Aquaponics second posting

Got the greenhouse up with some assistance from my cousins

.....ok lots of assistance

...... ok they did most of the work and I stood by and tried not to look useless. It's a nice little greenhouse, Dale and Aimee both commented on it. I think I paid about $150 for it.

 The frame is made out of tubular galvanized steel, Dale seems to think it will be sturdy. It could be made out of aluminum foil for all I know. That's why it's good to have family who understand the "real world application" of things. Kiersten and Dale attaching the supporting braces. Luckily my backyard is fairly flat, so we didnt have to do any digging. There is a couple of low spots but a few well placed homemade shims should do just fine.

The measurements are 6' by 12' I think and the top is 6 feet, just about right so I don't have to stoop over to get inside. My one concern is it being high enough for tomato plants, that's the main thing I want to grow and if things go well, I can foresee tomato plants growing straight up to the ceiling fairly quickly. Oh well, let's see if I can get the system working first, over growth of plants is a good problem to have.

Aimee silently volunteered to serve as foreman, she has a good eye for detail and caught a few mistakes we were making early on.  

Aimee, as foreman, is always tactful, seeing as how her husband is packing. 

 The fabric is clear with interwoven green strands, seems very durable. It is curved and slips right over the top of the frame. Some of the cool things about it are double zippers on either side as you can, as well as little holder straps to roll up the doors if you want more fresh air. Also there are little "windows" on the side you can roll up as well, also with holder straps.

  Here's the finished product. Looks neat, not an eyesore at all. Inside we used tent stakes to anchor it but I am, not fully convinced a strong storm wouldn't loosen it enough to fly off, it's very light weight. When I get the 300 gallon fish tank inside I will strap it to the frame and that should prevent it from going anywhere.

My tote just got delivered. It's a 330 gallon tote that has had only food grade product in it. The owner said it had had some type of citrus based product but was non toxic. These things are $475 new, but companies are only allowed to use them once then they have to be discarded. I paid $75 for this one plus $10 delivery, very fair deal I thought. Also on a side note, the guy I bought it from was somewhat of an expert on fish and aquaculture, he had some good input on fish and fish health. He actually raises Koi, I may get a few from him as he said they could live alongside the catfish, I plan on harvesting the catfish at some point so it might be a good idea to have fish that stay in the system to keep producing waste after I harvest the catfish and while a new batch grows to size. From what I read, stability and not upsetting things once they get set is a good idea.

 Below, not sure if you can see, but there are gallon and liter markings on the side of the tank, awesome, as I will know exactly how much water is in there, might be kinda hard to estimate with having some type of measuring device. 

Also, not that I will use it, but this tote has a pressure release cap on it, may not use it for this setup but in the future that could be helpful if I decide to setup one of these tanks as a solar heat collector.

Lastly on the tote, it has a very sturdy looking ball valve on the bottom. The tote looks extremely rugged and I am well pleased with the purchase. Thanks Mickey! (tote-guy)

I have purchased 2 pumps on ebay, and yes I went with a cheap model to get started but I did buy 2 just in case one fails. It is a sump pump that pushes 400 GPH with an 8 foot head. Should be plenty of volume as you are supposed to move at least the volume of the fish tank once per hour. I toyed with the idea of a more powerful sump pump but I wasn't sure how I was going to regulate the flow and didn't know if I could use a timer or a float switch. It seems to me that just leaving one on constantly may be the simplest thing, at least to get started.

Next up will be getting the tote cut across the top, hope I can find my wireless saw. Also I need to go ahead and find where I'm going to get my pea gravel from. I think a half ton will be enough to get me started and my Ford Ranger should handle that. I am expecting to pay about $50 a ton for the pea gravel. So for those  keeping count, my estimated cost so far:

Greenhouse                                             $150

Tote                                                      $  75

Pumps (2 @ $30 each)                               $60

Pea gravel (est @$55 /ton)                        $55

Barrels (@$12 each)                                  $36

Sump tank                                               $60

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Total to date                                          $430

Yeah I know, with the money I spent I could probably buy organic vegetables for 2 years but hey, it's a hobby and I'm learning all about ecology and stuff. Besides, there is a very satisfying feeling from eating something you raised yourself.