Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think the bubble ones are more efficient insulation VB, a step up from the double skin.. The bubble ones have a double skin, but they have dozens of seperate air pockets in between the two skins made from the bubbles, so it's a but like building your greenhouse from clear polystyrene almost, very thermal efficient..

Okay - now I get it. Thanks EB. Will look forward to seeing how you go with it ems.

EMS, you need to think of a cool name for your tropical fish outlet.

"Cocomo (in the Snow) Tropical Fish" ?

I worked in a 15000 square foot greenhouse complex here in Alaska. Some were double poly some were twinwall lexan and we tried a few single-wall. double poly and lexan are only about R2. The bubbles (to be trapped between two layers of poly have about R1 per inch. I'm shooting for 30 to 40 inches on the top and about 20" on the sides. (sorry about the units, I learned metric in school but all my work has been with English units)

The soap-bubble greenhouse idea is much more than insulation -- it is a shade system, thermal storage, and low-tech heat pump. So it will not only keep the greenhouse from getting too cold, it will also keep the temperature from getting too hot.

My experience with greenhouses in Alaska has been that infiltration (air leaks) are much much worse when the outside and inside temperatures are vastly different. (Big delta T) So we would frantically try to seal up all the cracks and close up all the vents. And just about the time we got everything sealed up, the sun would come out and we'd need to ventilate.

This March has been a good example of temperature swings. We're getting about 12-14 hours of sunlight per day. Lows have been -14F (-25C) and highs have been around 40F (5C) However, when the sky is clear and the sun is up, a greenhouse will quickly get too hot -- even with a single layer of plastic, lots of cracks around the windows, and an outside temperature around freezing.

My hope is that the bubble system will be able to capture some of the excess heat that I'd otherwise have to vent to the atmosphere and store it for evening. Theoretically it should save energy during the day (no need for huge fans) and release it at night (slowly if indeed the bubbles are good insulation)

And in the middle of July when the sun is up almost around the clock and I have no need of extra heat, I can regulate the temperature in the greenhouse using the bubbles as shade.

Besides the fact that it is a very cool idea. Not mine - but I'm not too proud to recognize and borrow a good idea when I see one. That's why I've spent several weeks combing through the posts on this forum.

That's a good name.

My wife and I have pretty much agreed on the name "Floriponics" That hints at our last name -- Florian (and aquaponics or bioponics).

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not sure exactly what aspect of the business we'll concentrate on -- breeding, selling, retailing tropical fish, or selling produce, or ornamentals, or bedding plants, or cut flowers, or giving tours, or hosting weddings, or (eventually) consulting. First we have to get the proof of concept working and learn where our markets and inclinations lie. So since we don't know exactly what our specialty will be, I needed a name that wouldn't exclude any particular endeavor.

From what I've read, the plants will outproduce the fish by about 10 to 1.

wow! ems love yr dreams...you can do it.
I am trying to get my head around bubbles, so they are liquid right?
found a link http://www.solarbubblebuild.com
Far out...
http://www.solarbubblebuild.com/bubble_properties.php
oh wow... that looks like fun, guess you could color it too, mind you prolly stuff the caractoristics...
so air and not much water.
C1

Yes, I've been part of a Yahoo group and can give you several more links if you are interested. It is a simple system with complex dynamics. -- Rather like aquaponics -- you don't even need to know how to pronounce nitrobacter and nitrosomas to have those little guys working for you.

cool..post em thanks ems

www.solaroof.com
www.solaroof.org
http://www.tdc.ca/bubblegreenhouse.htm
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/solaroof/

I lost another Koi today
And my last Koi looks rather sick. the goldfish, barbs and pacus look healthy. Every time they see me, they frantically come to the corner of the aquarium to beg. My water temperature is about 72F pH is about 7.6 and nitrates are between 15 and 60 depending on whether I believe the dip strip or my test tube with the drops of reagent.

I was pretty excited about the strips -- quick, easy, safe for the kids.... but since I took some tests with my other test kit -- the results were widely different -- especially on the pH. The strips were saying the pH was about 6.5 and two different tests agreed on 7.6.

I might just buy a meter.

Koi are very oxygen dependant. Having warmer water would not help the oxygen levels. Try adding a bubbler to get some air into there, or direct the water from the pump so it beaks the surface of the water.

I lost 6 koi a few years back, it was a ~90F day and the pump was clogged. It only took a day to kill them. However the 10 goldfish survived.

I don't think it's the oxygen. I've got an airstone, a filter, and the drains from two growbeds jetting into my tank.

I think they got a slime fungus. the first three that died had fin rot and got grey patches -- a couple had opaque eyes.

Before I got the AP growbeds running, my filter plugged up -- I was too busy to do much more than feed them.... I measured the nitrates at 160 and nitrites around 20. Didn't have an ammonia test kit then. and with no circulation for a day, the O2 probably dropped. Perhaps the poor water quality and low DO stressed the fish enough that the Koi got sick.

Or maybe they were sick to begin with -- I bought them at Walmart and two days later when I stopped by to look at their fish, there were about 30 floaters in the tank where my Koi came from.

We'll see if they honor their 90 day moneyback guarantee for fish.

Here's what I got accomplished this weekend. It was snowing Saturday morning and was rather hard to drag myself out there to work. But when the sun came out, it was beautiful.

Sorry, the pictures came out in reverse order, but you get the idea

And a view looking down the length of the bubble reservoir trench.

Wow! Great snow and cute kids
Chrissy