The Aquaponics Gardener Greenhouse update for December

Just thought I would throw together a quick update on the progress of the greenhouse. It's been a month since the last video showing how all of the plants and fish are growing....I'm very excited to see that the system is really starting to crank out the produce, and in the middle of winter...just mind numbing. Anyway, here's a quick look.

 And as stated in the video we had our first harvest of produce, I picked and prepared Swiss Chard, all types of Kale, Basil, Arugula Chocolate mint,  and spearmint which was mixed up in a nice salad.  It was really good, and there is plenty left over for a few days. I still have quiet a bit more growing in the greenhouse.

DIY EZ Cloner for Under $50 bucks

OK...so I realized that raising tomato plants from seed at this point is going to be challenging and I don't really have a resource in the winter for tomato plants, so what's an Aquaponics Gardener to do...Why, build my own DIY EZ Cloner and all for under $50..I say around $40 in the video, but I didn't figure in the cost of the pipe, fittings and the three additional Net Pots w/Neoprene inserts I'm going to need, so the total comes in at a little under $50..still not bad considering the price of a commercial unit. Here a few pics of the unit and a video overview of the cloner...I think it is going to work out just fine.

 The Finish Product

 A Blue 20 Gallon Tote from my local Family Dollar for $10

 Fairly deep compared to an 18 Gallon Tote

 Layout for 2" holes to accommodate Net Pots

 Starting the holes

Standard 2" Net Pots with Neoprene inserts.

 Finished the holes for now, still have to purchase 3 more 2" Net Pots w/Inserts

 1/2" PVC pipe spray bar before being drilled for spray heads

 Spray bar with 360 Degree spray heads installed.

 Close up of 360 mist head  11/64 drill bit used for installation

 Close up of 360 degree downspray streaming head 11/64 drill bit used for installation

 600 GPH pump to be changed out for a 300+ GPH later on.

Assembly installed in Tote

Here is a short video overview of the EZ Cloner in action.

Enjoy!!!

System Expansion Plans

OK...So, I've been toying with the idea of expanding my Aquaponics system to include DWC raft beds. I threw together a little sketch in Google Sketchup to show what it may evolve into later next year. I already have some of the peices needed such as the AquaTop AB120 Blower, Expanded Shale, etc. After careful calculation I can probably throw about $1.5K at it, which would include a Hoop Style Greenhouse covered in 6mil Poly Greenhouse plastic...not bad for the extra I would gain in grow space. I can use the existing system along with the two Danner MagDrive 9.5 -950 GPH pumps that currently sit in the fish tanks along with the Expanded Shale growbeds and the dual 1000W Titanium Aquarium heaters. I can redisign this system into a Constant Height in Fish Tank with no Sump needed. Using an Undercurrent model the Raft beds would be the sump with the pumps sitting outside of the tanks/growbeds while pulling the water through the  DWC raft beds and pumping water backup into the Expanded Shale growbeds. From my calculations even if all of the Shale growbeds filled at the same time/rate, then the rafts water levels would only drop 1.5 inches or 3/4 inch if I installed an indexing valve. The combo Vortex / Swirl filter and degassing chambers along with the shale growbeds should take care of all the filtering for the system. On the Mag pump with a 3' head, I should get about 800GPH out of both pumps , that would circulate all of the water in 4 raft beds in approx. 1hr 19m. The Shale growbeds would flood and drain approx. 3 times per hour.  Taking all growbeds into consideration, initially I will have 345Sq ft of growbed space. Using the assumption that you need .3LBs of fish per square foot of growbed space, I would calculate that 103 +/-  1Lb fish are needed for the system, approximately 25 fish per 175 Gal Tank.  I have the capacity to add another 2 Raft growbeds and up my count to 150 fish total.  Here is a quick fly by of the system.

 

DWC Raft beds are fed by 2" PVC through to the water pumps. Media grow beds use standard 1" PVC drain pipe and 1/2" PVC fill pipe with ball valves for flow control. AquaTop Blower uses 1" and 3/4" PVC pipe with flexible tubing feeding 6" air stones every 3ft in the Raft beds and 12" air stones in each Fish Tank.  I have calculated a need for approx. 6CFM total for the system @ 10" H20, and 2CFM @ 24" H20, which the AquaTop AB120 should provide.