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Old 11-22-16, 04:29 AM   #741
stevehull
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Damnit - why all these beautiful pictures of superb looking lettuce when I have to buy such crap at the market.

STOP!!!!!!

Steve

ps they actually look beautiful and my frustration at seeing them is apparent.

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Old 11-23-16, 10:54 AM   #742
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I am trying something new this winter. Last winter I had all the top vents closed and only used the two side vents do venting.

This led to over 100F on sunny days. This worked very well for my fish heater but not so good for the plants.

This year I am using the one top vent adjusted it to open at its upper temp range. The two side vents are enabled.

I am now running my fish tank closed loop heater that used 138 watts. It is keeping the fish water around 68 – 70 F this is good and the greenhouse is staying under 85F. The greenhouse temp has not going under 56F so far. ( cold morning temps )

I still want to get my ventfree gas hot water installed at some point. I would like to be able to handle a week of cold cloudy weather in the winter and keep the fish water warm enough to keep my fish alive.

I am not sure when I will take on that project just yet. I need my filter and a couple things done first.

I need to add a picture for Steve.
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Last edited by pinballlooking; 11-23-16 at 04:31 PM..
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Old 11-24-16, 09:22 AM   #743
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinballlooking View Post

I still want to get my ventfree gas hot water installed at some point. I would
Just curious, have you considered venting some of that exhaust gas into your greenhouse to create a higher CO2 environment for potentially better growing conditions?
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Old 11-24-16, 11:20 AM   #744
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Ooh...so leafy and green! I'm using thyme and sage from some left in my parents 3 season sunroom. I threw some in a pot for some kind of tree-ish houseplant as a ground cover during summer. Cha ching, free turkey day herbs. That stuff is 20 bucks an ounce if you can find it fresh.
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Old 11-26-16, 04:07 PM   #745
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@ natethebrown When I get the vent free NG water installed it will add so needed CO2 for the plants. It will heat the greenhouse and heat fish water.

@ jeff5may what a good use of a sunroom.

I installed my fine solid filter. It has 2 cubic FT K2 media (http://ecorenovator.org/forum/52309-post737.html)
then on top it has shade cloth. The water comes in from the bottom and makes its way to the top. The water that is going into the bed looks very clean.

So far it looks like it is doing a good job.

I used the shop vacuum that has a hose reduced to a small air line to remove solids on the bottom of the bed.

I think this is going to help my DWC.









Today’s tomatoes 11/27/16
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Last edited by pinballlooking; 11-30-16 at 12:27 PM..
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Old 11-26-16, 04:16 PM   #746
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Oh god - more incredible lettuce pictures. I gotta built an aquaponics system . . . . .

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Old 11-30-16, 12:23 PM   #747
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I never really detailed out why I needed this new filter

Water flow goes Fish tank > grow beds bell siphon > Sump tank (pumped back to Fish Tank and DWC).

This process takes care of the larger solids and the worms work on eating those solids in the rock grow bed.

Suspended fine solids cover the plants roots and then the plant cannot take up nutrients and air. This will stunt the plants growth or just kill the plant altogether.
I knew I need this filter so each week I was cleaning off my lettuce roots. This kept them alive but not growing like they should be growing.
Now that I have my filter in place it will be fun to see how the plants do.


Here is an example of my plant roots needing more filtering. (This picture was taken a while ago) The roots should be nice and white if they are healthy. As you can see they are not nice and white. They are brown and covered with fine solids.



I was trying to avoid a filter because it requires cleaning and I try to avoid maintenance items.
There is no avoiding this filter and still have good plant growth.

Here is one of my lettuce plants roots now. If you look closely you can see worms at the top and a couple places throughout the roots. These roots look so much healthier.

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Last edited by pinballlooking; 11-30-16 at 01:47 PM..
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Old 12-02-16, 09:09 AM   #748
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Here are the tomatoes I picked today.


The lettuce crop still growing.


Last night 12 am it was 41F 7 am 32F
The greenhouse did not go below 59F.

I used my solar fish tank heater to heat the fish water to 72F yesterday. Fish water went down to 68F last night. (I was able to heat fish water backup to 72F today)
9am It is 72F in the greenhouse sun is shining nicely it is 42F outside.

So far I am very happy with the greenhouse performance. I consider this the first winter for it because last year everything was in flux.

I still want to get other heating methods setup so if we have a cold cloudy week I don’t want my fish to die. This is only because I have tilapia they don’t handle cold water very well. Plants don’t really like cold water either.

I have been considering mounting the load center on the outside wall on the greenhouse. I need the power close to the fish tank but I can mount the load center close to the fish tank.

If I mount the load center on the wall close to the door. I would need to run the wires 24’ to get to that location. Then I would have to run the wire back 24’ to where I need the power. This is 48’ of wire that I would not will need if I mount the load center on the outside wall.

If I get this load center setup I can install up my 240 volt SS heater into the fish tank and use this as backup heater for that cold cloudy week. I know that week my not come but if it does I would like to be ready for it.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/47163-post354.html
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Last edited by pinballlooking; 12-03-16 at 10:42 AM..
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Old 12-05-16, 09:30 AM   #749
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We picked tomatoes yesterday. Lettice is still growing and the filter is working really well.
Another cloudy day and the greenhouse is keeping a good temp but the fish water temp is dropping. I need to come up with my secondary fish water heating soon.



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Last edited by pinballlooking; 12-05-16 at 10:12 AM..
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Old 12-05-16, 10:02 AM   #750
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It's started snowing up here in the Boston burbs.. Not too cold yet..

Got chilly last night around midnight. We seem to be using a lot of kw for heat.
Need more sun, soon as possible!
Those tomatoes look great. Making me drool on my cheese and cracker snack.

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