Mommyhens greenhouse rebuild

[mommyhen42]

:D Well it's finally done... well nearly anyway, still have to get the rest of the gravel for the growbeds...
Remember this is only a 6x8 greenhouse

I built the wooden insulated fishtank and float bed on top last month
I had built the tank outside and then had to take everything out of the greenhouse to push it in... whew that was heavy!
The tank calculates out to 230 gal including the floatbed on top. It is made of 3/4 inch plywood then 2x2 braces with styrofoam between the braces and then another layer of 3/4 inch plywood and covered with paneling for finish... The tank itself is lined with an old waterbed liner that had a hole along a seam. The top is made the same way.

I had placed the old grey 7gal tubs back in on a stand with a trickle to flood and drain them into a 20 gal tank on the other side of the greenhouse then pumped back into the tank.

But today I finished everything the way I wanted.
I took an idea from the hydroponic "ebb and grow system"
I have 8 - 20 gal tubs that are connected together 4 on each side of the greenhouse then to a common sump. There are 2 pumps and 2 sets of tubing to run the system, both pumps are on timers to run for 1/2 hour 3 x day. first one pump to fill and the other one to drain. They are 140gph pumps so they move about 70 gal of water back and forth.

I will be doing something similar with my gardening next year.

Anyway all I need to do is get more gravel to finish out the tubs, 2 are filled and planted, one is designed for water chestnuts and has 5 plants in it. Now I have 5 more to go!

I will be purchasing an automatic fish feeder that should hold about a months worth of feed and later 2 automatic window openers from Harbor Freight.

Then I can spend more time on my other projects and enjoy my greenhouse!
http://socalaquaponics.com/mypics/new1.jpg
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The oilless compressor is currently on sale at Harbor Freight for $39! and I have a spare 7 gal tank that I will be adding to it in a few days. This way if we have a power failure I won't loose everything for lack of oxygen!

[urbanfarmer]

Looks good!

I like the tank idea for backup air. My question is, how long does a tank like that last? How do you regulate the air to come out so that it doesn't all come out right away?

You could probably buy one of those backup power supplies for computers (UPS, uninterrupted power supply). When it's plugged in it charges until it's full. It detects when the power goes out and switches to the battery. A small air pump eats maybe 3-5 watts (at least these ones from WallyWorld or PetCoco). On a $40 UPS that would probably last you a full day or two without power... The cheap one I had would give me about 30 minutes of power for my 200 Watt computer system. My GUESS is that would equal 40 hours for a 5 Watt air pump. Keep in mind these are not meant for outdoors; so, you would have to build an enclosure (which should be easy for you) or simply run power cables indoors.

[Big Al]

hi mommyhen, thing's are looking good, that's a nice fish tank. best wishes Big Al

[davidstcldfl]

I had built the tank outside and then had to take everything out of the greenhouse to push it in... whew that was heavy!

Not too long ago, I kept thinking I was hearing 'grunting' noises !..... :lol:

Looking good !

[JohnW]

Mommyhen42,

I must have seen an old photo of your greenhouse when you had downspouts used to grow plants. I was planning the same type of system in the same harbor freight greenhouse. Could you tell me why you changed systems? I'm in the planning stage and still have to build the greenhouse but would like to here if you had problems with the old way.

Thanks.

[badflash]

You may be thinking of Wolfracer's build.
Check Wolfracer's System Build (http://www.diyaquaponics.com/forum/showthread.php?58-Wolfracer-s-System-Build)

[mommyhen42]

Hi John
nope you were right about my 3 level riverbed with the downspouts.
Nothing wrong with that system at all, just that living in So cali the water can get pretty hot in the greenhouse. I am moving that system to under my patio where it can get a bit more shade and stay cooler. I plan on putting strawberries back into it.

The problem I found with the little air pumps also relates to the heat here, the diaphrams quickly give out when we have a run of days in the 90's or above and I was replacing them too frequently as they no longer sell rebuild kits for most pumps anymore. Also we have had one occasion when we were out of power for nearly 8 hours and I dont think an external power supply would work for that and a small generator was more expensive than the compressor. It trys to keep the tank topped up so it will kick in when it has lost about 20% pressure. It has a small regulator on the tank where you can adjust the flow of air and I added a second regulator on the hose for better fine tuning of the air supply to maximize my control over the flow rate. Once I add the second tank I figure that it could go all day or longer without power and still provide sufficient oxygen to prevent any losses.

[mommyhen42]

I had built the tank outside and then had to take everything out of the greenhouse to push it in... whew that was heavy!

Not too long ago, I kept thinking I was hearing 'grunting' noises !..... :lol:

Looking good !


:mrgreen: OMG I was that loud???

[mommyhen42]

hi mommyhen, thing's are looking good, that's a nice fish tank. best wishes Big Al

Thank you Big Al I spent nearly a month working the figures and calculating costs.

One thing is for sure, it is not coming apart any time soon :D

3 layers
waterbed liner
inner tank of 3/4" plywood
2x2 support braces every 10" (all sides)
braces glued, screwed in and corner braced
2" thick styrine between the braces
outer tank of 3/4" plywood
paneling covering
1x6 outer supports.

I have 2 22" flourescent (sp) lights inside the hood that I plan to wire to 2 reverse pressure switches so that they come on whenever either tank lid is raised, but currently they are on the origonal switches.

Primary pump to feed the upper float bed constantly at 190gph, outlet is connected to a spraybar to increase O2

1 fill pump at 140gph set to 1/2 hour 3 x daily to drain from the primary tank into the sump that fills the 8- 20 gal growbeds
1 evacuation pump at 140gph set to 1 hour 3x daily to drain water from growbeds back into primary tank (takes longer for the tubs to drain than they do to fill...) Both pumps are Harbor Freight specials at $14.99

I am hoping that the deeper growbeds will allow for better root formation and stronger plants, than did my shallower ones, plus they should be better for the earthworms too.

Next month I plan on buying an automatic feeder and 2 of those gas greenhouse window openers to further automate the greenhouse.

Later this week I will be heading back to Home Depot for the rest of the gravel I need.

Since this is again considered a "new" system, I figure the first couple of crops of lettuce will be chicken, duck and tortoise food. At this time they are slower growing and thicker leaved then their cousins growing in my small aged setup in the aviary that is fed by 9 red eared slider water turtles... I admit I have never seen such clean water in a turtle tank...hehehe. The lettuce in there loves how dirty they are :lol: The lettuce in the greenhouse was transplanted from in there and man o man what a difference!

Since some of the gravel in the new growbeds comes from the old system, some may think that it would be considered aged, but since they went for about 3 days without any real water flow, I figure that all the beneficial bacteria is more than likely dead, and will have to be rebuilt.

Anyway, enough for now
getting sleepy early tonight
take care and stay safe

[keith_r]

regarding your "aged" gravel... i moved one pair of my growbeds indoor a few weeks back, and didn't have any water running in them for a week, the following week i got the fishtanks in, and water running, and was cycling within two days, even with a huge water add from the tap (added close to 50 gallons in a 150 gallon system)...
looking good so far!

[JohnW]

Mommyhen,
Thanks for the reply. Anything I should be aware of while building the harbor freight greenhouse? I've looked online and they seem to be notorious for bad instructions. I plan to work on it this weekend.

John

[Big Al]

hi johnw, you are right they are horrible instruction's to follow, i built one of them 2 year's ago.
just make sure you have the bolt's for the corner brace's in before you install the roof. also
if you can make some sheetmetal angle to hold the panel's on. the clip's are not that great
in the wind. nothing like being up on a ladder in the middle of a snowstorm. good luck Big Al

[wolfracer]

Look at this Blog, some wonderful info on modifying the harbor freight greenhouse.

http://hfgh10x12.blogspot.com/2007/08/p ... n-two.html (http://hfgh10x12.blogspot.com/2007/08/part-two-foundation-two.html)

[Big Al]

hi wolfracer, that site is great i wish i would of known about it before i built that greenhouse.
there is alot of information on there. look's like i'll be making some modification's to it soon. thank's Big Al

[wolfracer]

I have the same greenhouse and I will say that if you screw down the polycarbonate panels it goes along way to beefing it up. Mine has withstood 60 mph wins and golf ball size hail. Also strengthening the header above the doors is an absolutely necessary.

[Big Al]

hi wolfracer, i agree with you 100%. thank's Big Al

[JohnW]

Thanks to everyone for all the info on the greenhouse. I built it this weekend with my daughter. I did need some help from the internet post but it wasn't as bad as I expected. My thirteen year old did most of the work.

I will silicone the panels in this weekend and maybe put some aluminum cross braces on the inside for extra support. As for now, I'm enjoying the 94 degrees inside. Guess it's time to think of putting the aquaponics together!

JohnW

[mommyhen42]

Thanks to everyone for all the info on the greenhouse. I built it this weekend with my daughter. I did need some help from the internet post but it wasn't as bad as I expected. My thirteen year old did most of the work.

I will silicone the panels in this weekend and maybe put some aluminum cross braces on the inside for extra support. As for now, I'm enjoying the 94 degrees inside. Guess it's time to think of putting the aquaponics together!

JohnW

Did you build the 6x8 or the 10' one?
mine is the little 6x8 and the only real problem I had was the roof...did not do the corner brace bolts first... what a pain that was!

I had to make a trip back to harbor freight twice...
my first greenhouse was missing pieces
And the door instructions made no sense to me... Luckilly they had a miniature one in the store that I looked at and had them remove the door so that I could take a better look

I had no problems with the clips and they have held the panels in place through 100 MPH gusts... Although I have no idea how the vents have stayed on the greenhouse!!! I always watch check them after a storm.

I had to install a lock on the door as it does not close correctly. All I did was take a 2" corner brace and attach it through one of the top screws that hold a brace on the door. The bottom door refuses to run on the track, but ah well.

I did bolt 2x4's to my patio and then bolted the greenhouse down to that so that it would not get blown over in the high winds we get in the winter.
My cold frame is frequently flipped and torn, so I keep extra plastic to keep it covered during the winter.

Next spring I plan on building a large shadehouse if I am up to it...

Of course that will be run aquaponically too!

[JohnW]

We also built the 6x8. I also have a problem with the door sliding open and closed. I might have a simple fix that I will try this weekend. We had a lot of rain this week and noticed the roof panels leaking at the seams. Some silicone caulk might fix the problem.
Otherwise, it went together easily. We haven't used the door too much but I hope it holds up. For the price I paid (273.00 with tax) it doesn't seem like a bad deal.

John

[mommyhen42]

We also built the 6x8. I also have a problem with the door sliding open and closed. I might have a simple fix that I will try this weekend. We had a lot of rain this week and noticed the roof panels leaking at the seams. Some silicone caulk might fix the problem.
Otherwise, it went together easily. We haven't used the door too much but I hope it holds up. For the price I paid (273.00 with tax) it doesn't seem like a bad deal.

John
My panels don't seem to leak even after all this time, but I do understand that for some silicone calk and directly screwing the panels down prevents this problem

[JohnW]

I have a question about grow lights.

My local Home Depot is selling a T8, reflective, 4' fluorescent light but only carries 4' T12 aquarium/plant bulbs. I am looking for T8 grow bulbs.

Can I use any fluorescant bulb for general growing as long as the light heat spectrum is the right temperture? What is the right temperture (2700, 3000, 6500)?

If anyone can point me in the right direction for this, I would appriciate it.

JohnW

[JCO]

Find a light fixture that can handle 4' Sunlight (or daylight) florescent bulbs. They will work fine for the fish as well as the plants. Home Depot and Lowe's carries them. :mrgreen:

[mommyhen42]

I had been told by another Aquaculturist this and have tried it for my self for the past year now and get as good if not better results this way.

in 4" florescent fixtures place one warm white bulb in one side and one cool white bulb in the other. This way your plants receive both white and red spectrum lighting which is essential for growth.

Sure has saved me a ton of money on growlights or broad spectrum or daylights!

[rfeiller]

plants need the blue spectrum and red spectrum, the strength of each determines vegetative or flowering/fruiting phases. even an incondescent (sp?) bulb will produce growth, although week. aquarium bulbs are designed for shining through water, Actinics are my choice for aquariums.

your pics always show everything so neat, clean, well thoughtout and organized; you have any spare time mine is a mess! :lol:

well done.

rich

[badflash]

I use Home Depot daylight bulbs in standard shop lights. They run about $2 each in 10 packs.

[Big Al]

hi johnw, i use the same thing badflash does just standard shoplight bulb's. ive been
using them for 10 years starting seedling's each spring. good luck Big Al

[jackalope]

Mommyhen, good looking setup. You can get the switches for your 'refrig lites' at the local auto-parts. Just look for a N.C. switch (normally closed), when the switch is depressed (think car/refrig door closed), it is not the "normal" position for the contacts inside - they are open and the lights are out, but when it is in it's normal, non-depressed position (car/refrig door open), the contacts are closed, allowing the electricity or current, to flow through them, thus the lights are on. Open is no flow, closed is flow! The good thing about using auto switches is that they are usually rated by higher voltage and amps, and many of them are rated at 250v@10A or more. They should easily handle your lighting! Plus, they are usually less expensive. Many of the N.C. light switches from the hardware stores are rated at less amps and only for 120v (250v would be heavier duty!). If I had any laying around here, I'd send them to you, but I don't scrap cars in the winter in Montana!

[mommyhen42]

Mommyhen, good looking setup. You can get the switches for your 'refrig lites' at the local auto-parts. Just look for a N.C. switch (normally closed), when the switch is depressed (think car/refrig door closed), it is not the "normal" position for the contacts inside - they are open and the lights are out, but when it is in it's normal, non-depressed position (car/refrig door open), the contacts are closed, allowing the electricity or current, to flow through them, thus the lights are on. Open is no flow, closed is flow! The good thing about using auto switches is that they are usually rated by higher voltage and amps, and many of them are rated at 250v@10A or more. They should easily handle your lighting! Plus, they are usually less expensive. Many of the N.C. light switches from the hardware stores are rated at less amps and only for 120v (250v would be heavier duty!). If I had any laying around here, I'd send them to you, but I don't scrap cars in the winter in Montana!
Thank you Jakalope
I already have them, I got them at Ace Hardware, I could only get 1 as it was the last one, but they just got in some more. Now I need to take the lights back down and rewire them to the switches, no problem. I am considering leaving the stock switch in the on position rather than bypassing it, but I hate monkey work so I may just remove the old switch anyway, one less connection to corrode in the humiditiy

[mommyhen42]

I am totally loving this system!
Other than a pump clogging here and there it works beautifully!
I just bought an automatic koi feeder on ebay and cut a 2" hole in the lid, put a plastic cup with an open bottom thru it and placed the feeder on bricks above the cup.
The humidity can escape before clogging the feeder and the fish get fed even if I am gone for the day!
I had a dog develop seizures and had a bizarre reaction to the phenobarbital and he went frantic! he broke into the greenhouse and walked all over the floatbeds in the top breaking most of them... what a mess he left! he spent 3 days at the vets until his system settled down with the phenobarbital levels. Unfortunatly a month later I had to have him put down for a grand mal siezure that left him blind, he continued having petit mal siezures over the next hour so we decided to put him down. Good thing by the time we got him to the vets he went into another grand mal and never came out of it. Turns out he had a brain tumor! Poor boy, playful till the last siezure.

i still have to replace the styrofoam up there but the lettuce that remains is nearly ready to harvest so I may wait till then. I have plenty of styrofoam to do the job.

[davidstcldfl]

mommyhen42, So sorry to hear about your dog.
Any of us that have had 'faimily pets', and have lost them....have a lump in our throats, thinking of your loss.

[mommyhen42]

Thank you
he was just a puppy still not even 2 yrs old... thats the killer
He left me with many fond memories though and he will be missed :cry:
Odd thing is that about 3 or 4 days after we lost harley I found a 4 week old dobie/pitt??? mix in the middle of the street in the rain! She is a real kick and had been well socialized so she loves everyone. she is helping fill the hole that harley left. I still have his dad jake and he is my centerpoint because he is my assistance dog. When I am having bad days, he gives me my freedom and independance back. On good days he is a great pal that lives to play
Hubby has grown very attached to him as well

The new puppy my father in law named bunny but she is a shark toothed bunny! :lol:

[JCO]

Hey lady, you have disappeared on us again...give us an update. :mrgreen:

[mommyhen42]

Hey lady, you have disappeared on us again...give us an update. :mrgreen:
Yeah, you know me I pop in and out of here on a regular basis...LOL

I have been lurking off and on, but have been hurting these past few months and so computer time is off and on depending on how well I am tolerating the couch where my netbook is. Dave and his dad Frank have been keeping me busy trying to keep them out of the hospital. Dave nearly lost his leg to diabetes last september and has not been able to wear a pair of shoes since due to the swelling. last month they told him that the swelling was due to Congestive Heart Failure so he is pretty depressed, the legs are so swollen and they pain him so much, they tell him that he has a couple of mildly herniated discs on top of all that they give him hell over his pain medications!!! Damn county hospital, I just wish that Social Security would get some common sense and approve his disability so he can see my doctors!

Of course I am always busy with the websites, nearly 140 of them now on a vast array of topics! But they are finally beginning to pay off now.

I started a few writers compensation websites where my writers get 90% of their google adsense, but finding writers on a new site is a slow process so I am still doing 98% of the writings there. Over time they will be trusted and I will get more writers to join in.
Anyone feel like writing articles about their aquapoincs endevors??? they can create an account at http://socalaquaponics.com and write their hearts out, get paid for as long as content says on the site.

One of the sites I used to write for decided it made more sense to just buy us out of our content and stop paying on a monthly basis. they gave me a very nice offer so I took it, but that takes $15o out of my monthly income, so I have to work harder on my own sites to make up the difference.

As far as the greenhouse goes I cant believe how nice everything is going!
I will eventually make a couple of changes in the water delivery system but that is all.
I changed the top float bed into a flood and drain with strawberries, just was not getting enough filtration with the float bed. The water chestnuts are just starting to take off with the warmer weather and longer day lengths, and I cant wait to try some right out of the bins!

I have some shhhh!!! Walking Catfish in the tub with the tilapia, hopes were that they would eat the excess offspring to keep the population down, I have 4 in there and they are growing huge fast, but the I will have to introduce something else to take up the slack as there are still Loads of smaller fish in there. Thinking of getting a striped bass or two or perhaps some yellow perch to eat up some excess fish. The walking cats are albinos with gorgeous orange heads, since they cant get out of the tub I am not worried about the typical escape fears. I have a couple of mud cats in there as well.

The other4 flood and drain tubs have 3 kinds of tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, rosemary, pineapple, asparagus, and habanero peppers. I need to plant some more lettuce in there but havent been able to be outside much due to my back pain, no outdoor garden this year, sigh sob!

Tomorrow I go back for some more physical therapy on my back (pain and torture) eventually when they are done beating me up the goal is for them to give me a tens unit so that the electrical stim may help reduce some pain. Next month I see the surgeon for surgery on my left hand, they are going to fuse 1 or 2 fingertips and fix a trigger finger as well. But my Rheumatologist wants me to have my right hand done again... He wants 2 joints on my thumb fused and the tip of my pinky finger. I am not opposed to one joint on my thumb and the pinky but the other joint he wants fused is the one that is closest to the hand at the wrist, that one will pretty much render the thumb useless and I dont want to loose my thumb function!!! Now he is concerned that we are dealing with rheumatoid arthritis as the first finger joint where it joins the hand is swollen and painful... I am too young for all this nonsense with my hands but I was diagnosed with osteo arthritis of the hands when I was 23! And the 42 no longer counts... but I wont say by how many years!

Eventually I do want to get the larger harbor freight greenhouse and do the same thing as with this one, a person can get pretty claustrophobic in mine...LOL it is only the 6x8 and you see how packed it is. I just dread building the next fishtank... no not really, next time I will take my time since it will be new it wont be like I have fish waiting to get back into a home... Figure I could use the smaller greenhouse for a breeding group and the larger one for raising ones to eat... as I could get a substantially larger tank in there or even 2 tanks... but this time I would rather over do the filtration as I could conceivably add more filtration to the current one if I could just figure out how...

See how us women are... you get us talking :lol:

[JCO]

That's quite alright Sheryl, you are quite welcome to come back more often and run your mouth all you want. :lol: We missed you. :mrgreen:

[rfeiller]

i second that! :D

[mommyhen42]

I really need to take some more pictures of how the greenhouse is going and another video or 2 for youtube. I have had a couple of requests but just havent been up to doing them. Had PT yesterday, they call it physical therapy but of course it is really pain and torture!

I am supposed to be getting a tens unit for my back pain but they have to torture you first... :lol:

It surprised me just how weak my legs really are now... They have you lay on your back with your heels on this huge ball and then "attempt" to roll the ball close to you using your heels... My legs shook more than remained stable throughout all the ball exercises. But I am determined to make it through this... I miss hiking with my dogs in the hills!

I had been building a tiny pond beside the greenhouse last year, but one of the times I had filled it up with water to soften the ground, it stayed full for a VERY long time. So since I have a leaky garden hose spigot that I had been intending on fixing but never got around to because I would have to turn the water off to the house to do it, I just put a short hose on it and it now runs into the pond and keeps it full! It is not even a trickle but hey it works. I have a few mud cats and channel cats in there, last summer I put some tilapia in there and when they died during the cold months the cats were so happy they never came up to feed, now they are back feeding with the warmer weather, and I guess I will give them a few tilipia again, but I want to put some yellow perch in there too.

When I am up to it I want to "attempt" to dig a nice pond in the back with the hopes of getting it around 1000 gallons, I want to do 2 actually one about 500 gallons and put in a small stream to connect the two. This pond will be for outdoor aquaponic project in that I want to create some flood and drain style gravel grow beds that drain back into the larger pond.

I am hoping to run that pump off of solar, but worse come to worse I can always build another wind turbine and hook it to either the grid via home made grid ties or to batteries and run the pump from the batteries. We get a nice 5-7 mph breeze every evening starting around 2 pm and lasting most of the night. Right now it is 9:30 am and we have 1-4mph winds. Not quite enough to begin generating power, but I figure that if I use a modified alternator and large blades it may work in the lower wind speeds too. Last week we had high wind conditions with an average wind speed of 17mph with 20-30 mph gusts and it blew the tails of both my smaller windmills... :lol: Now I have to take them down sometime and cement the tails on instead of just sticking them on.. But they have reduced my power bill by around $40 a month, not bad for 2 turbines with treadmill motors!

I have my blueberries buried in home made earthtainer style buckets since our soil is more granite and clay than anything else and they will be giving me blueberries this year, man they are happy in there!

I bought more bare root fruit trees this year to put in the back, eventually I have 3 still to plant but they are an avocado, tangerine and a dwarf blood orange. Funny the difference between the dwarf and the micro-dwarf! This year I bought a micro-dwarf blood orange, peach and nectarine and cant believe how tiny they are! All 4 are supposed to top off at around 4 feet!

Too many projects, I still need to finish that HHO device for the car and see if it really works... I am sooo curious, especially since the feds consider it as a hybrid fuel system and I know of one police dept using them in their cars...

[rfeiller]

hope the tenz unit does you some good, it did nothing for me, except get in the way. they make great torture devices sadist/masocist! :lol:

wow! you do have some projects they sound interesting. a true DIY'er

[urbanfarmer]

That's quite alright Sheryl, you are quite welcome to come back more often and run your mouth all you want. :lol: We missed you. :mrgreen:
I third that. We need more active members! :mrgreen:

[mommyhen42]

hope the tenz unit does you some good, it did nothing for me, except get in the way. they make great torture devices sadist/masocist! :lol:

wow! you do have some projects they sound interesting. a true DIY'er

I am really hoping the tens will help as the alternative, is another series of pain shots into my lower back.... 6 shots each time x 3! They cost me $150 for each time and every 6 months, and it is getting pretty expensive this year for my medical bills... Thats not even taking into account I need dental work done too!

Where all a bunch of cripples here, but I try to keep the most active. I figure that since I am going to be in pain anyway, I may as well try to enjoy life!

Hoping to get things done before my left hand is out of commission especially since my Rheumatologist wants to take my right hand out of commission soon too! Damned Arthritis!

Next will be the left knee, but hoping to forestall that one for a couple more years.

I tried to get in some wicking beds this year for grapes, but the heavy rains combined with my health allowed the yard to overgrow big time, and the puppy I rescued tried to eat the canes. I dont think a single one survived the puppy or the lawn mower, despite the grape cables.

[rfeiller]

I had a bloodhound when she was still a pup she found out Japanese maples were sweet, it was hell on my bonsai trees!

[urbanfarmer]

I had a bloodhound when she was still a pup she found out Japanese maples were sweet, it was hell on my bonsai trees!
You and your bonsai trees :lol: