Wolfracer's System Build

[Breed]

mommyhen42 -
We used 2' X 3' containers from Lowes. They are a polytank type material. They cost $12.00. It took 5 bags of pea gravel to fill them. Yes they are very muddy. We hooked a hose to the drain and washed the gravel in the containers, but drained the water to the sewer. We were in the basement. The side will bow badly if not on real solid base. We used 2" X 10" boards several inches wider and longer than the tub. We bought pea gravel from Lowes but discovered it was for landscaping and it has such small gravel it was almost like sand and would go through the drain into the fish tank. So we went to Home Depot and got the real stuff. We have 3 beds working now with 3 more to come as soon as babies grow big enough not to get sucked into the pump. No more filters!
No more fish poop! We are waiting for Spring when we can go outside to the big stuff. We are growing lots in our mini-aquaponics and testing what we want to grow outside and what will grow best. Good luck

[davidstcldfl]

Hi Wolfracer, I finally finished reading your building thread. "Nice greenhouse" Man,some of the plants were/are going crazy ! I was impressed with how warm you can keep the green house.

One minor thing, that 'you may already be aware of'..... I noticed you used pvc to hook up your hot water tank. I couldn't tell if it's pvc or cpvc, sorry... my monitor's color is 'off' some. If it's just pvc, you may want to keep an eye on the discharge line. The heat can soften the pvc and/or cement joints. Also, over a period of time,it may get brittle. Shouldn't be a problem for a few years.
I'm over cautious I guess, I like to have a foot or two of copper, comming right off the tank, because it's always hot. Then I switch to cpvc.

[wolfracer]

Well I thought I would post an update of my project. I have managed to keep things going despite really cold temperatures. The radiant heat definately works, but more insulation would make it more economical. I am going to to do this to the house some time in the future. Here is the greenhouse with all the snow and the 2 IBC's that were given to me.( suppossed to get a few more) I am planning on using these for rain water collection system in the spring.



The Fish are doing great, some are well over a pound. I have not lost any fish for over 2 months. Even the gold fish refuse to die. One thing I have noticed is when the cats come up from the bottom they will get out of the way most of the time. Of course when I took this picture they were in the way, go figure.



I have started some beans in the riverbed just to see if I could get them to do anything. So far so good



The cherry tomato's are still doing okay but I had a little issue with the fish tank feed system to this growbed. every now and then it just plugs up with crap and the water stops flowing this kinda stressed the plants out but I think I got it working correctly now.




It was kinda nice being able to harvest tomatos today when it is 27 degrees on December 29th in Kansas.



Any way there are several things I need to add to this system to make it more viable for a family to survive on.

1. I need more space. Bigger greenhouse for sure.

2. A more economical hot water source for the radiant heat heat such as solar/wind with wood back up.

3. A better plan for crop rotation to ensure a more constant output from the system.

As usual let me know what you think , because as I continue to upgrade this project all input is welcome.

[davidstcldfl]

WOW, Wolfracer ! A bucket of 'maters sittin' in the snow...lol. Gotta love it....
You said it was 27 outside (Brrrr).....what is the tempt inside your green house ?

The plants and 'cats' are looking nice.

I must confess, I'm a little 'green'... ....over your new IBC's. I found some at a good price.....but the cash didn't come through

Looking forward to some more pictures and updates. Take care....Dave

[wolfracer]

We had another 1 1/2" of snow last night, temp outsude is 30 degrees and the greenhouse is 60 degrees in the front and 62 degrees in the back.

Yeah I am pretty fortunate with the IBC's. He just drives right up to the greenhouse and drops them off. Costs me nothing.

[wolfracer]

Ran into a bit of an issue with these cold temps (-5 F). Greenhouse is staying plenty warm (lows around 52 F ). but my well froze and I haven't been able to top off the sumps. We had a power failure yesterday which caused the sumps to overflow and when the power came back on it pumped the sumps really low, on top of that I had a growbed overflow and now the sumps are so low that water is not flowing in the system.

This is a definte drawback to to this type of design if the sumps go dry then the flow stops. Since we have chloramine in our public water system I am not sure what I am going to do until I can get my well unthawed.

temp is suppossed to get back down below zero again tonite.

[stucco]

Could you use amquil to treat the city water?

[wolfracer]

Don't have any and I live pretty far from any where.

[stucco]

I think Wal-Mart carries it.

[wolfracer]

If I can't get things going tonite I will shoot in there (30 min drive). And thanks This won't mess with eating of the fish will it?