Entry 4: Meeting at IKEA

13 March 2012

Today, we went to IKEA see some of the innovative and perhaps eco-friendly systems that they have been known for, which would then, hopefully, provide for us some ideas to work on in our project.

Even though the first prototype idea had already been formulated, we decided that it would be best that we come up with more ideas first so that we can compare and perhaps modify these prototypes before receiving a prototype that would receive the best of all worlds. Thus, out main purpose in going to IKEA was to develop new ideas and methods to create the Indoor Aquaponics System which had to boast eco-friendliness, convenience and pleasant aesthetics.

The IKEA that we went to was quite small, and thus, the selection of items in it was limited. Because of this, we were unable to find many outstanding or special products which we were ideally looking for. However, when we sat down to rest for a bit, we realised the truth was, the products we needed were actually all around us.

The first idea that we formulated was an idea to create a flowing tray aquaponics system. The trays containing plants and leca in which water would be pumped into were to be placed on the exterior of the fish tank, which was attached to the sides of the fish tank.  Although this idea seemed viable and unique, there were many problems that we anticipated. First, we had no idea how the trays were going to be attached to the tank. Thus, this already affected the effectiveness of our prototype. Furthermore, we also realised that placing the tray at the front of the tank would definitely hinder convenience and aesthetics of the setup. However, we managed to develop ideas for the base of the tray, which were the slope plane as well as the “rice terrace” idea. The slope plane allowed for water to flow down efficiently, however leca would also flow down with the water, which was undesirable. The “rice terrace” base would allow leca to be retained, but the flow of water could be affected.

The second idea that we formulated was to make a hole in the centre of the fish tank, then grow plants in the centre of the fish tank. This boosted the aesthetics of the fish tank, as well as allowed for the effective growth of plants due to it being directly exposed to the light source for the fish tank. However, this idea lacked the factor of convenience to remove it, and we could not think of a suitable container to fill in the hole of the fish tank. The plants that could be grown were also limited due to the lack of space when the hole had four sides which obstructed plant growth. Finally, we realised that we were not being eco-friendly in this idea. Despite the fact that this idea had many flaws, we may still consider improving and using this prototype in the future.

Thus, with all these ideas we had obtained, we concluded that we would finalise these ideas with our mentor in the next meeting.