Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey all;

Been designing my systems for a few months. Ready to get started building now that the weather has cooled a bit.

here's a few Pics and Sketchup File. Opinions welcome.

Pics added

Can you tell us some details about it? Not really sure how it works and what bits are what..

It's gonna be your basic IBC system.

The green house is a 21 ft by 60 ft high rise PVC hoop house. It was designed to fit a 40' x 100' Plastic sheeting. the rise on the sides are 3 ft and uses 34 ft PVC 1 1/4 pipes for the hoops.

I have 2 sump tanks located below ground level at the front end of the green house. My design has changed a little. I plan on having 4 fish tanks each gravity feeding 4 grow beds (16 total). Those 16 grow beds with auto siphons will drain to the Sump tanks. Sump tanks will pump back up to the fish tanks and a network of 4" pipes in a hydroponics setup. the hydroponic tubes will be used for growing vine crops such as Cuc's and Squash on a trellis above which will shade fish tanks some. Also at the far end of the green house will be at least 4 wicking beds for growing Asparagus, Potatoes, and other root crops and a float tank that is 16 x 4 for growing leafy veggies.

I know I don't show all my plans in the drawings but it's still design in progress.

Eventually I plan on building a climate controlled 20 x 20 Shed as a fish house that will flow back to the greenhouse and maybe add a second identical greenhouse.

How can I add a Sketchup file for others to look at?

A screen print works fine.

PVC is not the best material to make a high tunnel from. UV will rapidly brittle it and it will break. What I would do:

Indeed drill 20-30cm diameter holes, about 70cm deep to make concrete footings for a 2" inch EMT conduit of about 120cm long. 50cm of it will stick out above grade. Then make your hoops from 1.5" EMT, join them if necessary at the apex. Place these hoops into the 2" conduit and secure them with a screw through the 2" EMT footing conduit.
Attach a 20cm high wooden board at grade level to the footing EMT. Place a hip board at approx. 100cm high. Make a front and end wall of conduit or wooden framing. Close front and end wall before putting the PE cover on or the wind will take it from you.

There are good plans on the web for building high tunnels, for free. Not so long ago somebody here posted a link to a very good building plan. Look for it with the search function.

Nice sketchup work, anyway.

I realize that using EMT would be more structurally sound but the cons of using EMT is that it is almost 10x as expensive as using PVC. Now the cost of the green house jumps from 1k to upwards of 3k or more. Just not as cost effective in my opinion. If I was looking at a commercial setup Most definitely EMT or commercial greenhouse kits would be the way to go.

I like your setup. looking forward to following the progress.

As a hobbyist we all look at the most economical way of setting up systems. I would also like to design some fiberglass grow beds that more economical to produce. I truly think the grow beds that you can buy on Ebay or at some of these Specialty AP shops is just highway robbery. What I mean is to have to pay $300 - $600 per grow bed not including media is just ridiculous. I'm designing a 4ft grow bed and 6ft grow bed that can be less than 1/3 the going prices on the market.

It's all about the fun and love of the green thumb and healthier lifestye.

Ok new change or addition I'm thinking of.

Geo Thermal temperature controls

Thinking of adding 1/2" black sprinkler pipe in coils at 8' deep to cool water going back to the fish tanks all the help I can get to cool the water is worth the effort to at least try. Hey so I spend an extra weekend on the tractor digging a big Whole just to fill it back in. Calculation is ~ 120' of coil X 4 or 5. that's 480' to 600' of cooling pretty significant I think.

Also while I'm in the whole I plan on adding 6" PVC drain pipe at 5' deep and run a fan setup through it to try to cool air circulation through the greenhouse. Objective is to try to collect some of the 70 degree ground temp and flow it through the greenhouse. It gets pretty hot in Souther Mississippi in the summers and every little bit helps.

Gee 103 views and only 6 comments? Come on folks Pipe in i want to hear the good Bad and the ugly!!!


Comments????

You talk about hobby rather than commercial operations need to make things economical, I would have said that it was the other way around.

Some time the cheapest way ends up being the most expensive. As has been said the PVC will get brittle and that GH has a huge sail area. If you want a cheap greenhouse I'd recommend finding a second hand one. If you want it to be tall then use some steel pipe as posts to give it extra height. Just be careful how much or you could find it blowing away.

Starting Construction

Wow, looks like a massive undertaking. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your progress.

Big Whole all dug.




Added a 5 Gallon bucket to act as a sump to pump any water that might leak in. Hit Clay so there's a good possibility of flooding the sump tanks

Cutting 2 of the totes up to make 2 sump tanks that will be connected together by the butterfly valves to keep water level the same in both.



Tanks were used to transport Canola Oil so they are food safe. just need to drain any residual before cleaning. Collecting it to run in my tractor.



2 tanks = 2 sump tanks and 2 growbeds. thats about 375 Gallons of sump capabilities.

Good luck with the build, just make sure you put all your pipes in place and test before you glue them.

Ok started on the green house and found costs were gonna be higher than expected. so decided to run another route. I'm building a 32 ft Geodesic Dome for my green house. estimated building cost is less than $500 us.

Using 3/4" EMT conduit for the frame at .29 cents a foot at home depot. 65 10ft sticks and bolts cost right at $220.

Built a swedge press to flatten the ends of the conduit. Free ( Leftover Job Materials !!! )



Built some flattening Dies from some heavy scrap, another free bee!