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Comment by Tony Gilliam on May 2, 2012 at 3:54pm

Looking at the pic, the yellow thing on the left is a 10 foot deep coulvert pipe with a lid from an EPA barrel to seal the radon gas from entering the greenhouse. The stone was laid down a little early, I had the stone and a borrowed skidloader so i went ahead and spread it inside. I will need to bury some drain lines that return to a biofilter then to the sump.

Comment by Tony Gilliam on May 2, 2012 at 3:48pm

Today i got 6 275 gallon ibc totes that do have the metal cages. They had acid in them that is easily nuetralized with bleach. I am very happy because i can get many more as they become available, up to 10 a year.

I have a 20X40 greenhouse that is still under construction and i think it will hold plenty of grow beds to plant in. Here is a pic of it.

Comment by Tony Gilliam on May 1, 2012 at 5:04pm

I have found a source for alot of ibc totes, They are without the metal frame. They had a molassis based animal feed type substance in them. I'm not sure of the exact contents but it doesn't clean up easily and it stains the poly. I cleaned one up and put fathead minnows it it. They all lived for the last 3 weeks with a carbon filter and no plants. My question is, Is there a cleaner that will clean these totes to a point that they are white again and is it safe to use totes from an animal feed type content? I could get 50 totes easily but am wondering if it is worth my time?

Comment by TCLynx on May 1, 2012 at 1:30pm

You need a pump that will move at least 600 gallons per hour at the height of your grow beds if you will be pumping continuously.  If you will be doing timed flood and drain you will need a pump that will move at least 600 gallons in the fraction of the hour the pump will be on.

Size drain in each bed will depend on if you are doing siphons or stand pipes.

Combined drain, I would recommend 3".

Comment by Dave Mannina on April 26, 2012 at 10:55am

What size pvc pipe do I need to drain two 17' x 2'-6"x 1' grow beds in pea gravel. I was thinking 2" or 3". Not sure how slow the water should drain. Oh I guess I need to know what size pump to use also. My fish tank is 600 gallons.

Comment by Holly Curtis on March 13, 2012 at 10:48am

TCLynx That is a great summary.  Thank you so much!

Comment by TCLynx on March 12, 2012 at 7:35pm

We shade our tanks in Aquaponics to keep the sun from causing pea soup.  We want our veggies to use the nitrates so we don't usually do water changes in aquaponics.  Plant more veggies and shade the tank.  Nitrates are not likely to be a problem for the fish unless they are way off the charts forever.  If your nitrates are in the red, plant more veggies or eat some fish if they are big enough.  If your nitrates are too low, eat some plants or add more fish (if the filtration can support it.)

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on March 12, 2012 at 6:05pm

:)  See you tonight.

Comment by Holly Curtis on March 12, 2012 at 5:32pm

Cool.  I am in for the water lettuce!  Thank you Sheri.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on March 12, 2012 at 5:23pm

Holly, nitrates aren't part of the green, but are food for the algae that is the green. I've been pulling my water lettuce, but I can give you some of what I have left & it should be very happy in your tank. It should reduce the number of water changes you are doing. The soup (called algae bloom) can kick in overnight, so keep those nitrates controlled. :)

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