Pictures!

This is the state of things a week or so ago - prior to me discovering that I had utility cables running only a few inches below the surface and wouldnt be able to dig down.

My mustard plant, while it was still planted inside.

The current state of the greenhouse. I made it short because the townhome covenants say structures have to be no higher than the brick wall at the end of the property. FWIW, my next door neighbor is going to have to remove the fancy storage shed you see in the pics - not a happy thing to learn after youve spent time and $$ putting something in...

The grow bed that is up and running. I used hydroton because I needed to get one bed working to host plants that were inside, since I moved my indoor growbed outside. So nice not having to deal with gravel on the planting layer!

A bed prepped with gravel in the bottom. Theory is this will help anchor plants that would tend to fall over in hydroton or shale aggregate. Besides, it displaces $$$ of the more expensive lighter stuff, and it is already pregnant with the happy bacteria that transform ammonia to nitrate.

Im waiting to get expanded shale aggregate for the final beds - having a local business special order it from Bigelow Brook Farm and TheAquaponicSource.com.

A shot of my bell siphon, showing the 45 degree bend and my new sliced drain tube. I have a small hole at the base of my standpipe so any extra water can drain out when power goes out (like at night if I turn off the pump). The good thing is I wont have plants drowning in standing water. The bad thing is I always have a small dribble. This sliced drain tube takes the trickle down to the water surface (no noise) and still lets the siphon break. It ingests air into the flow, but keeps the noise of the full siphon action pretty low.

Heres a detail of the construction. Because my townhome covenants require me to keep this thing really short, the PVC sleeves allow me to temporarily raise the roof an additional 24 inches. Its also more forgiving than EMT couplers would be. I drilled through the PVC and EMT and connected them using a toggle bolt - looks kind of spiffy, I think. I should have painted the PVC to extend the life of these legs, but it wont be too hard to replace them. Lets pretend I am leaving them unpainted on purpose, to see how long it takes for them to become so brittle they dont work anymore... Since the PVC sleeves arent load-bearing, I should be good for a long time.

I used 10 foot wide sheeting, so had to join the roof sheeting with a 5 foot wide side piece. I did this by connecting the two sheets and rolling them around EMT conduit, then screwing the conduit to the frame with 2-hole straps using self-tapping screws.

The 2-hole EMT straps can also be bent so they serve as clips - useful for fastening the plastic until I have my end walls built.

Finally, a shot of my rain barrel. We made this at a county workshop using 65 gallon pickle barrels. It would be relatively simple to update the greenhouse design to include rain gutters if the greenhouse wasnt close to another water source. I dont have solar panels (yet) but the pump and bubblers draw in the neighborhood of 120 watts. Seems it would be perfectly possible to power a system like Ive got here off solar, particularly if you shut the pump off at night.

So, those are the pics. Enjoy!

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Some Pictures

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Connecting the Tanks Pictures from 29 April

Piping connecting the fish tank to the sump

To achieve a "constant height of pond" (CHOP) in my bigger tank, I needed to install pipes to let water flow down to the sump.

I used 3/4" pipes to plumb through the tank walls, because that way I could get away with using the 1" drill bit. I drilled two holes near the top of the tank, in the recessed ribs so the piping wouldnt stick out as far. If I was doing this a second time, I would locate the holes a couple of inches lower, but this works.

Once the two pipes coming from the fish tank join, I transition to 1" piping, to make sure flow out of the fish tank isnt restricted by the plumbing joining the tanks.

[After I already had the fish in the tank, I realized I would have to turn the tank so the side with the ribs close together faced the sump. Not sure the fishes liked having the water drained down to almost empty, but I was glad to be able to move the tank without having to net everyone out.]

The fish tank, with pipes to suck water up from the bottom

The 3/4" pipes in the fish tank extend down to the bottom, forcing water from the bottom of the tank to flow out of the tank when the grow beds drain into the fish tank. I drilled a pattern of 13 holes in each end-cap and cut small slices at the very end of the pipe with my miter saw. This allows enough flow through the bottom of the pipe so water drains well (else the fish tank could overflow). The reason to use two pipes is so drainage can still happen even if one pipe gets blocked.

This picture was taken before I actually plumbed the two tanks together, so the 1000 gph pump is still in the fish tank. I used regular 5/8 hose and a garden hose splitter. Turns out 5/8" no-kink garden hose and regular splitters work fine - they are inexpensive and come with built in ball valves. After these pictures were taken, I replaced the green hose with white hose that is lead-free and certified safe to use with drinking water.

Goldfish in the sump

Once I get to the sump, I transition back to 3/4" pipes, again so I could get away with my 1" drill bit. You can see the 45 degree joint that lets the water from the grow beds and fish tank flow into the sump with minimum noise.

Ive been running the system for almost a week since these pictures were taking, and it works just fine.

Grow bed 1 of 4 (lots of different plants)

For the record, heres what the grow beds looked like when I plumbed the tanks together.

Grow bed 2 of 4 (lots of basil)

Grow bed 3 of 4

I ended up adding hydroton to all my beds when I couldnt coordinate getting the expanded shale delivered before my fish had to be bought. Too much travel, between spring break vacation and work trips.

Even though I would have preferred the expanded shale, a nice thing about the hydroton is it is distinctly different in color and shape from couple inches of gravel from my original system in the bottom of each grow-bed.

Grow bed 4 of 4 (check out the banana plant)

In the week since these pictures were taken, Ive shifted the pump to the sump, invented a way to keep the water topped up, and built kiddie covers for the tanks. But Ill cover those items in future posts.

Gnight!

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