Phase 2, Dec 11, 2010
As all of the plants started filling out i realized i had way too many plants for my setup. And some plants like broccoli would never mature in such tight quarters. Even the lettuce was growing tall enough on the bottom shelf to touch the light and get scorched.
I was also having issues with fish solids accumulating at the bottom of the aquarium. The siphon only skimmed off of the top. Hind sight, i could have just vacuumed that weekly with an aquarium vacuum but i decided to go in a different direction.
Change log.
-I ate a lot of lettuce.
-I added a 110 Gallon rubbermaid stock tank that i bought from Tractor supply for about $60. This became the new fish tank.
-I added 2 - 2'x4' Botanicare grow trays with a new 4bulb x 4' T5 for each.
-Replumbed the 5 - 6"x4' grow trays and 3'x3' grow tray to empty into the new tank.
-Moved the water inputs on the vertical trays from the front near the bell siphon to the back near the window.
-1- ~512gph magnum style pump to the 2 story system and 1-~260gph pump pumps to both new 2'x4' grown beds
-The new bell siphons have the same problem of not breaking flow but this works out. I put both pumps on separate 15on15off pump cycles which ensures both trays are never filling up at the same time.
-Some plants like broccoli, basil, parsley, cilantro and a catnip were transplanted to the new trays.
-I planted new lettuce, cauliflower and cabbage in the bottom tray
-The top tray stayed pretty much the same. I thinned out some plants because they were getting too big.
New Tray #1: Turned one tray into an herb tray. This time i separated the parsley and the cilantro to avoid confusion. Also there's basil, and some red cabbage.
Bottom tray: Replanted lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussel sprouts.
Top Tray: A couple of Jalapeno trees have really taken off, I removed the rest so they wouldnt have to compete for light. Started a squash experiment in the back.