Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yea, I've put my foot through many a softwood pallets!

Well, I'm not entirely pleased with FenceGuy's work on the greenhouse. He says he's not finished yet, but that doesn't account for everything I'm not happy with. Hubs says he'd have paid what we paid just for having the poles set, though, and he did that part right, so... At worst, it means more delay until hubs and I can take things apart and put them back together the way I want them.

He builds great fences. I guess greenhouses aren't fences, though. Ah, well.

Anyway, I went ahead and got started a little bit, today. It was pouring rain, but in this part of the country, at this time of year, if you don't do stuff in the rain, you don't do stuff. At least it wasn't raining *inside* the greenhouse!

The greenhouse is on a slight grade, so today's task was to level a spot at the high end for the fish tank. The greenhouse is located on top of half of the previous owners' garden. Look at all that gorgeous soil!


I've been meaning to test to see whether we have clay soil, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I may have answered that question today. (Does this count as a toe picture?)


LOOK!!! I HAVE AN IBC IN MY GREENHOUSE!

I was expecting to have to tip the IBC back out and adjust a few times to get it level, since I pretty much leveled the spot by eye ("n'oko," as a Ukranian friend used to say). But when I checked it front to back, I got this:


Perfect!

Then I checked side to side:


Know what? I can live with that.

And, for photo number three, what happens to my hair when it gets wet:


That was really about all I could do until the things I want fixed with the greenhouse get fixed, so I called it a day and came inside for dry clothes, hot coffee, and grandbaby snuggles.

Sorry g2n, shoes have to be off for toe pictures . Great to see progress! Too bad the fence guy did not get everything right, the price of delegation I suppose. When you do something yourself, you feel more committed to the compromises.

committed to the compromises

Nice

I agree with BW, that's a great way to put it.

MINE!!! ALL MINE!!! Can you say "Rocket Mass Heater?"

I'm not looking forward to all the loading and unloading, though. And I kind of suspect it's gonna take 2 trips, even in my sturdy little 3/4 ton pickup. But for $50, I can't complain. (Much.)

Good score!!!

One tip with leveling things like the IBC.
First make sure you have a pump with a hose you can drop down into the top hole or a fitting and hose you can connect to the bottom drain fitting to empty it later if you need.

Then fill the thing with water
and see if it settles or sinks. I usually do this when I level a stock tank for use as a media bed now. get it pretty level on a relatively compacted surface. And then fill with water and let it compact using gravity while I go do something else for a while.

Oooh, and I was *so* wanting an excuse to fill it with water! Thanks! Might wait a couple of weeks, though, in case I need to move it in my redoing of the things I don't like. *sigh*

I'm also contemplating whether I want to raise it a bit higher, maybe...I'm tall enough to deal with it being another foot or so higher, and it will give me more "play" in the height of the grow beds. And the previous owners left a stack of concrete landscape blocks and "urbanite" out in the back corner, so...

This is why I said make sure you have a way to empty it before you fill it. Because you will need to drain water back out at least part way when you go to install plumbing. And if it settles unevenly you would need to pump it out so you could fix it etc. And I think you have other IBC's on hand so you can pump to one of them, do the work and not waste the water. Just gotta have a pump that is small enough to drop down in it or cut the opening in the top before you go filling it.

I like the pump to another IBC tip! And yeah, I have a pump I can use -- haven't bought the one for the system yet, but I've got a little one that would be sufficient.

I tested my water tonight, mostly just to celebrate the fact that I got a test kit, and to feel like I was doing something aquaponicsy. The pH is 7.6 (well water). Just to be sure, I checked it with the high pH test, too.

I didn't test the other levels; there's not really any point in that, is there?

I always joke that to stay fit I have to find ways to exercise by accident, because any kind of exercise I do on purpose ends up being too excruciatingly boring for me to keep doing it on a regular basis. I probably walk at least 4-5 miles per day at work, which is good, but it doesn't do much for my wimpy girl muscles. It's looking like aquaponics will be taking care of exercise on my days off AND helping me grow some useful biceps.

When we bought this house, I have to confess I was a tiny bit sad that the stoves were pellet stoves and not wood stoves. A warm crackling fire and the smell of wood smoke always transports me back to childhood memories of my grandma's house.

We fired up the upstairs pellet stove tonight, though, and I've gotta say, it's not so bad. No crackling, but nice flames, WARMTH, and the smell is right. Sure beats the fake gas fireplace at the last house.


Maybe winter's not so bad, after all.

Can you add wood? Or small twigs?

Small twigs of apple tree wood is totally worth while to add to a fire.

It has the most amazing scent.