AB’s Aquaponics Greenhouse Goals: •
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Provide increased food security for immediate & extended family Enable year-round production of fresh vegetables, herbs, fruit, & protein Enable early-season seed-starting for transplanting to outdoor gardens Possibly supplement income thru the sale of surplus produce Set an example of a practical, cost-effective, food production system that can be copied by others
Design Parameters: •
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Convenient location near kitchen Inexpensive & easy to build Low operating cost – minimal need for “grid” energy
Characteristics: •
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12’ x 24’ footprint, w/doors on each end, conveniently located on south side of house outside kitchen window 5’ high 4x4 treated lumber side-walls, w/arched cattle-panel roof spanning the 12’ width Double insulated – bubble-wrap inner layer throughout & 6-mil polyethylene outer layer above 5’, with polycarbonate sheet below 5’ (2) separate aquaponics “nodes” – each consisting of (1) 250 gal fish tank, (1) 110 gal sump tank, (12) 2’ x 3’ half-barrel grow-beds, pump, & plumbing (2) 3’ x 18’ conventional raised beds (below the aquaponics grow-beds), w/self-watering, sub-surface irrigation (6) buried 55 gal water barrels for additional thermal storage {future} solar panels to provide heat for the thermal storage
12’ x 24’ greenhouse – started early October 2010
12’ x 24’ greenhouse – started early October 2010
(6) 4’ x 16’ cattle panels provide an arched roof
Both storm doors bought at the Habitat Re-Store (one for $15 & the other for $7.50). A 275 gallon (upside down) “tote” is in foreground – soon to be a fish tank.
Framing the upper end walls was tedious. The cattle panels on the right will be removed soon – they were used for trellising pole beans in 2010.
Both fish tanks were brought into greenhouse before the “skin” was installed. The (8) lights are $6.97 clamp light fixtures with a 13W compact fluorescent bulb in each.
Starting to install the inner layer of “skin” – bubble-wrap.
Inner bubble-wrap layer & outer 6-mil polyethylene layer are now both installed on the roof.
Close-up of the “C-channel” aluminum strip used to secure the bubble-wrap & 6-mil polyethylene covering
Pipe insulation is used to prevent the “skin” from being cut by the cattle panels
A night shot – fully clothed at last – still have to seal numerous small gaps, though. Ain’t she gorgeous !
1st fish tank – a 275 gallon “tote” filled to approx 250 gal – partially buried to m oderate temperature swings of the water – formerly used to ship dog food ingredients. ($50 from Craigslist)
Still have a lot of detailing to clean-up appearance. Area above doors on both ends will be modified to be open-able in order to vent excess heat in summer.
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Excavating for (6) 55 gallon barrels to be water-filled for thermal mass. Note the 2 fish tank (left) is buried a lot deeper than the 1 fish tank.
A view looking at the east end of the greenhouse.
Sump tanks are in front of the fish tanks – each sump consists of (2) 55 gal barrels plumbed together at the b ottom make a 110 gal sump. The (6) barrels in the center will only be used for thermal storage – not connected to either of the (2) aquaponics “nodes”.
Another view looking toward west end.
4” SDR pipe, slit down the top, will be used for sub-irrigation w/automatic watering for each of the two 3’ x 18’ lower raised beds.
Wicking fabric is inserted to the bottom of the 4” SDR pipes. The SDR pipes will be maintained half-full of water by means of mini-float valves.
A strip of landscape fabric is placed over the wicking fabric to prevent dirt from getting into the slit SDR pipe.
The lower raised beds are filled with a mix of loamy garden soil & compost.
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Some of the “1 run” of veggies to be planted in the lower raised beds.
Additional bracing added for the arched cattle panel roof prior to the heavy snow.
The roof didn’t even flinch ;-)
Lower raised beds are planted. If you squint real hard & use a little imagination, you might see some of the sprouts coming up.
A couple of the (4) Goldfish that Franco Molea loaned me to get some ammonia started in my system. Be sure to check-out Franco's waaaaay cool Aquaponics system at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NAPFdMdyZk
Now they can be seen without squinting ;-)
Starting work on a raised floor for the center area – 2x4 horizontal studs on approx 16” centers, covered with ½” treated plywood (removable panels to access barrels)
The raised floor will be covered with AstroTurf (or something similar). Anybody know where I can get some AstroTurf CHEAP? Used is OK
I got 2 tons of 5/8” screened river gravel ($30/ton) for the grow-beds from Load n Go on E Division in Springfield - real nice folks there. It took 3 trips with a 4' x 6' trailer pulled behind my Corolla. (still got 35 MPG hauling gravel). Visible in the trailer is the last load (approx 1700 lbs). It will take about one more ton of gravel to fill all 24 grow-beds. I’ll use blended pea gravel ($95/ton) to top-off the grow-beds – it looks a lot better, and I’d like to use it exclusively – but I’m way too cheap.
Still growing ! Hanging from the post is a wireless sensor for monitoring greenhouse temp & humidity from inside my house. Also barely visible is a regular dial thermometer stuck in the ground just below the wireless sensor.
¾” adapters are used with existing bung plugs that are standard on 55 gal plastic barrels. The center of the bung plugs are already threadded for ¾” NPT.
A drain tube installed in a grow-bed. Short sections of ¾” irrigation tubing are heated & bent, and then inserted onto the straight barb adapter to enable draining the grow-beds thru the bung plugs. 34” sections of septic tank perforated leach field pipe slit lengthwise cover the grow-bed drain tubes to provide a “ french drain”. They’ll be covered with landscape fabric before the gravel is added to prevent gravel from clogging the drain. Ends of grow-beds are painted opaque to prevent algae growth in the grow-beds.
I filled one of the grow-beds with gravel & water. Seen here are 273 lbs of 5/8" river gravel & (not seen, but there) are 87 lbs of water: 360 lbs total. I'll be replacing the top 2" or so of river gravel with blended pea gravel – but the weight should be approx the same. With 3+ tons of total gravel in t he (24) grow-beds, I'll have a lot more thermal mass to moderate temperature swings in the greenhouse.
