Chapters 10 and 11

It seemed easy to say that an aquaponics system needed fish, water, and plants but the more I read on, the more complicated the process seems to get. The specific care needs for the plants and fish make sense, but the water is what surprised me the most. The chemistry moves past the simple bond between hydrogen and oxygen to pH and beyond. Given our knowledge, as architects, about room temperature and psychometrics, it makes sense that water temperature might also have comparable considerations, I just never thought of it that way. The amount of oxygen water can hold is not only affected by temperature, but also by altitude and barometric pressure. "Oxygen is more easily dissolved into wear at low altitudes than at high altitudes, because of atmospheric pressure is higher at lower altitudes," according to Sylvia Bernstein. It was interesting to read about the different oxygen requirements of the fish based on their native environments, which related back to the importance of temperature and pressure.

Perhaps what I found most interesting about this set of readings was Sylivia's question of, "To eat or not to eat?" It seems that making every other decision at the beginning of the project is critical, but with this one you can change your mind. I enjoyed the personal story she included about her initial intentions to eat the fish and how that decision may have changed over time. We don't necessarily think about the killing and eating of animals, we usually just think about the eating part. When faced with the task of having to do the killing ourselves, that distinct line becomes more blurry. This is especially true for scenarios when we have grown and bonded with the animals as Sylvia did with her fish.