Imy's brand new system (1st try)

[imy]

Hi all,
Well, this is my first post and what better way to start than by showing some pics of my little system (still in construction)

I did some work on it with my other half today so I'm a little excited by the progress.

The hot house is the top off a quaker style shed. Duratough plastic and aluminium windows and door.

One end (as you can probably see) is for a traditional veggie patch but the sides of the frame will be plastic and the top and front will have bird mesh (darned bower birds can clean up a veggie patch in 3 hours)

The grow beds are 1.5m poly long troughs for agricultural use. The fish tank is a 1.7m poly trough, sunk into the ground and there is also a 120l poly barrel tank for yabbies (not in the pics yet) We sank the tank and set the yabbie barrel today so all that is needed is some plumbing, gravel, yabbies, plants, fish and....JUST ADD WATER!

I got 14 varieties of tomato seeds off eBay so I'm planning to grow only those this summer, with a couple of lettuce yachts floating on the fish tank.

[Hamish]

Nice work! Looks great! Look forward to more pics. With regard to floating rafts for lettuce on the fish tank make sure you ues mesh or something to exclude the fish from the roots or they will eat the roots as fast as they grow.

[GaryD]

Hi imy,

Welcome.....and there is no better way to start than by showing us pictures.

I'd love to know more about your greenhouse.....did you buy it like that or did you wreck an existing shed?

A word of caution about those corrugated stock troughs.....don't fill them with gravel or you'll be picking them up off the floor. Most plastic won't cop the weight of gravel. You may have better luck using clay pebbles or you set them up as floating raft tanks.

GaryD

[imy]

Hi!

Yep, we wrecked a shed! LOL
Nah, not really, we bought a quaker style shed hoping to put it up as a garage but it was just too tall and looked stupid next to my A-frame house (different but similar shapes clashed )
Anyway, my partner cut the top of one day! The bottom part of the shed will still go up as a carport eventually but the hothouse and veggie patch were a priority!

Dang! I was hoping to use gravel for grow media. I thought my troughs would withstand the weight since we're doing a CF system and not flood and drain. The gravel I hope to use isn't too weighty... for gravel. I looked into clay but it was $250 to just fill those beds and thats without freight. OUCH.

I'm also thinking I might just have an exclusive yabbie system... anyone had experience with that? We were thinking about fish and umming and ahhing about which species to buy. Our fish tank is in dappled shade and partially dug into the ground. I'm just googling yabbie breeding now.

[djs-sa]

those poly grow beds will be fine if u make a supporting frame to stop them bowing out but without support u will have touble

[imy]

those poly grow beds will be fine if u make a supporting frame to stop them bowing out but without support u will have touble

Yep, we made a frame for support today. We discovered when we got the fittings that we needed to alter the height of the tables.

I just did my first 'wet run'. Thankfully no more leaks but OMG I think my pump is too powerful. The water comes blasting out. Maybe it won't be a huge problem if I bury the tubes?

[Hamish]

Divert the excess flow back into the tank and use it to airate the water with a venturi. Murray sells the powerstream - cheap and works well.

[imy]

Cool... might do that. I have a spare venturi off my marine fish tank indoors.

I bought a pump with a 4m head height thinking that the manufacturers had exaggerated its performance (they usually do)

Not this time!

[Hamish]

Its good to have more flow to use. allows more room to expand and add more grow beds and airation for more fish

[imy]

Its good to have more flow to use. allows more room to expand and add more grow beds and airation for more fish

Might have to add more beds