Building an Aquaponics/hydroponics system

I finally got a chance to post some info about my system. I was given a bunch of 8" ABS piping. At first I was going to just split them in half, but I didn't think I would have enough root depth. Here's what I did:

First of all, I bought some 1/4" and 3/4" taps. I use them throughout the project and they pay for themselves by not needing to buy bulkhead fittings! They work great in ABS or PVC!

I cut each pipe into 5' sections, and then cut out 2 slots in the top about 4" wide for the plants. I then drilled and tapped a 3/4" fitting in the bottom for filling/draining. Once I put in the barbed fitting, I cut off the top on the inside to "maximize" the drainage. Plus, if there is any debris, it will get sucked out though this area.



In the background, you can see I cemeted and a ring around the inside of the pipe. This will act as a shelf to help support the end cap that I welded into place. This is the first time I've done plastic welding....LOVE IT!



I had a bunch of 1/2" black pipe so I welded a rack together and also dug a hole in the floor of my greenhouse for a sump. It was heartbreaking to dig out the floor in my nice little greenhouse. I'm sure I'll get over it once I see all these yummy veggies The sump pumps the water back into the 650 gallon tank.



I split a piece of 2" pipe and half and laid it in the bottom of each tray. This keeps the rocks out of the drain pipe....but I'm still concerned about the roots getting in there and I don't have a good way to clean them out...



I wanted to have an external bell siphon. I don't have a lot space of play with the water/gravel height in these trays, so by having the external siphon, I can fine-tune the height of the entire siphon. I'm really glad I did this now....It's has been working perfectly and I can make really fine adjustments to it without having to dismantle it.

Here area all the parts to it. Just a couple of odd things about it: A) I tapped two 3/4" fittings in the bottom-side. At first I tried to use just one fitting, but the 1/2" stand-pipe can suck the water out faster than a single tray can drain into the siphon chamber. B) I have a homemade bulkhead fitting in the bottom...I didn't have an o-rink or rubber laying around for the seal, but a dab of plummer's putty worked really well! C) The ball valve is for the water supply and the little tube is used to direct the water down into the chamber....I had a little spray problem and it would shoot out the top of the chamber! As a bonus, since I just sort of stuck the tube on the threads, while it's filling, it sucks air in through it and it act like a little bubbler.



Here it is all assembled. Just by dumb luck, I was able to sneak the supply tube under the vacuum break tube. It holds it all together nicely and helps to keep the bell from moving around.



Here it is with It's lid on and the 2 fill lines in the bottom-side.



Here's a couple of shots of the entire setup in operation!

From Aquaponics

Last week I planted lettuce, broccoli, peas, radish, beets, peppers, carrots and green beans. The peppers I planted indoors about a month ago. Everything else has sprouted. It will be interesting to see what the carrots, radish, and beets do in this sharp gravel.



The ground is still frozen outside (you can see the snow in the background). Even though this setup much smaller than my outdoor garden, I usually don't get to start planting until the first weekend in May! A 2 month head start rocks! The mass of the floor and tank can keep the night temps in the greenhouse about 12 degrees F warmer at night...just enough to keep everything safe!

I hope you all enjoy my setup...I have more expansions I'm working on......

New doors on the greenhouse

"That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!"
After wrestling with the terrible sliding doors for the last year, I've and enough! The other day there was enough ice buildup in the track where it just forced the entire door off...Trying to put it back on in the freezing temps, I managed to pop off the little WHITE wheels into the WHITE snow. Needless to say, that was the end of the door.

I built a frame around the opening with treated 2x3's and built a nice new set or doors....on hinges!!! I was able to salvage the existing glazing and cut each panel down just a little (since my new doors are slightly smaller than the old ones because of the door jamb. The existing door opening was slightly skewed so I loosened all the bolts on that wall and gave the structure a little push with my tractor bucket. Squared it right up! ;-) round the entire perimeter of the doors, I installed foam weather stripping and it sealed it up quite nicely.

This is what harbor freight should have done with their original design!

Vents 2.0

I am disappointed with the automatic vent openers. The few that did work would only open a few inches. I was worried about cooking my plants, or even worse, the kids' remaining fish! So I set off to go build a better mouse-trap.

I'll have to warn you, I run an IT department, so I know how to program and tinker with electronics....

I wanted to completely automate the greenhouse so I didn't have to keep an eye on it. At my disposal, I had an old laptop from work. I then purchased a couple of USB temperature cards and a relay card (dlpdesign.com). Next I found some used windshield wiper motors (surpluscenter.com) and started tinkering.

I wrote a controller program that was able to monitor the temperature of the greenhouse. Based on the temps, the vents are able to open & close on their own. It's easier to watch how they work, then to explain it, so here's a link to YouTube: Click for Video

Here are a couple of closeup pics of the vent opener:




The controller is also able to plot a history of temperatures. Here's a 24 hour snapshot.

Red=outside temp
Green=inside temp
Blue=tank water temp
Black Up Arrow=vent opening (one set opens at 73, the other at 75)
Black Down Arrow=vent closing (one set closes at 72, the other at 74)
Yellow=amount of sunlight entering

So far, I've very happy with the results. I'm thinking about using the same controller to control a hydroponics system next year. Stay tuned for future posts!

Thanks.
<<Additions

Additions

Since I want to use the greenhouse over the winter, I needed a way to retain heat. First I installed 1.5" foil-backed foam insulation on the north wall. I'll probably make some removable panels for the northern facing roof for the winter.

I also built a 650 gallon water storage tank. It has a steel and wooden frame, with a pond liner in it. I could have put in tanks, but I can get more storage per square foot. Plus I turned it into a small water garden and put a couple of fish in there.

Here are Bob and George in their new home. They are about 9" long. Their old home was a 10 gallon tank! Sadly, George went to fishy heaven a few months later.

I put in a bench on the south side which is built out of some scrap plywood. I also made some planters out of some cedar and put casters on the bottom. It allows me to roll them under the benches to get them out of the way.

Here are some peppers, broccoli, and
cantaloupe.

<<Structural | Vents 2.0 >>

Structural Modifications

The sliding doors are very sensitive and can rack easily. After a month of wrestling with them, I installed simple aluminum cross braises on each door. I drilled a hole through each horizontal brace in the door and used a piercing screw to hold the diagonal brace to each section. This made a HUGE difference and both doors now glide open.

I really wish that Harbor Freight just made a regular door instead of the sliders...I'm sure it's all about saving a couple of bucks.

The most important addition I made was adding some extra bracing. During windy days, I could see the end wall bowing in and out...especially the entrance wall since the cross bracing is really poor. I bought some standard 10' x 1/2" conduit. I cut them in half and pounded down each end to make them flat and drilled a hole in them. I bent the flat piece at about a 45 degree angle for the wall side and then sort of held it in place to figure out the angle of the rafter side. I was able to use 2 pieces total for the 4 "corners"

I was also very concerned about the snow load during the winter. If there is a heavy weight on the roof, the walls will bow out quite a bit. (I tested this by hanging off the top rafter support beam!) I built a tie-rod by taking another piece of conduit and cut it to around 7'. (I measured the distance between the bolts of the angle braces to determine the distance of the holes in the tie rod.) I pounded down the ends and bent them to about 30 degrees. I also pounded down a spot in the center of the rod and drilled a hole in it. Just by luck, the remaining piece of conduit was just long enough to attach the peak of the roof to the tie rod. This simple structural change added a lot of additional stability and made the roof extremely rigid. The tie rods are tall enough where I can easily walk under them, and also hang a bunch of plants from them. The trick is to get the angles of the rods correct!

Another note. Some conduit can be brittle. I heated the ends with a MAPP gas torch so it was about red hot and pounded it down with a lump hammer on my vice. Also the coating on the conduit can be toxic, so do it outside.

<<Glazing | Additions>>

Glazing and Finishing up

Overall, I found that the entire frame went together well. I didn't have to do any modifications to it.

Once I started to put in the glazing (plastic panels), they didn't fit great. I decided to loosen ALL the bolts in the frame so that the greenhouse could flex a bit. This worked very well. All the panels fit in very nicely. I then tightened everything back together.

A couple of months after I finished, here's the final result. I put topsoil around it and planted some grass. You'll notice that only 3 of the 4 vents are open. I've already had 2 of the openers fail from Harbor Freight and a 3rd one is barely working. Total garbage as far as I'm concerned. See my future blog for my vent fix.

I also didn't like how lose the panels were...just like most people. A few had popped up during a light windy day. I decided to put foam insulation under all the panels and screw them through the centers into the horizontal bracing. This was a VERY good investment. I bought all the foam tape (3/8" wide), piercing stainless screws and washers from mcmaster.com....much cheaper than the hardware stores. I also ordered a bag of clips from Harbor. Reference mudhouse's blog on how to put the screws in.

I was lucky enough to get some patio bricks for free so I was able to line the entire floor with them...really made it nice! Also, it may help retain some heat in the winter.

<<Erecting The Frame | Structural Modifications>>

Erecting the Frame

When you first start to put this together, you'll think to yourself "I can't believe this thing will actually stand on its own". You'll see in my picures that I added the diagonal cross-bracing in as soon as the corner posts go in, regardless of what the instructions state. It will make your life a lot easier if you do! Even if you have to remove it once in awhile to put in other segments.

When you're putting in all the studs, make sure you drop in the bolts for the horizontal supports. Check mudhouse's blog for more info about that. I had to unbolt things several times to put the extra bolts in....very time consuming. I wish I read their blog before I got to this part!

One other comment: I built this in March and it was below freezing most of the time. Aluminum and bare skin is wicked cold!

I decided to put all 4 vents on the southern root (I explain why in a future post). I also built the roof strucuture in my garage, mainly because it was too cold and windy. My father helped me carry it out and put it up. In hindsight, it probably would have been easier to build it in-place and deal with the cold weather.

<<Site Prep and Foundation | Glazing and Finishing up>>