Vermiponics School Project

[magneta]

Finally got updates and pics- had to do a full redesign on the system due to space constraints.
I instead opted for a 'worm tea' production center, which pumps worm tea to 6 large potted plants. Basically, one 200L barrel is cut in 6/10s and 4/10s- the smaller barrel, with a bunch of holes drilled inside is flipped upside down and added on top of the larger barrel. The larger barrel will be a water tank that will store the worm tea (run off from the smaller bin on top). The top bin will be filled with gravel + cardboard 3/4 of the way. 3 yogurt containers drilled with holes will be buried on top. Water will be pumped from the bottom to the top of the bin with a single pump hooked onto 1 timer and a water control switch, the water level rising until it barely passes the buried yogurt container level. The moisture from the compost waste will provide the rest of the needed moisture to the top part of the bin. The water will pull a small portion of the ground veggies to the rocks where the worms will have a field day.

If space allows (I will have 3 yogurt containers in the top part for compost), I may have one or two plants with high drainage requirements (blueberries).

Water will be added every 6 hours on 15 minute intervals. There is a larger "safety" hole in the bottom to prevent overflow in case the wire mesh gets clogged, although I may need to add a few more, just for the piece of mind. I may even add a pseudo "bell siphon", where the water will flow over the pipe and into the tank in case the system starts to overflow, giving me enough time to regulate the water level (ie. 2 weeks later when I feed the worms).

The water tank in the bottom meanwhile will collect the 'worm tea' and distribute it to the plants.
The 'worm tea' that collects to the bottom of the bin will be distributed to the plants via a second pump, hooked onto two timers (to bypass the 15 minute minimum 'on time' digital dollarshop timers have- I need to pump water to the plants in 4-5 minute intervals- and since sediments will be pumped, I can't use the water control switch, since it may get clogged.
The water level will obviously decrease as a result, so I have a pump in a rain barrel connected to a float switch inside the tank, that will pump water into the tank when the water level gets too low.

I posted 2 pics of the system in progress. Gonna take a few more once everything is done.
I just finished everything today at 3AM, except for adding gravel + worms. Sanding holes for yogurt containers is really tedious. The system overflowed too due to water transfer from the rainbarrel to the bottom tank, even though the pump was off. Two holes drilled to the pipe nearest to the rain barrel fixed the problem. I gotta add more of these 'pressure relieving holes to the other pipes.

Also, working with the water made me realize one thing- the importance of a water heater.

Tis pricy to be Epimethius. You figure out your ideal system AFTER you spend so much $$ on things you never really needed after all.
Ie. 840gph pumps for $65 as opposed to the 240gph pumps for $25 which works perfectly.

looking forward to seeing your set-up.
i am playing with vermiponics although it really isn't vermiponics. i have (29) 5-gal plastic buckets, each is a worm bed, each has a plant in the bucket. once a day it receives water from the 600gal bio-vat, and the excess runoff goes back into the bio-vat. the bio-vat contains 150 feeder size goldfish. there are 3-100 gal grow beds and two 120 gal grow beds are under construction to add to it, with a probable another 100 gal grow bed coming later.
i don't see how the run-off can be recirculated contineously. i do not know yet how much of the nutrient rich run-off will be utilized by the grow beds. this system of course is outside.
i'm interested in how your project is going to go.

I believe the water shouldn't be recirculated continuously. Worms like it damp, but too much water and they drown. My water recirculation cycle is therefore once every 6 hours or longer. As long as the rocks are damp for the most part, they will be fine.

So the worms will work in tandem with the plants to remove the fish waste, and the worm castings produced from the worms eating the fish poop will fertilize the plants. Sweet.

Again, you can try routing the run off from the worm waste bin to one or two plant growbeds before moving it to the biovat, to ensure that the fish gets clean water (or is that what you're already doing). Malnourished plants are a lot better than dying fish, no?

It should work really well, keep us updated on the progress.