Aquaponics System, Passive Solar Greenhouse build
 

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1458916235

We started out with our Chevy Volt then my wife and I were talking and we said it would be nice to charge our Volt with solar power. So I did an install 9.2 kw solar array.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-...lar-array.html

We wanted to heat with some of that solar power so I installed some Mini splits with help from others here. They are working great.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/geothe...t-install.html

We added LED lights and reduced standby power hogs. We are replacing appliances with energy star appliances as they die. We added a super energy efficient pool pump.

Then we said it would be nice to not have a power bill at all. We upgraded our solar to 12.5kw.

We will netzero this year.

That brings to wanting to be more self-sufficient for our food. We added chickens the 8 hens provide us with all the eggs we need and we give some away.

The next step is to grow our own food hopefully all year around. Daox posted about Aquaponics I really only seen this at Disney world Epcot where we really enjoy living with the land. Last time we were there we said some form of this is our next step.

I started reading about it and the more I read the more excited I became. We recently visited two places to learn more.

Clemson Aquaponics
https://www.facebook.com/ClemsonAquaponics

A private system that has over 12 IBC‘s and more in a greenhouse

This will be my first system build but we are going all in. We will try to repurpose lots of things and be very energy conscious and open to ideas.
Sorry for the long introduction but if you just saw this post I want you to see the journey we took to get here.

The extension office provided me with these links.
IBCofAquaponics

This link is to a PDF book.
http://ibcofaquaponics.com/files/IBCofAquaponics.pdf

Here is another link to a free book

Appendix 8 has a step by step guide to constructing a small scale aquaponic system with material list.

FAO Fisheries and
Aquaculture Department. Small-scale aquaponic food production. Integrated fish and plant farming

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1423074510

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1423074510

I picked up 5 IBC 330 gallons. They are food grade one time use containers.
They look new I got them for $60 each.

Each one had clearly labeled what was in them before so I know they are safe. I found cheaper ones but they were not clearly labeled what was in them.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1423979901

It looks like I will be cutting them in 1/3 for the media grow beds.
Each grow bed will be 12" deep. I will be adding some NFT units later to the system.

I am trying to work out a deal on a 1000 gallon water tank for the fish. This is bigger than I need but if I can get it for a good price it will work.

I will probably dig a big hole for the sump and put a pond liner in the hole for the sump.
About an 935 gallon one 5’ x 5’ x 5’
It will stick up out of the ground 6"

I found some stands that I should be picking up next week for the grow beds.
I will cut off the two long legs and they can set on the 4 legs with a grow bed on it. They are 1/8 inch box steel very strong. I am getting 11 of them.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1424193660

I have been considering building this passive solar greenhouse. It is 12' X 24' It is 12’ wide and two rows of grow beds and the 55 gal barrels would leave about a 2 ½ foot walk way. I would like a little more room but I think this would work.

Passive Solar Greenhouse | Bradford Research Center

There are a couple builds of it on here.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects...htm#Greenhouse

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1424296357

I found some pumps that I am interested in. You would think it would be simple but far from it. The pump runs all the time so I want to not use that much power. My system is on the large side so I need more pump power. These do a pretty good job between powerful pumping and not using too much power to do it.
These are not real expensive either always a good thing.


http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1424297078

Wow, sounds like some big plans. I'm excited to see you taking this on and really look forward to seeing the build!

!2v pumps are a lot more efficient then 115v pumps.

have a look for Commercial 12-24v DC pumps and compare the output to the watts , you will notice that the 12 / 24v DC pumps give at least a 50% power savings as well as a much higher max head.

Through experience, I have learned it is better to go with a couple or three pumps of smaller capacity than one large pump. Without fail, on the worst day possible, at least one pump will decide to stall or clog up on you. Same thing with aeration. When possible, I try to make some pumping rigs do double duty. For example, I use air lifter columns to drip-irrigate the media beds. Rather than use a huge air pump and a manifold setup, I use multiple smaller air pumps. The little white diffusers work better than stones: less pressure drop, more airflow, finer bubbles, don't clog up over the long-term.

This approach works awesome with solar. When the sun comes up, the beds start getting watered. As it gets sunnier, they get more water. You would be amazed at how much surface area you can drip feed with a 20 dollar solar fountain pump.

Thanks for the ideas.
I will look into two pumps I would like to make a solar water heater so one pump could do that.
I like the idea of having a second pump if one would stall out the fish/plants don’t die.
I will look at 12V pumps also I need a backup if power goes out.

We have a Styrofoam plant not too far from me. They have huge blocks of Styrofoam. They will cut it any size you want. I could get 6” blocks cut that would fill the wall between the 2" 6" for insulating my solar green house.
Do you think this would be a good setup? I wonder what the R factor would be.

I found some info on it. It looks like EPS and they say it is R 3.1 to 4.3 per inch.
5 inches would give me about R 15.5 – 21.5 that sounds pretty good.

I drove 4 ½ hours round trip to pick up a Fish Tank on Friday it was advertised on Craigslist to be 600 gallon or 2271L that is just about right. Then he emails me and tells me it is 1300 gallon 4921L. I think that is fine I will just not fill it the whole way.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1424709792

Will I get it home and it is really 425 gallons 1608L. :(
I might use it for the sump tank.

I got 10 black 55 gallons barrels $10 each for heat collection in the green house. I am getting 10 steel black barrels to be the first row. These will be stacked two high on the back wall in my passive solar greenhouse. 1,100 gallons of water collecting heat and about 9,130lbs of heat collection water weight.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1424709792

I picked up my stands very strong mig welded repurposed $18 each. I could have built my stands out of wood but I don’t want to use treated lumber and I don’t want to attract termites.
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I found out my IBC containers are really 330 gallons not 275 gallons.
My son helped pressure wash the one IBC.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1424709792

We put it on a stand to start collecting rain water for the project.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1424709792

Hummm, I'm thinking CatFish! :)

It's a beautiful thing to see, when somebody comes along and sets an example for all of us!

Keep up the good work!

PS:
Do you grow wine grapes too? :p

Thanks.
Catfish actually do very well. They can take the cold better than some of the other fish.

My neighbor grows some grapes.

I just ordered a web monitoring system for my Aquaponics system. It will send you a text message or email when things are not working correct. You can monitor 6 different things a set alerts based off them. I picked it up off eBay to save some money.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1424981034

Sensaphone Web600 Monitoring System

I got it with 2 weatherproof temperature sensors.
I will need a flow detection
and low water level detection.

I know there are home grown solutions but I have enough going on and this system is mature has data logging and only uses a few watts of power.

My wife thinks it is funny I have system monitoring before I have my system done. but it is important to keep the fish alive for this all to work.

I collected 120 gallons of rain water last night.

I have email notification on my CAI controller. It works pretty well, and it's low cost.
Remote Monitor Control Temp Humidity I O Webcontrol X10RF | eBay
It can handle 8 temperature sensors. I've got six of them monitoring a bunch of items..

I also figured out who my tracfone carrier is (AT&T) for our area and found
the address suffix (781nnnxxxx@txt.att.net) to use so we could send text messages to our phones..
So, I have a choice of email or text, or both..

We also have a loud digital voice module we can trigger using X10 from the CAI board. Just in case we're asleep. :eek:

That would have been much more cost effective.
This system is very cool but too expensive for me.

https://www.neptunesystems.com/produ...roller-system/

I knew I could save some money on monitoring but I am building the system and the greenhouse. So this this one system just bought after a few eBay messages offering less money.

I went with the cheapo CAI controller, so I could have a tested, un-used spare, ready to install, just in case lightning revisits us..
Last summer lightning took out two of my outdoor security cameras. :(
I think it was the long cables, picking up the EMP.

There are all kinds of network cables around here, and one of these days...?.
Just hope it doesn't toast the whole house network..

It seems like every 5 or 10 years, we take a small jolt and a few items get blasted.

Ordered my fish feeder it is Fish Mate Auto Pond Fish Feeder P7000. This is the feeder they use at Clemson and they have four of them. They have been using them for a long time and tried many brands he said this is the only that worked well and never messed up. It was on sale with free shipping so I grabbed it.

We go away for weekends a lot in the summer and the fish still need feed.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425011750

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425012602

My neighbor had a friend that had some black barrels I could have. He needed to pick up some pallets. So we used my 16’ trailer and I was able to get 16 black plastic for free.

I have been paying $10 each for them so this helped out.

Here is a picture of how the barrels will be stacked on the back wall in the greenhouse with water in them.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425253989


http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425253989
The front stands are 4’ but the front grow beds are going to be 3’ x 20’ so I cut a foot off the stand and welded it back together. I just got a Hobart 140 mig welder so this will give me a lot of practice welding.


Hopefully I will be a better welder when I and done with this project.

I had to get a new 7” grinder to cut these stands. I used a 4” grinder to cut this one and I am sure it would kill it to cut them all with the 4” grinder.

I would like a plasma cutter but a $35 after 20% off grinder will have to do.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425399732

I ordered this float valve. I hope to use it auto fill my sump tank with rail water. $6.68 shipped from China.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/G3-4-Size-Pl.../231280075411?
Other have use it on their systems. I wont be ready for it for a while so no big deal it is shipping from China.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425409665

It is amazing what one can do with an angle grinder and a welder!

I put my new angle grinder to work today. It was so worth the money it performed very well.

I cut down the front stands to 14” high the sides of the grows beds are 12” on top of that. This will make them 26” high total. This should be just about right. I finished cutting down the five front stands to make them all 3’ deep instead of 4’ and welded them back together.

My greenhouse is only going to be 12’ and the back stands will be about 6’ with the barrels and IBC grow beds the front ones will be 3’ that will leave 3’ walk way in the center. I just think 2’ in the center was not enough room.

That is why I cut down the front stands to 3’. The front grow bed will have a pond liner and it will be 3’ x 20’ that should make a nice grow bed.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425780159

My front grow bed is going to be 3’ x 20’. A couple inches under 3’.
I just ordered my pond liner for it.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425946797

I think I decided on the type of fish I am going to have.

I was going to get tilapia but I have read up on them. They grow fast but you have to heat the water for them and that goes against my passive solar greenhouse idea. They like 80 degree water.

The system we visited both had to heat the water and that was a big expense.
I called the local fish farm and he has Bream that are feed with commercial fish food.

They have been living in outside tanks so they are ready for our weather.
Pond Stockings
The size of the fish I want are about $1 each. They range from tiny .25 to bigger $1 to bigger for $2.

I still have a little time to go but it is nice to have the fish lined up.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426007414

Nice looking fish.. https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...=bream+recipes

:D

That is how I like to see a fish on a plate.

A skid steer and a bulldozer was working two doors down. I just talked to him and he will come by here tomorrow make my greenhouse pad and bring in crusher run granite for a base.

My father in-law is going to the quarry for a granite sample so we can do a PH test on it.
I may have the same guy bring the rock to for the grow bed.

My house is sitting on a mountain of granite. I can tell the snow melt has the ground water moving,
because the radon level is kicking up.
Those radon alarm beeps are our early warning signals of basement flooding.. :o

The granite tested fine. But this radon issue seems to make it not worth it.
I will get river rock.

Thanks for the heads up on the radon issue.

My site prepping for my passive solar greenhouse is done. It did not take long at all.
This should be the only part I have to hire out.

I got lucky they were only a couple doors down so I got a better price because I did not need the drop off fee.

The gravel will help in the passive solar design. It will help store heat and release it at night.

We are going to setup the 3’ x 20’ grow bed the fish tank and the sump tank.

We will build the greenhouse around this later in the summer. We don’t need the greenhouse until the weather gets cold.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426089124

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426089124

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426089124

Nice work! Very smooth..

I hope I'm looking south, because that roof looks like it needs some PV.. ;)

Yes that is picture was taken facing south here is the view from the other side of that building.:) The south side.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426092037

The build post for the 12.5Kw DIY array.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-...lar-array.html

Wow, you're bringing this together fairly quickly.

Thanks from this side it seems like it is taking a while. I have a new contract for work and it is having me work a lot of hours.

So I can’t work on this new aquaponics project as much as I want to.

I am working inside but I would like to be outside welding up my grow beds.

Work always gets in the way of what we want to do but it pays for it so I plug on.:rolleyes:

I should be getting my new fish tank in the next couple days.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426095686

I will have to cut a hole in the top to get better access to the fish.
I have not been able to find a used tank big enough so I am going to get this one.

I knew that building looked very familiar, but kinda nakid.. ;)
That's quite the solar farm you have on your farm.

We really like it. Power is the thing we have been the most successful at growing so far.
I hope to change that with the new aquaponics system.

I am glad for the warmer weather. The last few days my wife drove 228 mile only on solar power no gas.
This is normal in the summer but not in the very cold winter. It is 77 deg here today.

77F !! It must be nice living in heaven.. :)
It's amazingly warm here too. Up to 50F and my radon/basement heater blowers are running again.. After being dominant since the fall..

I might break out the telescope tonight.. It's going to be in the 40s this evening.. :D
The navy cloud sat is looking okay right now..

NEXSAT, NRL/JPSS Next Generation Weather Satellite Demonstration Project
But not so sunny for SC right now.. :)

Our solar hotwater tank is warming back up.. I turned off the A7 heatpump this morning when I got out of the shower..

The snow drifts are melting like crazy this week.. Glad to see the roof isn't going to cave in.. That was a little scary this year..
I've learned my lesson..
Keep the roof clean, since the next one might drop 3 or 4 feet..
I should get a 55 gal gasoline tank, I'll be making a wide trench, all the way around the house next winter..
I hate trying to snow-rake roofs while on snow-shoes!
Texans can't candlepin bowl or snow-shoe! :p

I now have my fish tank tractor supply had a decent price on a 550 gallon tank. They have a 10% off coupon on the internet and that really helped.

That made the price cheaper than the online tank guys.

I was having no luck finding a used tank. But this tank should work well for the fish.

I also grabbed a cattle panel to hang up in front the 55 gallon barrels to tie off climbing plants.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426195001

I ordered a Vent fan for the Greenhouse. It has 3 speeds that should help keep the cost for running it down some. I already have a thermostatically controlled switch for it.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426276059

This will go on the other side top on the greenhouse. I picked this up the other day.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426276059

Fish tank is in place and we have collected 330 gallons of rain water so far.

I filled the fish tank then realized the bottom plug was dripping so I pumped it all back to a IBC sealed it and pumped the water back.

We are digging the hole for the sump tank. I used my tractor to dig the first hole. Then we saw the transformer and were not sure where the underground power lines were so we switched to digging by hand.

I have a call into the locating service I hope they come today.

The sump tank is 5’ tall and we want only 6” up out of the ground. It has a 4” base I would like to put under it.

I have a good helper my youngest son.
We moved dirt around the building pad to slope water away from it.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426514022

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426514022

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426514022

I went out today to look at it and it is filling up with ground water.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426514022

Wow, that's a pretty high water table.. Is the ground water always that high?
If it is, that there, is GSHP land fer sure!

It's so neat how boys love to dig.. :) Must be in our DNA.. :p

Is that a cell-phone tower in the background?
That tower sure seems like it would protect your farm from being hit by lightning.

We lost two of our security cameras last summer, and the lightning hit wasn't even near our house.

Two nights ago it rained so hard for many hours. We have standing water everywhere. Normally we would never see water at this depth.

He worked his butt off digging a good part of the day with me.
The boys pressure washed one IBC and the sump tank.
My oldest boy got his hand pinched on the post hole digger I hope it is not broken. He was out for the rest of the day.

Yes It is a cell phone tower. It is a private tower so more than one carry is on it. Att is on it so we have great reception they have not upgraded it to LTE yet :(
Yes I bet you are right it should attract lighten.

I am going to connect two gutters to my IBC I need to collect another 625 gallons of rain water. the system will have around 1,000 gallons of water just between the fish tank and the sump.

The sump is such a pain to dig but it will be worth it when it is done.