As we near the final presentations and showing off our final designs our team is assembling all the parts needed to finish our aquaponics model. We’ve been working towards creating functional pieces for the modular plant holders. Last week we finally finished a final design that we think will work well for holding the plants above the fish tank. Kenny and I also worked on creating the actual fish tank for the fishes. The acrylic just came into the Fab Lab so we paid them a visit to try and cut out more of the sides. The visit was very successful as we were able to print out a couple of the sides for our project.

After that we began working on 3D printing a tubing that will help connect our own fish tank to the tube that will run through our modular plant holders. That in itself wasn’t too difficult. We also designed a spout for the water to come out of the containers into our modular plant holders.

Kenny and I also began shopping for prototype fish containers in case we wouldn’t have the final acrylic fish tank ready. We purchased a plastic bin from Wal-Mart to substitute in and hold our fish/water. This will be useful in testing before we work on sealing a whole fish tank. We’ve also begun looking into what type of fish to get as Kenny will be keeping the fish tank to take care of it after we’re done with the project and the semester. Our team also began shopping for vanities for the fish tank to make sure it has a good aesthetic appeal. We bought some blue stones that should give the fish tank a good look. We’re also looking to get some good pebbles that will fit our design for the modular plant holders.