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  1. #21
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Great idea but if it is larger than 4x4 it won't fit into my building... Outside the sides need to be higher... My German Shepherds LOVE water and have 2 pools like this that they play in all spring and summer long. I could do it if I bought some fencing material to go around it though...

    So the bubble wrap floats on the surface?
    I wonder if I could use Styrofoam??? Or do the fish try to eat the stuff?
    Take care and stay safe

    Sheryl and Jake SD

  2. #22
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Sheryl..you have Shepherds?
    2 of them then?

    And no fish won't eat the foam
    ""we are what we eat""

  3. #23
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffW
    I like bubble wrap that stuff is great.

    Why only 2 years what happens to them?
    They start getting pin hole leaks. Not bad if you are outside, but no good in the basement. It also shorted out the waterbed heater.

    If you use bubble wrap, be sure NOT to get the bios-degradable kind. The stuff slowly disolves in water.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  4. #24
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Quote Originally Posted by mommyhen42
    So the bubble wrap floats on the surface?
    I wonder if I could use Styrofoam??? Or do the fish try to eat the stuff?
    Yep, bubbles float

    Tilapia will try to eat anything, so I'd be worried about styro. They never bothered the bubble wrap. Bubble wrap is a heck of a lot cheaper and it lets light through. Easy to cut too.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  5. #25
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffW
    Sheryl..you have Shepherds?
    2 of them then?

    And no fish won't eat the foam
    Actually, I have 4 Shepherds and a litter of 3 week old puppies.

    I have an old male, a 2 yr old male that is currently working to finish his CD title and is starting in Schutzhund tonight.
    A 5 yr old bitch that is sired by an international Champ Schutzhund 3
    and a 3 month old Bitch that is also champion sired that I hope to get a Schutzhund title on once she matures.

    I just have 2 of those swimming pools set up for the dogs to play in. My young male Lives to play with water!
    Take care and stay safe

    Sheryl and Jake SD

  6. #26
    Moderator wolfracer's Avatar
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    I am going to try and get this thread back on track.
    Being Spring break I had 2 days off from the college (as employees we get 2 of the 5 days), so I spent that time back on my latest obsession. Thursday I constucted the supports for the growbeds out of cinder blocks, 2x12's, and 4x4's. I wanted to go a little higher with them to accommodate a larger sump but that would of limited the amount of fall from the fish tank for my feed lines. It turned out quite well and is very sturdy. This is just the right length to hold the 9 growbeds I built earlier.



    I had decided on pea gravel as my growbed media, and calculated that I needed 2.5 cu ft per growbed. Once I shopped around the cheapest I could find already packaged up was $3.28/.5 cu ft from Walmart. This would be around $135 for gravel. I just can't do that right now. I called a guy I grew up with, who owns a local gravel trucking company and he turned me on to a quarry about 30 miles away that might have what I was looking for. I finally was able to get a phone number for them and they had what I needed for $20 dollars a ton. Since I had read that limestone will buffer your PH (limestone is the predominate rock around here) I made sure that this was good hard river gravel in the pea pebble size.
    This is where it gets interesting, When you go to a Rock Quarry with a half ton truck make sure you communicate with the loader to not overload your vehicle! They put one loader bucket in the back. I didn't think anything about wieght, until after I crossed the scale and stepped out to go in and pay. The truck was clear down on the frame stops and the tires were squished almost flat. The bill turned out to be $37 for 1.8 tons of pea gravel. I made it home (30 miles away), thankfully this is mostly rural and I was able to go about 45 mph without people running over me.

    This is what 1.8 tons of pea gravel minus about 10 3 gallon buckets, looks like.


    I spent the rest of Friday sifting and washing gravel. The pea gravel has some pretty small grit to it and I was really looking for something a 1/4" or larger. We had some sifters laying around, that we made for when the wife and I met my parents down at the diamond mine in arkansas. These worked fairly well for sifting out the smaller stuff. I will save it to use in cups, for the riverbed system I intend to build copied from Mommyhen's design.

    Following Laurrie's recommendation, I used my cement mixer to wash the gravel. Even with the cement mixer this is still a huge amount of work. I still have another day of gravel washing in front of me I'm sure.



    I managed to completely fill one growbed and partially fill all nine before it was quitting time. (didn't want to miss the BSG series finale!).



    I am getting closer but I still have some hurdles to cross, I need to get the sumps constucted and the feed lines and the fish tank lines. I also need to get my pump, air pump and air stones. Not to mention fish and plants. Wow I thought I was a little closer.

  7. #27
    Members mpugh5@aol.com's Avatar
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Tilapia will try to eat anything, so I'd be worried about styro. They never bothered the bubble wrap. Bubble wrap is a heck of a lot cheaper and it lets light through. Easy to cut too.

    hey badflash i was at the local college,cheyney state univ. and they use the styrofoam boards for insulation and grow bed on there set up. the type of styrofoam i believe would be the issue. the boards are like expanded foam not the crumbly stuff that gets and goes everywhere.

    wolfracer your an inspiration that's some good looking effort you've put out there. it was about 27degrees out here yesterday morning and i liked to froze my fingers off loading 176 cinder blocks on a trailer while the sun rose.the tires on the trailer looked like your truck coming from the quarry,by the way thanks for another great idea. one more trip like that and i'll be ready to start the foundation for the greenhouse.
    one life one love.

  8. #28
    Moderator wolfracer's Avatar
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Can't wait to see some pics of your greenhouse it sounds like it will be nice and roomy. I finished washing the gravel today so all the growbeds are nice and full . Will start on the plumbing after the Nasscar race is over about 100 laps to go. My friend Brett brought me a 2 speed exhaust fan, so I will have to get that mounted up sometime also.

  9. #29
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Careful doing work after watching Nasscar. The beer tends to screw up your judgement
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  10. #30
    Moderator wolfracer's Avatar
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    Re: Wolfracer's System Build

    Especially when you brew your own!.

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