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Thread: The farm

  1. #21
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: The farm

    Looking ahead.....I started aprox 500 asst. bell peppers for our 'cool season' garden. Some of the seeds sprouted in as little as 3 days. We plan on building raised beds, that's where these will end up. I'll use the water from the swirl filters to water and help feed them.
    I love those horti-cubes. Just drop the seeds in, wet the media, and stick them in the dark for a few days. I started the seeds July 1st...this pict. is from the morning of the 12th.



    We have all the dura-scrim cut and laying in the beds. Here's the last 70 foot section...



    We started working on the media beds....got the holes drilled for the drain, the liner in and installed the bulkheads. Now to wash and move 3 yards of river rock...
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

  2. #22
    Members samtheman's Avatar
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    Re: The farm

    Nice !!!!

  3. #23
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    Re: The farm

    How many drains per? Are you planning on using bell siphons?

  4. #24
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: The farm

    We are jealous!

  5. #25
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: The farm

    Thanks Sam - UF...

    Quote Originally Posted by rfeiller
    How many drains per? Are you planning on using bell siphons?
    1 (one) drain per bed....'yes', they will be bell siphons. Actually "affnan bells".
    I'm trying to keep the water flow low, to save on electric. I'm basing the flow rate on 'Friendly's .
    I'm counting on Mr. Affnan's design to overcome the slower flow.

    The drain and (lower section of the) stand pipe will be 1". The upper part of the (affnan) stand pipe will either be ...1 x 1 1/2" or 1 x 2". I ordered both size bell reducers, like Affnan uses....from FlexPvc.
    The 'bell', will either be 2" or 3", depending on the reducer being used. The gravel guard will be oversized....hopefully, that will aid in the draining.
    The media beds should have aprox 100 gals of water, due to the displacement of the media. Worst case...I'll have to make the drains and stand pipes larger....

    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

  6. #26
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    Re: The farm

    Are you doing flood and drain? Will your pump(s) be on a timer?

    Not sure how much flow you are looking for compared to your watt usage but I saw a 10500gph @ 5' head pump that uses 540W.

  7. #27
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    Re: The farm

    you might find that a straight through 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" straight pipe would carry more water then one that has been reduced down to 1" the diameter of the pipe determines what can gravity feed through it doesn't it.

    i have one of the 2x8x1 ft 120gal GB's that i am now using as a raft and will soon change to a bell siphon. i had put a 1-1/2" bell siphon on to test it. it dumps like a fire hose. 3" bell, 1-1/2" standpipe, 1-1/2 bulkhead fiting. unless a 1" pipe has a pump behind i don't think it can move anywhere near as much as an 1/1/2". i would sure like to see the flow comparisons.

    how slow can you dump with a reducer and without a reducer i don't know this friendlie's calcs. is this the HI people. i do understand that a reducer somehow is supposed to increase the vacuum in the bell. when i turn the flow down i have no problems with the cycling. how many times are you planning on the bell cycling the GB in an hour? sure interested in what you are doing.

  8. #28
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: The farm

    kneedeepinwater........ Yes- flood and drain...no timer. The 'main' system is 'troughs with rafts'. The media beds are 'just' filters. They happen to be 'filters' that I can grow more lettuce in.... :P The water in the rafts need to be pretty clean, so the roots stay clean.

    Kneedeep and rfeiller...Yes, 'Friendly's" are the folks in HI. In some of their news letters, they have shared how they have reduced the water flow in their raft systems, and increased the air to the troughs. They believe this is using less electric, and still having great results with the plants.

    We'll be using 2 pumps for a redundancy safety factor. Each pump, will pump aprox 600 gph @ 7ft, while using 50 watts 'each'. That's not a lot of flow, for 16,000 gals of water.
    I wish the regenitive blower would use 50 watts...
    The blower will be for the troughs only. We have a few diaphragm pumps for the fish tanks, since we need to pump deeper for them.

    Your right rfeiller, I would move 'a lot more' water with a bigger stand pipe/drain. I just don't know if 400 gals (at best) going into each media bed, would kick in a typical bell set up with a large stand pipe. That's why I'm using affnan's design....counting on it kicking in easier.
    I hope the water 'blasts out' of the 1", while going into the troughs. This may help to add some air to the water. I may need to go up to 1 1/4" or 1 1/2 " on the drain/stand pipe base.

    This is a test....Worst case, I may need to go larger with the stand pipe/ drains....and possibly add a third pump (?)
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

  9. #29
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    Re: The farm

    my little 281gph pumps work fine with the 1-1/2" standpipe. so you may have some play room i think. anyway you are building one heck of an impressive system

    i did read one of their articles on their blog, come to think of it, and the level of nitrates at the end of the trough was the same as it was going in at the beginning.

  10. #30
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: The farm

    Picked up the first load of fish tanks.......

    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

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