Dave's ground breaking news.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi. Well, i've decided to go with a CHIFT PIST system. I'll use Slo drains to feed the grow bed(s).

I just started to work on the FT today, It'll be 3' x 3' x9'. I'm making it using cattle fence and some rubber liner, with some insulation in between. I'm holding it up, by putting posts into the ground every 20 ". I'll be burying them at 3' deep.



Here's the O-fficial ground breaking.....


One post in....11 more to go.

Well, it's not a big start....but I did start.

[stucco]

It’s a bought time :P :P

[jackalope]

Any start is a good start

[davidstcldfl]

OK, I got all the posts up. They are 'almost' three feet deep. I did add two to each end, instead of one.

When you look at the picture, you'll see some horizontal boards. They are just temperory. I used them to hold the post (some what ) plumb, untill I filled in the post holes.



I'll cut the post at 3'. Then I'll notch the top/inside of the post...so that I can put a 2X4 along the top. Hope this will be enough to hold it all together.
I have lots of coro-plast, I think I'll put that against the fence, then the insulation and then ,of course, the rubber liner.
I was thinking about using a pressure treated 2X6 ,laying flat on top of the post. It wont hang 'over' the tank, but it'll be 'flush'. Is the 'new' PT wood, as bad as the old stuff ? Do you think I can take the chance ?

I dont think I'll use the lill hard plastic kiddie pools that I got for GB's. They are old and kinda beat up. I was going to use concrete blocks and a pice of ply to hold them up.

I know I'll need lots more GB area. The tank I'm building will hold about 500 gals. I am going to use the grow bed Stucco gave me, but I need 'way' more.

I dont know....? I do live 'in' town. I need to do something that looks 'ok'....but doesn't cost too much..hmmm? (Dream on Dave )
I'll have to re-read Stucco's build (?) I really liked his tanks...

[davidstcldfl]

The rain has been slowing me down...which now is a good thing

I was trying to get some work done, yesterday between the rain. My friend ended up calling. He found a heavy duty plastic tank, brand new. They've had it sitting there for a long while and they just want to move it.

My FT, that I was working on, is aprox 500 gals. The new tank is 1100 gals. So, now the(old) FT will be my new 'sump'....

In the mean time, I'm going to work with, what Jon was so nice to give to me. I want to get something going ! I want to hear some water flowing....lol

I must be the only one that has changed plans in the middle of a project...

[jackalope]

The rain has been slowing me down...which now is a good thing

I'm wondering if you would consider trading that rain for the below zero (-21F) weather we've had for the past couple of nights and all day yesterday. We had a heat wave today, it warmed up to -12F but it's going back down now that the sun is set

I must be the only one that has changed plans in the middle of a project...

Somehow, I seriously doubt that

[mpugh5@aol.com]

good start, glad to see someone making forward progress, i'll be lurking and watching

[TCLynx]

The trick to changing in the middle of the project is to seem to make it look like you meant to do that (or is that when you walk into the sliding door?)

I changed gears many time in progress! As for cheapest way to get lots of filtration. At the moment, I think the 100 and 300 gallon stock tanks are the best deals. Tractor Supply. Currently the 100 gallon is just under $70 and the 300 gallon is about $210. So gallon for gallon the 300 is the best price but might be a bit wide depending on how you like to deal with planting. For those to drain easily, the sump needs to be dug into the ground though as I wouldn't want to be putting something that deep up on much of a stand. I have my 100 gallon stock tanks up on single layers of blocks (5-7 blocks work fine under the 100 gallon tanks) Would probably need more under the 300 gallon tank.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi TC, I was looking at the rubbermaid's yesterday at Tractor Supply....very nice.

I'm trying an experiment ( besides this whole Aquaponic thing) trying to see how enexpensive of a GB I can make with common materials.I bought 3- mortar tubs at Home depot, for $11.38 each. Of course they aren't as thick as the rubbermaid's.


sorry, the picture quality isn't too good. They are 3'L x 2'w x 8" deep.

I'm going to tie the 3 together...the one in the middle will be the one with a bell siphon. The stand pipe will be 1 "......the other 2 will have a 1-1/2 drain (through the side) going into the side of the middle one. I'm trying this, to save on the material, of having a bell in each one.

I'm also trying pvc 'conduit' fittings for the tank penetrations instead of uni-seals. A 1-1/2" female adapter is only 75 cents and the lock nut is only 35 cents. I bought some flat rubber gasket material...will have to cut my own. (A 1-1/2 " uni-seal is $3.30 each.) I am using a uni-seal for the 'bell' set up ( just because I bought an extra one)

For a stand, I may be able to get some used angle iron, then 'if 'my buddy lets me use his welder(?) Plan 'b', will be some concrete blocks with some pressure treated 4x4's across them.

So far, I've spent aprox $48 ..tubs,pvc conduit fittings, rubber gasket and 1 uni -seal. Of course I still need pipe ( drain and bell set up) and some kind of stand and rocks, but all grow beds need (some of) that stuff.

If the conduit fittings don't make a seal, I can always cut a larger whole and use uni-seals. I dont know how long the tub(s) will last, but it seems better then linner inside wooden troughs....?
Like I said....this is just an experiment...

[TCLynx]

you might find that the mortar tubs are a little shallow but they will still probably work for something anyway.
Beware, it isn't so easy to cut a larger nice round hole after you have already cut a smaller one in the same spot (no place to put the center bit on the whole saw to keep the whole saw from moving around as you cut, you have to get a bit creative to manage to do it.

However, take a tip from the barrel ponics manual, if you cut the hole just a tiny bit too small and then warm up the plastic to thread the fitting through the plastic, you may manage a leak free seal with just a little bit of aquarium silicone. I would probably use the regular drinking water pipe pvc fittings for this instead of the electrical conduit fittings just because I don't know if the conduit is food safe or if the pipe sizes are interchangeable between the two.

And for when you go to get gravel. 1 ton of the 1/2" brown river rock might fill aprox 160 gallons of grow bed. 6 tons might be around 950 gallons of gravel. (This is based on the pebble junction estimation that it takes 1.25 tons to make a cubic yard of gravel.) I have gotten 2 separate 6 ton loads of gravel delivered here. 6 tons is the weight limit on the delivery trucks that pebble junction uses for residential deliveries.