The lush backyard garden, with therapy pool in the foreground, hosts the green wall, which reduces the house’s drain on city water by 75 percent. Hidden behind the stone feature wall are three 800-gallon rainwater tanks that store whatever water falls from the skies.

Aquaponics is up for funding on Kickstarter until December 15. If successfully funded, the tanks will reach consumers in February 2013. If you'd like to donate and be one of the first people to receive a tank, click here.

"We went into this with no preconceptions of shape, size, or materials," Nikhil says. "We had just fallen in love with this concept of aquaponics at the largest scale—visiting big commercial farms—and had this passion for making that amazing technology and science accessible to more people."

Designing the tank brought about a few extra challenges, Arora says. "We explored various shapes—eventually landing on a pot shape icon to represent the innovation here. The geometry is more cubic than cylindrical, the most efficient use of space." The net pods on top can handle just about any small, leafy herb or spice—even flowers. Placed near a window with direct sunlight year-round, the plants can take care of themselves without the tank becoming too hot since the pods on top shelter it.

Ease of use is a driving force behind the design: not only do you not have to clean the tank, the only needed fertilizer comes directly from the fish's waste and the only water is pumped from the tank—everything about it is self-regulated. The tank comes in at roughly 10" wide, by 11" high, by 6" deep—smaller than your average toaster oven.

Five "net pods" float above the tank in a small pool of water. Fish create waste that the tank then siphons up into the planters to provide fertilizer. A classic form of "upcycling," this means you don't have to clean the fish tank.

The final product is small enough to sit on a kitchen counter without being an obstacle. At three gallons, the tank is ideal for one three-inch-long fish or a few smaller one-inch fish. The founders recommend goldfish, betas, and other easy to care for species.

Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez left their jobs in favor of starting a project to help people grow their own food. After successfully launching their mushroom kit for a scant $5,000, Arora and Velez hope to continue to get more people to grow their own herbs and spices—this time with a fully sustainable fish tank. Arora and Velez posted their project on Kickstarter with the goal to raise $100,000 to fund manufacturing.

Another perk is the connection it can have with children. It can teach them the importance of fresh food as well as taking care of the fish—feeding the fish is just about the only real responsibility here. "Our goal was to center around the idea of beauty through simplicity and ease of use. To make a system so intuitive even kids could understand it right away," Arora says.

Aside from being a great example of recycling materials, the design of the Aquaponics kit is remarkable. If funded, the plan is to make the final product out of a combination of plastic, acrylic, and glass. Arora and Velez worked with a designer to come up with the form, function, and shape of the tank, ultimately finishing with a compact design.

The showers are made from stock-watering tanks from the Ideal Stock Tank Co. and have waterproof canvas curtains. Less expensive than prefab shower-tub units, stock tanks are built of weatherproof galvanized steel and are sturdy enough for cows to drink from—–and, ergo, for you to bathe in.

The striking glass-and-copper Tank Jug Glass Pitcher, designed by Tom Dixon, resembles a piece from a chemistry set.

Tom Dixon's The Tank Series, inspired by chemistry equipment, includes this sculptural Glass Pitcher ($125) made from hand-blown glass and painted copper at its base. Whether contrasted against the color of its contents, or standing alone, the piece makes a distinctive visual statement.

A worker operates the float-sink tank. Heavier, nonrecyclable materials sink to the bottom, leaving on the water's surface only rPET, which then becomes white rinse flake.

The studio is clad in corrugated tin, echoing the adjacent water-storage tanks, which collect and filter rainwater off the roof.

A fiberglass door covers a void in the wall that holds a solar-powered water heater, a propane tank, and wood for a fire bowl.

A 3,000-liter rainwater harvesting tank is located beneath the rear deck, which is made from spotted gum with an oiled finish.

Dylan, 10, and Zoe, 13, have a lazy float down the creek, Huck Finn–style, in a steel horse-watering tank.

The espresso maker includes a removable water tank and a cup-warming tray.

The rooftop garden planters were developed using computer software that eliminated the need for screws or glue. They hold an array of local plants and also funnel rainwater into a collection tank below.

The exterior is wrapped in cement fiber boards with a Cembrit patina finish. Due to a lack of onshore infrastructure, a big challenge of the project was the addition of self-contained sewage and clear water tanks.

The renovation revealed a 30-foot-deep well beneath the bedroom, which the team half-jokingly considered turning into a fish tank. Instead, they opted for a simple bedroom with plenty of built-in storage.

At left, Little Printer, a desktop printing device that generates personalized newspapers on receipt paper, and at right, Aquafarm. The countertop aquaponics system cleans out the fishbowl automatically and uses the waste to fertilize plants above.

Texas. The Cricket Trailer, made in Houston, can sleep up to two adults and two children. With integrated fresh water and greywater tanks along with a water heater, campers can live off-the-grid in the easily towable unit.

The concrete slab roof was made from precast panel forms. "The main roof is also a roof garden completely free from infrastructures such as water tanks and solar panels, which are then located at the rear of the plot, taking advantage of its sloped section," says the firm.

Unlike its next-door neighbor, R-House, TED wasn’t originally planned to meet the exacting Passive House standard. The building’s green bona fides came largely from four roof-mounted thermal solar panels and a 120-gallon water storage tank that architect Tim McDonald attests would have met nearly all of the home’s heat and hot-water needs. After submitting the proposal, though, he completed a course in the Passive House standard. Inspired, McDonald modified the original approach, ditching the tank and thermal panels in favor of a highly insulated, airtight envelope—the equivalent, he says, of shielding the house from the harsh Syracuse winter with a fur coat instead of a windbreaker.

A peek at the rooftop terrace. Here, rainwater is collected for the gravity tanks behind.

The 301-square-foot cabin is situated on 99 acres on Bruny Island, an island off the coast of Tasmania. For the exterior, the architects have chosen materials that "comply with the Bushfire Attack Level of 19," they explain, including bushfire resistant wood and zincalume metal. The cabin collects its own rainwater—storage tanks are underground for an uncluttered look—and the roof sports solar panels.

Living in a remote cabin poses challenges in the cold winter months. “The latest challenge is keeping the two 1000-liter backup rainwater tanks in the shed at the back of the house from freezing,” says the owner. “I experimented this winter with installing a doc-fan ventilation system in the connecting wall that pushes heat from inside the house to the shed to keep it hovering just above freezing point.”

The energy-efficient home includes water tanks plumbed into sanitary units and double glazing throughout.

The bedroom houses a fitted double bed and wardrobe, as well as an integrated, stainless-steel fresh water tank.

The weathering steel exterior pays homage to the owner’s youth, which was spent welding oil tanks.

The home has a DIY stock tank pool in the backyard where the kids can splash around in summer.

A hanging bell made from an air tank with the bottom sliced off sits on the path from the parking field.

Jason "Jay" Brommel hacked this bike by attaching a propane tank and (illegal) fireworks to create the Rocket Bike.

A concrete block tower in the garden beside the home contains a water tank and solar heating boiler with a shower below.