rfeiller's greenhouse revamp

[rfeiller]

One of two pet turtles I've had for 19yrs.

[urbanfarmer]

Oh wow. Yea, turtles are neat little creatures. The girls have 2 in their tank, and they are very playful.

[rfeiller]

tanks have cycled, with help from the KOI pond filters. Slowly increasing the fish load. added first two young KOI (8") to 1000gal vat. water shared with turtles; going slow with the KOI they don't like to be plopped from tank to tank.

have about 25 small 2-3" body size, of gold fish in 100gal vat. more expensive young goldfish $14per range at 15 per 100gal.

will max out at about 30 per 100gals, they will be a good 6" within 3-4 months with forced feeding. i keep ramshorn snails in tanks to eat uneaten food, they also produce poop which aids in the system. the snail fry also are eaten by the fish.

seedlings of tomatos, summer squash, soy beans, snow peas, kale, salad greens and orchids are doing fine. a little leggy and not as robust as they will be, but, ok.

3x6' with bhut jolokia chiles and rose bush are being set up on drip systems with bioponics from fish filters and worm castings.

anxious to set up the three 1000watt lights. lights and warmth are the two deficiencies.

still rainy, haven't finished electrical. temperature is the big problem, it's been cold for our area and this time of year.

[wolfracer]

Looks pretty good !

[rfeiller]

having a heck of a time getting bell syphon to cycle. the small pumps i have are 270gph and the syphon will just not break. i've tried several differet configurations show on the web to no avail. any suggestions would be appreciate.
i done the reducer flared fitting on the top. holes at different locations to let in air. my greenhouse is beginning to look like a pvc graveyard!

[badflash]

Make sure the cap vent is air tight and extends down just above the upeneing at the bottom.

Increase the flow until it cycles, then you can back down until it stops cycling. Too low a flow is almost always the cause. I also fin that it helps to have the drain slope up just a tad, linke 1 pipe diameter before it goes down to the sump.

[rfeiller]

well badflash, i tried to make a bell syphon like some of those without the cap vent and just couldn't get it to work. so added a 1/2" cap vent and moved the tube up and down to adjust as you suggested; it's ugley but works great. thanks

[rfeiller]

lettuce and salad greens look good but are very weak. there is little substance to the leaves. don't know if it is insufficient light intensity or what.

[gosmith]

At least the days will start getting longer after tomorrow, if that's what the problem is.

Just checked the official length of today (Dec. 20) for my 48.5 degree latitude: 8h 17m. Subtract out an hour or two at each end of the day and there's probably only 4 or 5 hours that a plant can actually use to photosynthesize. That means it has to go an awful lot of hours with zero energy to grow, let alone just sustain itself. Throw in a few cloudy days in a row with only about 20 percent effective light and you're screwed.

The 3 locations you list for yourself are nowhere near as extreme as mine, but official Bay Area insolation values for summer are slightly above 6 in the summer, and around 3.3 in the winter, or almost half as much. Something to consider.

Gary

[gosmith]

Another thought:

I noticed a lot of condensation on your greenhouse walls, which also reduces light intensity inside a GH by reflecting light away. This is often much worse in the winter due to low night temps and higher humidity. I also read that certain kinds of plastics used in GHs can make this effect much worse. Not sure what you might be able to do about it, but again, something to consider.

Found this article after a quick search:
http://www.onhort.com/onhort/main.cfm?r ... cleID=3308

Gary