Mommyhens greenhouse rebuild

[mommyhen42]

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!






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 !.....

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

[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 !.....

Looking good !

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

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 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!