Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

very nice job Les

do you have a breakdown of the cost of your gh?

Total cost (for BK) was ~$750 (including all the fun in putting it together), this includes:
framework 32mm gal pips and fittings)
greenhouse cover (duratough clear plastic)
shadecloth (30% - for ends and summer coolness)
stuff on the floor (5mm "deco" gravel)

total area is 6.5m by 3.5m

(on page 8 Bundy

sorry lol....is sometimes a chore to go back thru em all lol

and i thought i would ask on page 10 which is newr than page 8 just incase there were any updates rofl...oh well thats my excuse...i still appologise

Nick,
I have fence palings running underneath for extra support, found that they seemed to droop with about half full of gravel so added support there – with the sides, they were quite happy staying kinked inwards so thought I would be smart and added pressure to straighten them, that was alright until I jumped up on the GB while putting up cover and squashed the gravel down – so now there is a bow outwards but not a big problem. (moral of the story – don’t do cow dances on top of them whilst juggling with roofing material).

Total inside depth to top lip is 310mm and to the strengthened part is just over 290mm, I need to add more gravel, which will be done when filling the other GB.

Mon,
my 1st reaction was no – too much stuffing around with delays etc, then thought how to put in a delay and it would be simple with a minimum of 3 grow beds.

Start with all GB’s empty, there will be an actuator on the input (GBin) and an actuator on the outflow (GBout)

GB1 fills and water sensor(WS1) activates:
GBin1 closes, GBin2 opens – water now flows to GB2
GBout3 opens – this would be the last GB in the line and the GB would empty
GBout1 is still closed so the water will remain in the GB

GB2 fills and water sensor(WS2) activates:
GBin2 closes, GBin3 opens – water now flows to GB3
GBout1 opens - now there has been a delay of 1 GB fill time
GBout2 is still closed so the water will remain in the GB

GB3 fills and water sensor(WS3) activates:
GBin3 closes, GBin1 opens – water now flows to GB1
GBout2 opens - now there has been a delay of 1 GB fill time
GBout3 is still closed so the water will remain in the GB

Basically you flood a GB, then leave it flooded while it fills the next GB, then dump the water back into the fish tank, this doubles the amount of water required flowing in the GB’s.

awesome ekb. simply awesome. well done young feller. keep up the great work.

love it les.

les, a 555 8 pin timer chip from jaycar will set you back only a couple of dollars, and is SO versatile. if you can use a solering iron to solder 1 resistor, one capacitor and a variable resisor to it then you have an extremely versatile variable timer that will happily drive the input to your solenoind control box or a relay.

Let me know if you want more info. I've used these hepas , but not for a while.

I think a 555 by itself will be a little unreliable for the sorts of time constants les wants. Probably better to combine with a 14 bits counter (HC series, can't remember number) - will set him back another dollar.

In actual fact - what I have described is only a wiring modification to what I am going to do:

Normally WS1 activates - GBIn1 closes, GBout1 opens, GBin2 opens, GBout2 closes...............just a rewire $0 extra.

A timer would enable a variable to how long the bed would remain flooded, the other option is to have a smaller outlet orifice to reduce drain time - see what happens when you listen to Monya

Got the door actuators working today and the grow beds are filling in sequence now (only 2 GB's set up).

Swapped pumps, small one was taking 30 minutes to fill 1 GB (forever if you're trying to check the workings) - now is taking 7 minutes to fill and less than a minute to dump with 40mm pipes (got a few adjustments me thinks)

Letting it run overnight and will do other minor chores as it settles in

What has the cost been Les?

I'll do a costing later along with some pics - right now I'm buggered, needed to shut down the system and re-run all the outlet pipes so bit of panic mode today (if it didn't work - had all the old pipes ready for a re-mod )

the poor old man needs his rest VB, don't push him too hard