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  1. #21
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    Uprights in on the down slope side. You can see what I'm up against. The inside will be terraced for each bed. I have a 5' slope from one end to the other over a 40' run and 2' from one side to the other across the 20' width at the top end.


    I'm using a tygon tube for a long distance level. That is what you see hanging.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  2. #22
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    Got busy bending the rest of the rails with help from son Jake and his friend Ben:


    Here I'm supervising the assembly of one of the hoops:


    We celebrate the 1st hoop going up!


    The hoops are all up and my help collapses:


    Tomorrow the perlins go in and the frame will be pretty much done.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  3. #23
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    like them hoops.....very slick!
    ""we are what we eat""

  4. #24
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    hi badflash, it looks very nice. just wait until to put on the plastic what a joy that is. it took 5 of us to do ours. good luck nice job. later Big Al

  5. #25
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    Got the 1st set of perlins in.


    Here is look up from the lower yard:


    Unfortunately, the others are too high to work without a 14' ladder. I don't have one, so I'll have to rent one next week.

    Here are some details.

    Here is how I get the corners vertical:


    The perlins are secured in the middle with 3" hose clamps:


    The ends are secured with self drilling 2" screws. I drilled perlin so the screw only needed to go through one wall. Center punch the post so the screw doesn't slide.


    So far putting up the perlins has been the hardest part of the job.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  6. #26
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    Got the 2nd barrel filled with gravel and a bell siphon This siphon has no breather hole and works fine. I only have a 4" drop from the bottom of the barrel to the drain line, so I guess it doesn't need it. No loud noises when the siphon breaks.

    I have a 1500 GPH Intex pool pump on the system. It is way over-sized. It draws 300 watts and is really quiet. I just ordered a 530 GPH Intex pump from an Ebay dealer. $35 new with free shipping. With any luck it will be as good as my big freebie.

    I put about a dozen tilapia of various sizes in to see if the water is good. I added bacteria from one of my systems to get the cycle going. If I get no floaters I'll add a bunch more in a week.

    My current bell siphon design is what I will use for the rest of my beds. 12" long 1" PVC pipe, 11.5" 2" PVC pipe, 2" cleanout cap and threaded plug and a 12" long 4" PVC pipe with a 4" strainer screen. I clamp the 2" pipe in a drill press and using a 2" hole saw I drill 1/2" from the bottom through both sides. This gives a nice big opening in the bottom. I cut a series of 2" holes in the bottom of the 4" pipe and cover that with the 4" screen tube. The 1" pipe fits in a 1" bulkhead fitting in the bottom of the barrel. The 2" cap goes over that and the 4" screen pipe goes over that. I carefully add river pebbles and keep the screen pipe centered.

    I have a pretty easy way to clean the gravel. The left over part of the barrel easily holds 1/2 cubic feet of gravel and has an open hole in the back. I also have a garden screen I made years ago with 1/4" mesh hardware cloth that fits into the barrel. I pull a garden hose through the hole and loop it back through so the hose doesn't get away from me.

    Turn on the hose, dump in 1/2 cubic foot of gravel, and rinse. Put a bunch in the screen, rinse while moving it around to remove any sand, then dump it in your growbed. The nice thing about these left over barrels is they fit perfectly into the cradles for the growbeds, so I can set them up right next to the one I'm filling. It took me less than 1/2 hour to process a 3.5 cubic foot bed.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  7. #27
    Moderator wolfracer's Avatar
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    Looking Good! All that work will pay out in the end, great project.

  8. #28
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    Saw your hoops going up a while back posted up here. Hope you will send up some progress photos. Over 90 degrees here in Puget Sound today. Too warm for this old boy working outside.
    Dennis
    Oldandfound1
    When you get to my age you cannot think of something without being reminded of something else.
    George Burns

  9. #29
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    I'll post updates on the greenhouse after I get the growbeds in. I need to get some breeder tilapia outside and get some babies before it gets cold. They are too large to breed inside.

    I discovered something interesting about the bell siphon. It actually does need the 1/4" air hose to kick at low flows. As it turns out the 2nd bell siphon would only kick once the first kicked and it went based on the suction created by the draining of the 1st one. It would just trickle until the 1st one kicked. Now I need to re-plumb the drain line so that each bed goes into the larger drain line on its own. Otherwise one or the other will trigger early when the 1st one kicks.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  10. #30
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    Re: Badflash's Greenhouse Build

    Badflash,
    Read the last post once, and again a few minutes later. Understand I think you had the siphons plumbed to a common drain line. Water and air in it were disrupting the action of other siphon. Correct?
    Dennis
    Oldandfound1
    When you get to my age you cannot think of something without being reminded of something else.
    George Burns

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