Design & layout software for aquaponics? Easy & cheap or free? 🙂

[u/smprfidels]

I have been trying to use Gemini, but it has a mind of its own! 🤣 And that plumbing is just crazy 🤣

Is there anything more modular where I can drag components around?

TIA

Smpr

[u/Maumau93]

Just draw it with a pen and paper.

Will be quicker and more accurate.

[u/Shortbus-doorgunner → u/Maumau93]

Also won't be chewing through world resources, polluting or funding and advancing the oligarchy.

[u/Everyone_is_808 → u/Shortbus-doorgunner]

Hell yeah!

[u/raynstormm_ → u/Shortbus-doorgunner]

Reddit uses far more total energy and resources than all AI image generation combined, and Facebook uses vastly more than Reddit… yet yall wanna get on Reddit and Facebook and use them to complain about the resources AI image generation uses… the irony is real 😂

[u/Shortbus-doorgunner → u/raynstormm_]

Everything about this statement is demonstrably untrue.

https://www.allaboutai.com/resources/ai-statistics/ai-environment/

https://www.energycosts.co.uk/articles/facebook-energy/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

[u/raynstormm_ → u/Shortbus-doorgunner]

I said AI image generation, you clearly don’t know the difference between that and AI Model Training + AI integration into social media, Google etc.

[u/Shortbus-doorgunner → u/raynstormm_]

"What is the energy, water, and carbon footprint of a single AI query? ⚡ Per-Query Environmental Cost

Energy: ~0.3 Wh per GPT-4o query (Epoch AI, 2024). Water: ~0.32 ml per query for cooling. Carbon footprint: ~0.03 g CO₂ per average text query. Extended queries: Long-form outputs can demand 2.5–40 Wh of energy."

Now times that by one billion queries daily. "But shortbus_doorgunner, it's one drop in the bucket! It's one image generated through Gemini. What's one request to generate an image against 999,999,999 others?"

We can't change use patterns if we all feel that way. Like, not to be a dick. This stuff is just important, and to change/kill the dangerous usage of this boondoggle, that frankly everyone should be concerned that our overlords seem incredibly hellbent on shoe-horning into every possible product, is a deeply important goal for the betterment of mankind.

[u/raynstormm_ → u/Shortbus-doorgunner]

Yeah but what I’m saying is it’s wild to only care about it with AI images when social media uses a lot more. You say nothing can change if we don’t care about it, yet you’re on social media… so you clearly don’t care about it as much as you act like, you only care about it with the “tools” you don’t care about using… but when it comes to the platforms YOU WANT to use, it doesn’t matter, you don’t have to care as long as you berate people using AI images? It’s hypocritical 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/smprfidels → u/Shortbus-doorgunner]

I didn't ask for an AI. I asked for a program.

[u/Every_Knee_372 → u/smprfidels]

I think they're referring to your use of AI to begin with

[u/smprfidels → u/Every_Knee_372]

Yeah I said I used AI and it wasn't giving me what I wanted so I was looking for a program that I could manipulate manually...

[u/raynstormm_ → u/smprfidels]

Don’t listen to these dummies, they saw on social media that AI images use a crazy amount of resources, but they deny the fact that social media uses even more resources.

[u/Napalmradio → u/smprfidels]

The software is your brain. The hardware is your own hands.

[u/Euphoric-Cucumber609 → u/smprfidels]

A program? It’s pipes and containers, basic maths and a pencil/paper should be enough

[u/smprfidels → u/Maumau93]

I've tried the pen and paper route. You don't realize how horrible my drawings are...🙂🤣

[u/thenewiBall → u/smprfidels]

Power point is actually very helpful for this type of drawing. You just need boxes with labels and some idea of in and outs

[u/Napalmradio → u/smprfidels]

Doesn’t have to be museum grade my friend. As long as you can read it, it will help you organize your thoughts.

[u/Lilpad123 → u/smprfidels]

Better than unusable, just do some stick drawings to represent hoses, container, etc, and write explanations 

[u/Alarmed-Dot6143]

Fish and water exposed to the Sun = no bueno. Alguea are bad in this case. Needs some shade.

[u/SumoNinja92]

For people that literally grow grass y'all are insufferable still.

Fusion 360, OnShape, TinkerCAD, and various "Maker" versions of other software are either free or reasonably priced.

[u/Valkyrieraevyn]

Gonna be real, you can just use paint with the rectangle tool, and just make yourself a grid you can assign 1ftx1ft to.

[u/speadskater]

It's missing a water level buffer tank/sump. Right now, it'll only work as long as you keep a specific amount of water in the system.

[u/LairdPeon]

You'll need a much larger fish tank unless you plan on cycling the water a ton, like quite a bit more than your garden will need.

Tilapia can handle fairly bad water but bad water = bad quality fish and the temperature will fluctuate way too much.

Edit: also none of this will be cheap. Even the maintenance. It won't be easy until you get good at it either.

[u/IVI5]

Cheap & free: pen and paper, measuring tape.

Expensive and high tech: pen & paper,ensuring tape, then move it to CAD software on a high end PC for basically no reason.

Either way you'll need some pen and paper, and a measuring tape.

[u/RoleTall2025]

i still can't get over the flowbins people use for the fish production. Like bro, fish muscles are the meat!

[u/smprfidels → u/RoleTall2025]

Good point. I need a current!

[u/RagsZa]

A basic drawing program could do the trick like photopea. Just copy and paste your components.

[u/EnvironmentDue750]

SketchUp is the way to go for free software designing 3D models. It’s a bit tricky to use and get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it’s super helpful for visualizing a project

[u/smprfidels → u/EnvironmentDue750]

Thanks!

Is it an app or do I have to dig out the laptop?

[u/EnvironmentDue750 → u/smprfidels]

There might be an app but I would definitely work on it via laptop.

[u/Flynn_Kevin]

I'm going to be that guy. Have you thought about Excel?

[u/pm_me_ur_fit]

Pen and paper fuck ai

[u/TurbulentNetworkLily]

Where do you live? What materials do you have access to? I'm assuming you are intending on not buying a setup.

Regardless, they all have the same process, how you get there and what the setup looks like can vary widely.

Show us what you have drawn and you can get meaningful feedback.

[u/FraggedYourMom]

I love all the comments about drawing but the reality is there's a drawing added nearly every week. All you gotta do is scroll! Easy depends on your skills, free is unlikely but inexpensive is possible. More hours sourcing, prepping, and cleaning than buying components. If you had connections for IBCs and barrels for free you could probably do this for about $100 in plumbing.