Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Sounds like lifes treating ya pretty tough over there JR.... LOL

Enjoy your salmon.

Justin - PM me whenever you wish to ask questions or ask them right here. I'd be happy to provide my number if you want to discuss system setup. There are wheelie bin experts around these parts and I suspect they will appear if you chose to go that route.

Greenhouse is a great idea. Plan ahead for your rearing tank/s placement and if there is natural slopeage, place the rearing tank high and the sump tank low w/ growbeds inbetween.

OK, I am scratched all to heck, and sweaty and happy. The ground is clear and I've done enough work to mess up whatever I want and My landlords (mom and dad won't be able to say anything about it

I am not sure which tank/s I will get, but I can start on greenhouse construction before I get the tanks. The question is, how big shoul I build my greenhouse? I do have a unlimited supply of cedar poles, but I have enough to make a greenhouse maybe 12 by 30 feet TOPS. If I could get away with a smaller one that would be great, but I don't really know what size to make it, this being my first attempt at a greenhouse and at aquaponics. I am thinking of building a lean-to style very simple building, and if anyone has input on size shape, or anything else Iw ould be grateful

Thanks
Justin

Justin, we are all AP-addicted here. It is a bad idea to ask us how big the greenhouse should be, because the answer will always be "As big as humanly possible. Visible from space, even."

LOL so true..... as big as materials allow....

What dimensions are the cedar poles?
When you say cedar what species?
What condition is the wood (green, seasoned etc.)?

All questions that will help with framing design. I'll have more but I'll need the answers to those first in order to be helpful.

Stuart

Definately as large as you can, then you won't need to build another one or try and expaned it later on.. Carefully think about sunlight and orientation of your greenhouse, you want to be sure it gets the best sun for plant growth, ie South facing for you.. And watch out for areas that will get shaded out in the winter when the sun is low in the sky.

First off thanks for all the input

Michael, Once I get the greenhouse up then I'll REALLY be bugging you

I am dealing with seasoned western red cedar (Thuja plicata I think) poles around 12 to 16 feet long. WEstern Red cdar has been used extensively for roofing shingles and shakes and has a natural resistance to rot and bugs and should last much longer than I'll be living near enough Mom and Dad's place to run my system here. The 'poles' are actually logs from young trees, some tapering in diameter from about 14" to 12" over 12 feet and some tapering from about 14" to 6 inches over 15 feet. From the number of poles I have, I think I can make a 14 by 24 foot, hold on let me find that in meters... 4.27 by 7.32 ish meters greenhouse. Again, I am pretty set on doing a lean-to design because I am a fishing guide not a carpenter and I think it'll be significantly more simple to construct

So far (I only have one hole dug) the idea in my head is to have 6 vertical poles- three per long side, one side cut at 7 feet above ground and the high side cut at 10 feet, both burried three feet or so into the ground. Each long side will require two 12 foot connecter poles to make it a wall, and the three poles that will act as rafters will be a little over 14' long. Dropping 3 feet over 14 feet will do just find for our 160+ inches of rain a year, but I will probably have to replace the plastic with fiberglass greenhouse sheets for the 8 inches of snow we might get next January.

Not sure if that all makes sense, but I promise it works just fine inside my head I'll work on posting a sketch and in progress pictures.

Again, thanks for helping keep me on track and excited about AP

Thanks
Justin

JR
Those diameters thats debarked right?
Does anyone know the structural grade for Thuja plicata? A lot of those conifer species are categorised as F7 even if they might be bit stronger. Anyone know?
Whats youre latitude?
How much snow do you get?

Stuart

I'll have more question I'm sure.

did this work?

OK, I am having some trouble posting images on here. I am anxious for you all to see my progess. Someone help please.

Thanks
justin

try saving it as a j.peg, reduce its size to less than 256 kb's and add it as an attachment. When you click post reply, the add attachment box is down the bottom. Click on add attachment then browse then add attachment again. repeat for pics 2 and 3.

Theres an after and a before.

At this poind I am about 16 hours into the prject, and need to level the ground and finish diggins holes. You can see in left side of the bottom picture and the upper right corner of the upper picture the cherry tree that might have to go. Also pictured are a kayak, a bucket, an old 'chook' feeder, william tell's son, and the fiberglass siding on old chook house is facing east, so that big line of conifers in the background is due south. The river is about 40 meters north of the chook house, and behind me.

thanks
jsutin

Where has your target gone to? Do you shoot people, animals or just targets?