Aquaponics 1

The thing about most of these projects is you can read about them until you turn gray(er), but the real education begins when you put your hand to it.

Aquaponics is a good example. In aquaponics, the edible fish you raise supply nutrients to your vegetables, which serve as a biofilter for your fish.

I love the idea of aquaponics, and I’ve been talking about it for a couple years now, reading a little here and there, debating about how big or small to go, and whether to use barrels or tubs or a timer or a bell siphon, and trying to create a mental picture of a working system that I could actually make that would allow us to grow more food.

Finally I decided to create the simplest, least expensive aquaponics system I could, just to try it for this upcoming season. I'd read of people using goldfish instead of edible fish, and just enjoying the abundant vegetables they grew. I was thinking of using the two old bathtubs left from the mobile home we took apart as grow beds and a small pump I’d bought at a garage sale awhile back to pull water from our big old goldfish pond, which is actually a little five by nine by four foot deep “swimming pool” I built when we moved into our home. That fish pond, though constructed of cement block, is these days as naturally self sufficient as any natural pond, and I didn’t think I’d upset its ecosystem by installing my grow beds. The pump would run on a timer and the tubs would be positioned with their drains above the pond. I had gravel for the grow beds on hand, so the price for this system seemed about right.

Zero.

The first and biggest problem with this brilliant idea is that frogs have invaded that pond, and frogs carry salmonella. That bit of information killed the idea of my ultra simple, basically free aquaponics setup.

So then I decided to use one tub as a grow bed and the other as a fish tank, which was better, because I really want to grow fish we can eat anyway. I started playing around with the setup, and knew I’d have to construct some sort of shelter to keep rain and undesirable creatures out. By now I'd realized that an aquaponics set up needs to be a "closed system."

But that means we’re talking money for building materials, and I still want to build the least expensive system I can.

This is what that looks like so far. The PVC hoop house is pretty cheap. All the wood is recycled, as are some of the ¾ “ PVC pipes.

As you can see, we still have a bit to go before this system is functional. Hopefully I'll be putting the front and rear on the hoop house, making the cover for my fish tank, and working out my timer and drain during my next days off.

Drip Irrigation Experiment 3

The second drip irrigation barrel was easier and less expensive to make.

I drilled a 7/8” hole near the bottom and forced an old ¾” hose bib in. It took a lot of force to start turning that hose bib, but once it was in, no leaks, and no need for a washer or even a nut or fitting to hold it in place. The same went for the 2” PVC fitting used as a fill spout. Cutting the hole just slightly too small made for a tight fit and no fitting on the inside to hold it in place.

This bed is not as wide as the other, so I used two emitter pipes rather than four. I drilled 1/16” holes approximately 12” apart. It takes about six hours to empty the 50 gallon barrel, which means, I hope, my irrigator will water our garden plants for six long hot hours each day this summer.

I used a product called “Liquid Tape” to seal the 1/8 inch holes on my first effort, and re-drilled on the other side of the pipe with the 1/16” bit.

Drip Irrigation Experiment 2

I placed another four inch block under the barrel (I think the higher it is, the better) and changed the middle four way connector to a tee, eliminating the middle emitter pipe. Then I graded the bed a little toward the barrel and water flow is much better. I think the 1/8” holes may be too large. I’ll be making another drip irrigator for a smaller bed, and I’ll drill 1/16” holes instead.

Also on this barrel, the mosquito screen top is in place, held on with a band of hanging wire. Since getting that screen to stay in place was a bit of a pain, I placed a 2” PVC fitting with cap near the top of the barrel as a filler. We’re excited and can’t wait to plant.

Raised Bed With Drip Irrigation Experiment

Last year’s garden was fairly successful despite drought and the incredible heat, but we only made a dent in our overall grocery bill and our dependence on the likes of Walmart.

For two middle-aged people who have eliminated almost all so-called processed food from our diets, we spend an awful lot on food. We decided to try some raised beds this season and to experiment with a primitive drip irrigation system to see if we can increase our yield to something like the fabulous gardens we see online, or at least do a little better this spring and summer than last.

This 4x9 ft. bed is made from recycled cinder blocks (our old single wide mobile home once sat on those blocks). The blocks are simply arranged and stacked (not mortared in place), and the bed is lined with cardboard (holes punched in the bottom), and filled with topsoil and compost.

The gravity fed irrigation system is made, as you can see, from a 50 gallon plastic drum. I drilled a 5/8” hole near the bottom, pushed in a ½” plastic hose bib, and secured it with a PVC fitting on the inside. It’s (miraculously) sealed with two big rubber washers , and drains via a hose connection into five ½” PVC pipes with end caps. I drilled 1/8” holes 12” apart. I haven’t glued any of it together yet, as I’ve still to work the bugs out. In testing the water distribution is very much uneven. I may have to lift the barrel higher to increase water pressure, and perhaps drill larger holes in the far ends of the outside pipes.

We’ll bungee a piece of window screen on the top to keep the mosquitoes out.

PVC Pipe & Scrap Sheet Metal Quonset Hut #2

The basic structure is complete.

I'm looking forward to coating the whole thing with Kool Seal (or something like it).

PVC Pipe and Scrap Sheet Metal Quonset Hut #1

I built a PVC Quonset pump house about twenty years ago.

I used 10 ft. pieces 0f ½” grey electrical conduit mounted on a base made of treated 2x4s, then covered the frame with galvanized corrugated roofing tin. I used plywood for the front and back. The whole thing is held down by a couple of mobile home tie-downs and can be lifted off the pump if need be. It has worked out well, and, thanks to the magic of Kool Seal (or actually of less expensive products similar to Kool Seal), still serves its purpose today.

I didn’t get out much back then, and I actually thought a PVC Quonset was an original idea. Since then, of course, I’ve seen many a Quonset made pretty much the same way.

It always seemed like PVC pipe and roofing tin would make for a simpler, cheaper, more interesting shed than wood, siding, shingles, and the like. But the problem with making a PVC Quonset bigger than a pump house, at least for me, was the pressure that bigger pipes put on those puny plastic couplings when you bent them enough to form a Quonset. Those couplings were prone to cracking. I once tried using a heat gun on the pipe to help it curve and take some pressure off the couplings, but I didn’t really have much luck.

I’ve seen some twenty foot lengths of 1” to 1.5” inch pipe here and there, but wasn’t sure how I’d get that stuff home without a delivery charge

adding to the cost of my shed.

The answer to these little dilemmas came from this web

site: (http://www.wps.com/J/BM/PVC-Quonset-Hut-assembly/). I’d never thought of using 12” lengths of larger pipe as couplings. True to that writer’s word, pressure alone is enough to hold the 10’ lengths of 1” pipe together when using those 12” pieces of 1.5” as couplings.

The Burning Man shelter featured on that website was temporary. I’m hoping mine will be a permanent storage facility. Instead of using rebar uprights to hold the pipe at the base, I made the base of PVC pipe held together by plastic tees, and buried it in approx. 6” deep trenches, which I hope will hold the hut better to the ground. Also the end pieces include uprights (in the back, one treated 2x4 and in the front, two 3x4” landscaping timbers) that are cemented like posts in the ground.

My Quonset is approximately 10’ by 10’ at the base. I was lucky to have scrap sheet metal from the mobile home we disassembled and other sources, and a few sticks of treated 1x4 laying about.

Re-using Building Materials

Our little outhouse is partially recycled: the lovely avocado toilet, drainage pipes, siding, roofing tin, steps, most of the screws and other hardware, the shower curtain and galvanized curtain rod, and the septic tank were salvaged from the mobile home we demolished a few months back. The plumping fittings, PVC pipe, and much of the treated wood came from Lowes, Home Depot, or our local Swansea Hardware. Now visiting kids have one less excuse to track through the house from the pool. The toilet is rigged to automatically fill from a garden hose, which I hope will make for easier winterizing.

Same with the awning we built for the shed -- a boon for me because I finally have a place to work in the shade. The treated lumber is for the most part new, and the sheet metal roofing material was cut from the trailer roof. The little work table, made from plywood from the bathroom floor and mounted on one end of an axel, spins like a lazy susan.