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Old 05-04-15, 10:16 AM   #81
pinballlooking
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We had raised beds for growing plants before. I used PVC 2 x 6 fence post for the boxes. We used four joist hangers to make the boxes.
My oldest son took them apart for me. Now we have joist hangers for the greenhouse.
I am going to clean up the PVC 2X6 and use them for the sides on the grow beds.
It will be good to reuse these materials.

We have termites so I make been trying to not use wood products. I also want to use stuff that will last for years to come. I want to reuse as much building materials as I can.


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Old 05-04-15, 07:52 PM   #82
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Those 2x6 tubes make good nft channels or strawberry towers too.
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Old 05-08-15, 09:19 AM   #83
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This newsletter shows where someone is heating their greenhouse with water in IBC's.
They get colder winters that we do but they have some good ideas. They use IBC's in the back to store the water then they pump it to the top of the green house into a Pex solar collector during the day.
This lets them capture more heat to release at night. I could use one side of the collector to heat the fish water and the other side to heat IBC water.
I will have to give this some thought… they used solar panel to charge a battery to run the pump for the IBC heat.



Mad Scientist Works For Greenhouse Heating Independence Down To -25F | Grow, Prepare, and Preserve Your Own Food and Medicine
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Old 05-09-15, 11:28 PM   #84
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We made some progress today.
I insulated the GB.



We put the pond liner in.



My first end folds.


we are very close to the fishless cycle.



Here it is filled with washed expanded slate.
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Old 05-11-15, 08:41 AM   #85
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Its really looking good!
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Old 05-11-15, 09:13 AM   #86
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Thanks.
Water is circulating today. My bulk head fitting the goes through the pond liner is dripping. The pond liner has a liner under it like thin carpet padding. I think this bunched up at the bulk head fitting.

I will fix this tonight. My pump is sized to where my system will be when it is completed so it has too much flow right now. I had my wife pick up a 1” valve so I can reduce the flow some.

I have a 2” fish tank over flow that just goes back to the sump tank and that is running today.

The bell siphon is working very well I will take a short video at some point.

this is the media guard it will have rock all around it once I have the bulk hear fitting not leaking.


Here are the filling under the bell siphon this lets it have a clean shut off this seems to be needed for larger beds.


This is the water returning from the grow bed from the bell siphon into the sump tank. You can see the pipe coming out of the sump take that is the pump to the fish tank.



So far it looks like the grow bed is draining and filling back up every 9 - 10 min. Six times an hour or 144 times a day.
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Old 05-11-15, 03:23 PM   #87
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Very cool. I am sure you are starting to get excited!
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Old 05-11-15, 03:56 PM   #88
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Yes we are so happy to start it cycling. Once I have the drip fixed tonight I will add the good bacteria that I bought to jump start the cycling. I can start to plant plants in it tomorrow. it will be some time before I can add the fish the good bacteria needs to be converting the ammonia before adding the fish.

Here is a good picture of the cycle.
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Old 05-11-15, 04:19 PM   #89
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That's a very explanatory graphic..
How long before Rampant Plant Growth ocurs?
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Old 05-11-15, 04:25 PM   #90
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Yes I like the graphic it explains the process better than any other place I have seen.

Once the cycle starts and I see Nitrates I know the complete cycle is ready. Then I add fish then that is where you get
“Rampant Plant Growth” they say 4-5 times faster.

I have seen where people plant a plant in dirt and at the same time plant it in their Aquaponics system. You can really see the difference the one in the Aquaponics system grows so much faster.

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