Uncommon Goods AquaFarm Review

A few weeks ago I was contacted by UncommonGoods.com to see if I would like to review one of their unique store items. We chose the AquaFarm by Back To The Roots. This little fish tank comes with absolutely everything you need (including a coupon for a .99 cent beta fish at Petco) to house a fish and grow wheat grass on top through a process called Aquaponics.

What is Aquaponics? The adorable all recyclable packaging says, "it is a closed-loop, sustainable farming system that combines traditional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water). 1. Fish produce ammonia-rich waste 2. Beneficial bacteria in the water convert ammonia into nitrites. These naturally occurring bacteria grow really well on the rocks in the net pots and tank. 3. Nitrates are toxic to fish, but amazing food for plants! As the plants constantly uptake nitrates as their food to grow, they are also cleaning the water for your fish. This clean water then falls back into the tank."

 

Does it work? We were a little skeptical about growing wheat grass in rocks with just a little water that gets filtered up from the fish tank, but after 3 days we had 1 inch sprouts and after 2 weeks they are about 6 inches long. My husband (the health nut) drinks wheat grass so he thinks this is amazing. We have had a lot of fun learning about aquaponics as a family. We tried to sprout spinach in the two cups above that are empty. The spinach hasn't taken yet but we are going to give it a little more time. Wheat grass grows fast, like an 1/2 inch a day.

The label on the tank is removable and re-positionable. We opted to keep it on but here is a picture of the tank without it. We are really enjoying this. 

Have you checked out UncommonGoods.com ? 

Here are some links to other Uncommon Goods products that are on my Christmas lists:

www.uncommongoods.com/product/pick-punch

http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/kinetic-sand

www.uncommongoods.com/occasions/christmas-gifts/christmas-gifts

I will be doing a lot of my Christmas shopping at UncommonGoods.com it's full of unique Earth friendly items. I love this part of their mission statement:

"Handmade, Recycled and Organic Products
We're committed to offering you a creative and exciting merchandise assortment and are working with our suppliers - from artists to small manufacturers - to make their products in a more socially and environmentally responsible manner. Since our founding, we've featured products that contain recycled components and have not sold products containing leather, feathers or fur - our goal is to sell no product that harms humans or animals."

I hope you will check them out.

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for UncommonGoods.com they provided me with an AquaFarm for review purposes. As always my post contains my unbiased opinion.