipment.

The center is in the process of forming a local farmers market, which Purdy said will feature produce grown in the aquaponics room.

No plans have been made as to when classes may begin, but Purdy said anyone with some spare time could volunteer and learn how to maintain the project by calling 218-780-5300.