Our Product
The Wicking Bed Appliance
Water-smart growing, engineered for your home. The WBA uses passive capillary action to feed plants exactly what they need — no sprinklers, no guesswork, no waste.
How it works
The WBA is a living ecosystem — an integrated loop between an aquatic biome and a terrestrial one. Fish produce ammonia; bacteria convert it to plant food; plants grow in fabric pots wicked by a shared sand layer; and a small electronic brain keeps the chemistry balanced so the system largely runs itself.
This isn't a new idea — it's a modern take on chinampas, the floating raised-bed gardens that made Aztec agriculture some of the most productive farming in history. We've added two refinements: rain-style oxygenation that showers water down through the system, and a sealed, light-blocked nitrification chamber that gives bacteria the dark, oxygen-rich conditions they need to do their work fast.
Rain chamber
An enclosed dark chamber where water rains constantly downward from the sand layer above, supplying oxygen to nitrifying bacteria living on submerged rocks. This is where ammonia is converted to nitrites and nitrates, which are then pumped back up into the sand layer and absorbed by plant roots.
Fish pond
Fish waste continuously adds ammonia to the pond water, which flows to the rain chamber where bacteria consume it. Pond plants do double duty — feeding the fish and stripping soluble organics from the water to keep it clean.
Fabric pots
Soil-filled fabric pots sit on the wet sand surface, which wicks moisture upward up to 11" depending on soil conditions. Pot height controls moisture level — raise a pot for drier conditions, lower it for wetter. Worms and bokashi added to pots thrive in the constant moisture.
Sand layer
The interface between the aquatic and terrestrial biomes. Pond water is pumped into the sand, which distributes it in all directions — and especially downward, where it becomes the "rain" that oxygenates the chamber below.
Irrigation manifold
A network of pipes that distributes pond water evenly across the sand layer without creating standing pools on the surface. This protects soil nutrients from washing into the pond and minimises evaporation losses.
Water pump
The heart of the system, running continuously to circulate nutrients from the fish pond through the rain chamber and up into the sand layer — reaching every corner of the ecosystem.
Brain
Monitoring electronics that keep water chemistry in the ideal zone for nitrification, regulate water flow, and surface only the alerts that actually require human attention — unburdening the user from routine non-critical maintenance.
Better for the environment
Conventional raised-bed gardening wastes most of its water to evaporation and deep drainage before roots ever reach it. The WBA was designed from the ground up to close that loop.
- 50–70%
less water used
The sealed reservoir and sand layer prevent evaporation, and a single shared pump continuously recirculates the same water instead of draining and replacing it.
- Zero
nutrient runoff
Nutrients — from soil amendments and fish waste alike — stay inside the closed loop, filtered and returned to the root zone instead of leaching into surrounding soil or waterways.
- Year-round
on rainwater alone
With roughly 1,200 gallons of rainwater storage, a WBA can run through a full season without any municipal water. Greywater is best avoided — residues that are harmless to plants can harm the fish.
- Extended
growing season
The thermal mass of the reservoir and fish pond moderates root-zone temperature, buffering plants against overnight cold and midday heat spikes.
- Hands-off
watering & feeding
Set a fabric pot on the wet sand and walk away — it draws up water and nutrients on its own. Today the only regular tasks are feeding the fish and topping up the reservoir; the optional "brain" automates even that.
- No
composting required
Kitchen scraps go straight into the soil as Bokashi — a fermented fertilizer that recycles household nutrients on-site without a compost pile.
- Beyond
what aquaponics can grow
Because plants grow in real soil rather than just water or gravel, the WBA can grow crops that struggle in conventional aquaponics — potatoes, carrots, celery, other root vegetables, and even small trees.
Build it yourself
We believe this technology should be accessible to everyone, so we're documenting the full design for anyone who wants to build their own. A WBA is five subsystems wired together around a single shared pump:
- –A sealed reservoir lined with sand and topped with fabric grow pots
- –A fish pond that supplies the system's nitrogen
- –A dark, sealed nitrification chamber where bacteria convert ammonia into plant food
- –An irrigation manifold that spreads water evenly across the sand bed
- –One pump that drives wicking, filtration, and oxygenation together
A complete build costs well under $500 in materials, before the optional "brain" controller. We're finalising the bill of materials, plumbing diagrams, and step-by-step assembly instructions — full build guide coming soon.
Want the engineered version?
The WBA we manufacture is built from UV-stabilized food-safe HDPE with optimised wicking geometry, pre-formed reservoir chambers, and an integrated biofilter. Add the optional "brain" for automated water chemistry, flow, and refilling. If you'd rather skip the build, check the products page.
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