Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nice job



At least you'd be insulated... if it wasn't raining!

Thank you!

And yes, I would have been nicely insulated, but there was always the chance of damaging the power line... in which case my husband informs me I would have been sitting at home in the dark, waiting for the repair crew, while he was off at the footy club eating a nice dinner and watching State of Origin on their screens.

hoop frame looking good Mel, will be interesting to see how your cover goes.
(tip - using a broom from underneath to push it over can be pretty handy).

you mention earlier it is a low cost build so would be interested to know the total cost (frame + cover) once all done.

Nice progress. The hoop house looks really great. Really neat job. I'm watching your thread closely as I want to build something similar one day :-)

Sorry if I missed it but I'm trying to work out what your fix was for the broken connectors?


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So far it's been:

12 x 32mm heavy duty rigid DETA conduits @ $6.60 ea - $79.20
12 x 165cm black Ultraposts (star pickets) @ $10.30 ea - $123.60
3 x 70x22x5.4m treated pine decking @ $10.53 ea - $31.59
12 x 70x22x4.8m treated pine decking @ $9.36 ea - $112.32
10 x 31x11x5.4m primed pine lengths @ $7.00 ea - $70.00
1 x stake driver @ $12.99
2 x rolls of duct tape @ $10.00 ea - $20
assorted fixings and brackets... call it another $25

and the greenhouse film is going to be at least $300, that isn't finalised yet.

soooo... $774.70, plus whatever more the rest of the greenhouse film is going to be, plus any other assorted screws etc I end up needing. I'm not counting the (two!) sledgehammers, since we'll get a refund for the first one and the survivor will be used for a lot more than this, but the one that broke was $26.98 and its much more impressive replacement was $64.94; I am counting the stake driver, since the chance of us needing it again is pretty slim. Oh, and I bought the paint I'm using on the wooden parts to paint my growbeds, I had way more than I'm going to need for those.

Given that the cheapest kit greenhouse we found that was big enough to fit my planned system in was well over $2,500 and would have been bloody inconvenient to work in, I think this is worth the time and bruises.

(Oh, and so far I've used a broom and a piece of lath to manouvre power cords, tie-down straps, and strips of greenhouse film around the hoops etc, so I agree, they're damn handy! )

Hi Ben! My fix for the broken connectors was to give up on trying to assemble the hoops one side at a time - I got some pipe glue and stuck the conduit pipes together into six 8m lengths. I was originally trying to put them up that way because I didn't think I could put up a full-length hoop in one piece by myself, but I did it after all!

(Hint: tie one end of the hoop to its support stake with a ratchet strap, walk the other end up to its stake and fasten it down, then untie the ratchet strap and fasten the first end properly. This works best if you've already drilled a hole through the hoop and inserted the bolt you're going to use to fasten it to the stake, because you can use that as a secure point to tie the strap around so it won't slip.)

I got most of the info I used to plan my hoop house from here: http://www.naturallivingideas.com/windp ... use-build/ and here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/gard ... x?PageId=1 ; I also watched a bunch of YouTube links! (search for DIY hoop house and don't hesitate to click away from the ones who don't explain stuff clearly. ) That 'Mother Earth News' link is the most useful one, it links to a couple of 'cheat sheets' that tell you what thickness / length / number of hoops will work well for whatever size of hoop house you want to build!

That makes sense. Thanks for the extra info and links


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+1 thanks for the detailed summary and links Mel.

You're welcome, guys. I've learned a heap of useful things here and it's awesome to be able to give a little back!

And... yaaaaaay~!



*waves pompoms, falls over* ...ow.

Woof, that was hard work. All the conduit had to be covered with duct tape (the greenhouse film degrades much faster if it's in contact with the uPVC pipes), so that was a lot of time spent going up and down the ladder, and then of course it's not easy to get a 4m x 6.3m piece of plastic up on top of there by yourself! Then there was the obligatory moment when I had it perfectly in place, and went to grab the tape to fasten it down before the wind--

*~whoosh!~*

--@(&*$^@#*)%*#*^!!!

Well, it was still half up there, so I got it back in place fairly quickly. And now all the edges are stapled down, and the overlaps at the ends (that can't be permanently fastened down until I have the end braces up) are tucked up out of the way so they won't flap all over the place if the wind comes up again, and yaaaaay~! All the things that absolutely have to be done before my tanks get here are done!

Now I can continue with the things that will just be kinda easier if they're done before the tanks get here.

Oh, speaking of stapling the edges down - when I was typing up the summary of what we've spent on the hoop house, I forgot to include the little staple gun I got from Spotlight to fasten down all the film. Add another $21.98 for that, plus $6.59 for a pack of staples. I'll also be using it to fasten shadecloth to my tank covers, but the greenhouse is its main purpose.

Bottom boards are on and the center end braces are up:



Crossbraces and so on tomorrow!

More end braces up, greenhouse film properly fastened down at last... no more worrying about it flapping off if the wind comes up, yay! Diagonal braces and more film tomorrow.

Oh, and stick another $26 on the total cost of the hoop house, I needed some more brackets and washers. I need at least one more board, too, so I'm going to be measuring up what I need and heading back to Bunnings tomorrow. (Also picking up the deburring tool I ordered, I figured that was going to be handy to have while doing the plumbing...)

you will need a lady-shed (as opposed to man-shed) next to it to put all the tools in that you have brought - with a padlock to stop hubby from stealing them and not putting them back..

Men-sheds are places where guys hide their beer and sneak a sip or 10 - not really sure what goes on in a lady shed though....

So far my tools all have pink handles, so I think they're safe! Not sure what colour the deburring tool will turn out to be, but I can paint it pink if I have to.

Activities in lady sheds will depend on the personal tastes of the lady in question; I'd be drinking good tea and the occasional alcoholic ginger beer, probably.

My tanks have been delayed again, the new ETA is Friday. But today was productive so I'm calling it good!

The framing and bracing on my hoop house is now all done, including the little fiddly bits that only exist so it's easier to fasten the greenhouse film down at the corners. Those diagonal braces may not look very impressive, but they make the whole structure amazingly solid:



This is the corner where my filters are going to go, and they're not going to be easily accessible from inside, because the tanks and growbeds are going to be in the way. So I built in a little secondary door that I am ridiculously proud of.



And I've started testing out the growbed placement! I may end up raising them a bit to get a little more room for drain plumbing underneath them, but all in all it's looking very good.