indoors or greenhouse?

[activa]

We recently moved into a new home that I designed. It has a 2-story "atrium" situated between the living room and the dining room, and the entire area is open and faces due south. This atrium has glass panels at the second floor (8' wide x 6' high) and a set of french doors on the first level, about the same size.

I'd like to set up an aquaponics system. I could either build a greenhouse directly off the lower level outside this atrium, and use the door to access it, or I could actually build the system inside in the atrium area. What are the relative benefits and drawbacks to having it inside? My wife wondered about the humidity problem. What about smells? dirt? The area would be on the (stained) concrete pad.

PS I'll post a pic of the area as soon as I find the #$&% camera cable.

[Ravnis]

I've been running an indoor setup up for about a year. The system does make the humidity higher. This is an issue more in the summer as it makes the air conditioner work harder and raises the power bill some. The humidity actually helps in the winter when the air is dryer and the increased humidity makes it feel warmer.

Spills are a high probability. The occasional hose or pipe that comes undone can make a rather large mess quickly. Mine have been caused by family pets(cats) playing in the growbeds, one even used it for a litter box (was scratching my head why the ammonia was spiking after the system had been cycled, till I saw it).

Growbeds can also be attractive to pests such as ants. Discovered a antbed in my well established basil and had to take the whole growbed outside and flood it to convince them to leave.

On the good side:
It is real easy to monitor and check on the system. Getting a salad is easy picking it right before dinner. This is nice in the winter time as you don't have to walk out in the cold to check on it.

Cost: the cost of a greenhouse is an addition. If you regularly keep your home warm you can grow warm water fish indoors for the same heating you use to heat the house.

Weight: water is heavy. 1kg per liter. Depending on the size of the system it can really add up. You also have to add in weight for the media that you use as well as the container. You will have to ensure that your structure can handle the weight of your intended system.


The biggest one is that the system is never big enough. Having it where you can pipe water to outside growing beds in the summer and then use your greenhouse mainly for overwintering is an advantage to consider.

Smells, a properly balanced system does not really have strong smells. The plants you grow can give off smells. When I grew tomatoes in the house ,the whole house smelled of them everytime i moved the leaves. Might want to consider plants you and anyone else you care about like/tolerate the smell of.

If you like to watch fish, having it inside can really make it fun to watch them. When you walk to the tank they will wag there fins almost like a puppy dog (they don't get to thrilled when they see a net though). In fact, this is an easy way to get tempted to way overfeed them and children love to watch fingerlings play "volleyball" with the pelleted food.