What is Sol d'Oro Aquaponics?

Sol d'Oro (or Sole d'Oro) means "Golden Sun"  in Italian and is the name of the Alverno Student Aquaponics and Pond project.  The name refers to the Villa Del Sol d'Oro on the campus of Alverno High School.

The façade of the Villa is a two-thirds scale replica of the Villa Collazi near Florence, which is said to have been designed by Michaelangelo.  An important part of our project is to design our aquaponics system in the style of Renaissance Tuscan architecture.

How will this project encourage and foster our idea of service?

In addition to an invaluable learning experience for the students in an important emerging farming technology to address the food global crisis, the knowledge acquired will enable the students to provide technical support and outreach to local and global communities.

The students of Alverno will benefit through hands-on learning, the Sierra Madre community through outreach, and the global community through our cooperation with an organization working to establish sustainable food production for the people of Cambodia, with a focus on aquaponics.

Who will benefit from this project in our community?

The system will be constructed during the 2014-16 school years by students in the AP Environmental Science class and the Alverno Science Club, with the technical support of Prof. Erika Catanese and the Pasadena City College (PCC) Aquaponics Group, which has completed numerous aquaponics projects.  The idea is to combine utility with a design that is appropriate to the Villa’s Renaissance Tuscan aesthetic.

The project will impact the students by engaging them in meaningful scientific practices, and the local and global community will benefit through education and outreach.  Local outreach will take the form of educational presentations to local schools, as well as an informational website.

What does the pond look like right now?

How will we raise funds for this project?

We are in the process of applying for mini-grants, and we will look for affordable sources for the items that we need, including donations of hardware and pond life.

Items needed:

Aquatic plants, fencing and posts, fish, fancy shrimp, crawdads, water plants, etc.

What is Aquaponics?

Aquaponics combines hydroponics with aquaculture.  In aquaponics systems, the fish are fed, the waste is broken down by natural bacteria and the nutrients are available to the plants. The roots of the plants take up the nutrients directly from the water and so clean the water. The same 'plant filtered' water then goes back to the fish tanks.

Aquaponics is an economical and compact system of farming that has the potential for providing local communities and families with healthy sustainable food sources, while conserving water, utilizing captured water, and providing potable water.  This impacts remote or impoverished communities who may have limited access to clean drinking water or fresh food.