Aquaponics System, Passive Solar Greenhouse build - Page 64

pinballlooking · 03-20-16, 12:58 PM

I have my DWC bed up and running. I just need to put some plants in it.
This new rain water brought my water temp down to 73 degrees F. The fish are not so active now. Hopefully tomorrow it will be sunny so I can warm the water back up.

I have some plants planted.

pinballlooking · 03-22-16, 09:44 PM

I just received my FLIR ONE Thermal Imager for Android today.
Here are some interesting photos.
I used my heat exchanger the last two days.
You can see the warm water in my sump tank.

Here is the DWC

The barrels are releasing heat very nicely.

Daox · 03-23-16, 09:51 AM

Great work!

What do you use the DWC for that you can't use the other grow bed for?

pinballlooking · 03-23-16, 10:08 AM

Thanks.

Water to the DWC has to be filtered some way before you send it to the DWC.
Mine goes through the front GB then to the sump tank. I take some of the water pumped from the sump tank and pipe it to the DWC the rest goes to the fish tank.

Some things do better in DWC like my cilantro it was not doing well In the front grow bed at all. It seems to be taking off in DWC. Lettuce does very well in DWC and other leafy vegetables. I am reading where lettuce will grow very fast from start to table. Commercial setups all use DWC to grow Lettuce.

But all this being said I am new to DWC and learning and reading on it every day.
I can plant almost 200 plants in this bed depending on how much room each plants need.

I was going to install the plant hanging cable 4’ high that will not be high enough.

jeff5may · 03-23-16, 08:44 PM

DWC is awesome for thirsty plants like lettuce, celery, spinach, kale, basil, mint and oregano. Fast growing annual plants that don't demand lots of nutrients do best. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, and peppers do OK, but then they must be supported from above to keep from drowning. The DWC bed is a really good place for rooting cuttings and clones. Another thing about DWC beds is that since the plants are floating on a raft, you can run it like a conveyor line, inserting young plants at one end and pulling mature plants from the other.

During the summer, as your water temperatures rise above 75 - 78 degF, you really have to pump the air into the bed to keep it oxygenated. A lot of growers inject ozone in the supply air feeding the bed to discourage bacterial growth. At water temperatures rising into the 80's, the bed can become a breeding ground for nasty things like fusarium wilt and pythium and other slimy root diseases. If there is a healthy colony of beneficial bacteria in the system, they will out-compete the root diseases. But in a basically sterile system, once the problematic bacteria take hold, they can ravage the whole system.

pinballlooking · 03-23-16, 10:09 PM

I bought a 4 way air manifold and some air hose four new air stones.
I put three air stones in the DWC and one in the fish tank. You have to keep those roots happy.

You could actually see the plants perk up after a night of air. This led me the order the proper pump.

This one should supply enough air and it only uses 18 watts of power.
EcoPlus 728450 1 to 18W Single Outlet Commercial Air Pump, 793 GPH
http://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-728450...ilpage_o00_s00
I will pump the air into a ¾” PVC manifold I ordered some air valves that I can tap in 1/8” npt then I can control the air flow from each outlet.
Like this setup.

pinballlooking · 03-25-16, 02:30 PM

The jungle is still growing.

My air pump came in today. I need to get my auto vents setup now that it is getting much warmer.

pinballlooking · 03-27-16, 07:02 PM

I installed three permanent ¼ galvanized vinyl covered cable. They are installed on galvanized eye bolts with galvanized turnbuckles on the one end. I welded up two pieces of the pallet racking legs to hold the cable on the one side.

This will be a much better place to tie up the plants.

Here it is in action

I installed the auto vent openers on all the front vents. I welded up the brackets for the back vent openers. I could not install these because I need to get on the roof to adjust the hinges it rained this weekend so no getting on the roof.

pinballlooking · 03-28-16, 01:12 PM

The front auto vents are working today. Very cool to see them all working.
I hope to get some time to work on the back vents.

There are three openers on the front then one opener on each side. For a total of 5 auto vent openers for the bottom vents.

The back vents will get two openers on each of the three vents.

The auto vents I have used

Automatic Vent Opener - Standard

pinballlooking · 03-30-16, 09:45 AM

Here are some tomato pictures. We are slowly getting the tomatoes trimmed up and tired up.

03-20-16, 12:58 PM	#631
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	I have my DWC bed up and running. I just need to put some plants in it. This new rain water brought my water temp down to 73 degrees F. The fish are not so active now. Hopefully tomorrow it will be sunny so I can warm the water back up. I have some plants planted. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by pinballlooking; 03-20-16 at 05:17 PM..

03-22-16, 09:44 PM	#632
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	I just received my FLIR ONE Thermal Imager for Android today. Here are some interesting photos. I used my heat exchanger the last two days. You can see the warm water in my sump tank. Here is the DWC The barrels are releasing heat very nicely. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-23-16, 09:51 AM	#633
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Great work! What do you use the DWC for that you can't use the other grow bed for? __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-23-16, 10:08 AM	#634
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	Thanks. Water to the DWC has to be filtered some way before you send it to the DWC. Mine goes through the front GB then to the sump tank. I take some of the water pumped from the sump tank and pipe it to the DWC the rest goes to the fish tank. Some things do better in DWC like my cilantro it was not doing well In the front grow bed at all. It seems to be taking off in DWC. Lettuce does very well in DWC and other leafy vegetables. I am reading where lettuce will grow very fast from start to table. Commercial setups all use DWC to grow Lettuce. But all this being said I am new to DWC and learning and reading on it every day. I can plant almost 200 plants in this bed depending on how much room each plants need. I was going to install the plant hanging cable 4’ high that will not be high enough. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by pinballlooking; 03-23-16 at 11:34 AM..

03-23-16, 10:09 PM	#636
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	I bought a 4 way air manifold and some air hose four new air stones. I put three air stones in the DWC and one in the fish tank. You have to keep those roots happy. You could actually see the plants perk up after a night of air. This led me the order the proper pump. This one should supply enough air and it only uses 18 watts of power. EcoPlus 728450 1 to 18W Single Outlet Commercial Air Pump, 793 GPH http://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-728450...ilpage_o00_s00 I will pump the air into a ¾” PVC manifold I ordered some air valves that I can tap in 1/8” npt then I can control the air flow from each outlet. Like this setup. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by pinballlooking; 03-24-16 at 11:23 AM..

03-23-16, 08:44 PM	#635
jeff5may Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: elizabethtown, ky, USA Posts: 2,428 Thanks: 431 Thanked 619 Times in 517 Posts	DWC is awesome for thirsty plants like lettuce, celery, spinach, kale, basil, mint and oregano. Fast growing annual plants that don't demand lots of nutrients do best. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, and peppers do OK, but then they must be supported from above to keep from drowning. The DWC bed is a really good place for rooting cuttings and clones. Another thing about DWC beds is that since the plants are floating on a raft, you can run it like a conveyor line, inserting young plants at one end and pulling mature plants from the other. During the summer, as your water temperatures rise above 75 - 78 degF, you really have to pump the air into the bed to keep it oxygenated. A lot of growers inject ozone in the supply air feeding the bed to discourage bacterial growth. At water temperatures rising into the 80's, the bed can become a breeding ground for nasty things like fusarium wilt and pythium and other slimy root diseases. If there is a healthy colony of beneficial bacteria in the system, they will out-compete the root diseases. But in a basically sterile system, once the problematic bacteria take hold, they can ravage the whole system.

03-25-16, 02:30 PM	#637
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	The jungle is still growing. My air pump came in today. I need to get my auto vents setup now that it is getting much warmer. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-27-16, 07:02 PM	#638
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	I installed three permanent ¼ galvanized vinyl covered cable. They are installed on galvanized eye bolts with galvanized turnbuckles on the one end. I welded up two pieces of the pallet racking legs to hold the cable on the one side. This will be a much better place to tie up the plants. Here it is in action I installed the auto vent openers on all the front vents. I welded up the brackets for the back vent openers. I could not install these because I need to get on the roof to adjust the hinges it rained this weekend so no getting on the roof. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by pinballlooking; 03-28-16 at 07:59 PM..

03-28-16, 01:12 PM	#639
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	The front auto vents are working today. Very cool to see them all working. I hope to get some time to work on the back vents. There are three openers on the front then one opener on each side. For a total of 5 auto vent openers for the bottom vents. The back vents will get two openers on each of the three vents. The auto vents I have used Automatic Vent Opener - Standard Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by pinballlooking; 03-28-16 at 02:15 PM..

03-30-16, 09:45 AM	#640
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	Here are some tomato pictures. We are slowly getting the tomatoes trimmed up and tired up. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.