Dave's ground breaking news.

[davidstcldfl]

Thanks for the tips TC
Your right anout the depth. I was thinking of lettuce,spiniach,ect. in the winter months....hadn't thought about summer months yet.(?) Tomato roots do go pretty deep and wide...

The 'conduit' fittings will work with pvc 'water' pipe. I'm using the pvc 'conduit' fittings because, the threads are 'straight' on them. So, I can either screw a lock nut or a female adapter 'all the way' to the shoulder of the male adapter.

The threads on 'plumbing/water' fittings have a slight taper. If you try to put a 'plumbing/water' male and female adapters together, I doubt they would go all the way together.

I too, wonder about the safety of the gray pvc 'conduit'....I'm just using the 'fittings.' The pipe runs will be plumbing pvc.

The gray pvc (conduit) has a UV rating, the white pvc doesnt...go figure.

[wolfracer]

I too, wonder about the safety of the gray pvc 'conduit'....I'm just using the 'fittings.' The pipe runs will be plumbing pvc.

The gray pvc (conduit) has a UV rating, the white pvc doesnt...go figure.

I use the gray fitting with a homemade gasket on mine and they work great!

[davidstcldfl]

Thanks Wolfracer, I'm glad to hear that !

[davidstcldfl]

Change # 243....

Hi, The large tank I was hoping to get, wasn't that great of a price. So, now I'm going with IBC's. I'll put them inside my work shop. 3 of them ,to start with..... planning/dreaming of 10

The shop is well insulated. It has AC and elect heat. The AC will be needed ,to fight the humidity, more then just the heat. I do have an exhaust fan, vented to the outside. The humidity in central FL is high enough, that the vent may not help that much. I may end up needing a de-humidifier too.
I should be able to maintain the water temp better. Plus being inside , the tanks won't be exposed to the UV's. I wont have to worry about all the fish eating critters either.

The FT, that I was building, above ground, will now be the 'sump'. I'll end up burying it 'most' of the way into the ground. Want to stay up some, to keep 'run-off' from getting in.

I'm going to try GB's with rocks w/ bell siphons. I am going to try some 'raft' systems too. That way , I'll have hands on with both. I will cut the tops off the IBC's ,to use as Gb's.
Bio-filter boxes and wheels are definitely in the plans. As I wont have enough GB's to start with.

I did get a 55gal aquarium, plus 4 smaller ones. Plan on having the large one in my living room, so I can keep an eye on the females. Plus it'll entertain my cat She's too old to be jumping up there and doing the cat thing.
The smaller ones, will be in the FL room.

The 2 FT's that Stucco gave me, are now in the ground. I did build up the area where they are located, to keep run-off out of them too.

Plan on adding some rock on top of the (black) weed block. Add a few plants here and there...I think it'll look nice.
I may end up putting Koi in the larger ones. I was offered some for free...hate to turn his offer down. Thinking of growing duck weed in the smaller one. I'd like a small 'cat' or 2 in each one, to keep the bottom cleaner. I'll need some type of Bio- wheel/box, as this will be, separate from the other system.

[stucco]

Lookin good!

[davidstcldfl]

Thanks Jon !

[jackalope]

Looks like you guys are having fun in the winter ..... but where's the snow? You can't have a dog sled without snow can you?

[davidstcldfl]

LOL.....Jackalope, I sent this picture to my girlfriend who moved back to IL. I took this a week or so ago, the temp was in the 70's. I had my winter clothes on....jeans ,not shorts.
When I sent an email with this in it....the temp in IL was below freezing. I wanted her to remember she left more then just me behind....

The lake front in Kissimmee FL......

[davidstcldfl]

OK, back to the topic.....

I've decided to go with a constant water flow in my grow beds. I'm using an idea I saw in SMALL SCALE AQUACULTURE, by Van Gorder. (page 103) The "IDEA" belongs to.......Kyle Datta.
The GB's will only have 3 inches of water flowing through them. The plants are grown in modules. Which are 4 inch pvc pipe , cut to 6 inch lengths. The bottom half has 1/2 inch holes drilled in it for water flow. The upper 1/2 has 1/4 inch holes for air flow. They say to use (window) screen and make it into a cone shape, place it into the pvc. Fold the screen over the side of the pvc and place a rubber band around the top to hold it in place.
They fill the 'screen cone' with a mix of vermiculite, peat moss, sphagnum moss....bone meal,wood ash, and sea kelp. I'm thinking of trying azomite instead of the wood ash and kelp.
http://www.wheatgrasskits.com/azomite.htm

The benefits' are....the individual module can be removed, if needed, easily from the GB. I won't have to build/adjust bell siphons Or mess with timers. I don't need to buy/clean rock. However, I'm thinking about putting a thin layer of rock in the bottom of the GB, just to have (more) surface area for bacteria to grow.
I am planning on covering the GB's with shade cloth....actually laying it right on top of the GB. I'll cut an "X" to access the module's. This should cut down on algee growing and the shade cloth will still let air in. I was planning on using air stones anyway....now I may need a few more.

I've built 2 solids separator's. I'll place them just before the water flows into the GB's. Here's a couple pictures.


The box is 12 gals....the inlet is 1 " pvc...the outlet is 1 1/2 " pvc...they are straight across from each other, towards the top of the box.
Here is a picture with what I hope will slow the flow and let the heavier solids settle....
I cut it out of some coro-plast.



I won't have enough plants/grow bed area to start with.....so, I've also made a small bio-filter. I think it's 17 gals. Here's what I'm putting in (first) to hold the bio material off the bottom. As you can see, the water will be pumped to the bottom, flow through the bio material, then back to the FT.( sorry,the picts are fuzzy, I only have my phone to take them with... )




My bio-material.....shade cloth.....I'll "bunch it up" and gently stuff it in the box.


It was 'free'...except I did have to tear down a shade house to get it. The rest of the shade cloth is much denser/higher percentage cloth. I also got weed block cloth. The 4x4's and some of the pipe that formed the roof..

Hopefully I will get the GB's finished and piped. More pictures then................

[jackalope]

Looks good david, it must be nice to be able to work outside this time of year