Toledo, Ohio restaurant to open 8,000-square-foot urban indoor aquaponics farm to supply four area restaurants

New location for Balance Pan-Asian Grill to include urban farm. (Source: WTOL)

Mr. Karamchandani said the Balance operation will use tilapia and prawns, and it will grow all types of leafy greens, any type of fruiting vegetable (such as brussel sprouts), all types of peppers, and herbs. Prawns can be harvested for use in Balance menu items, but the chain does not use fish.

By Jon Chavez
Toledo Blade
Oct 12, 2017

Excerpt:

But next to the 2,300 square foot restaurant the owners plan to build an 8,000-square-foot urban indoor aquaponics farm that will grow enough vegetables, fish, and shrimp to supply their soon-to-be four area restaurants.

“We will grow product and 70 percent of it will be used in our restaurants. The rest we will sell to restaurants in town and in Ann Arbor,” said Mr. Karamchandani. “We’re going to pull out a lot, tons of produce once this gets going.”

The aquaponics farm, which has gotten the necessary permits and approval, is a self-contained symbiotic system that uses water and fish and shrimp to grow produce. It will take about six months to become fully operational.

Aquaponic systems recirculate water from a fish tank through a vegetable bed. Nutrients from the fish waste feed the plants, and the plants filter the water to keep the fish healthy.

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