A Greenhouse Build (Summer is just the time!)

[Lady Baboon]

about 800 feet I think. Our night temps have been mid teens to low twenties in the last week and it is supposed to stay that cold until the weekend. Daytime has not reached 40 minus wind chill. This is cold for us!!

[Scottt]

I'm in Upstate New York and its been a similar temperature, crazy.

[BaboonScience]

I'm in Upstate New York and its been a similar temperature, crazy.

I am from NW Ohio originally. You expect those insanely cold nights up there. 7 F nights in my old home town by the end of the week. You don't expect that down here. And I was so looking forward to global warming and Palm trees in the front yard!
I have turned into a real wimp when it comes to this cold whether. I guess that I have been in the south too long.

[BaboonScience]

Now that MACNA is over, I have some time to work the greenhouse project a bit.
At this point, the weather is still warm enough that I am keeping the end plastic off. Lows in the mid to low 60's so water temperature is not affected too much. Lots of heat retention in large volumes of water. The heaters have not even come on yet.

Here is what I am thinking of right now.
I am going to start work on a tidal simulation system. This should be fun. The water flux will be between two tanks measuring 24 inches wide, 48 inches long and 22 inches deep. Water will slowly be pumped from one to the other, the direction of flow reversing every 6 hours. In this way, the tide in one tank will be rising while the other is falling. Circulation through the system will be via the normal overflow method in both tanks. I have wanted to do this for almost fifteen years. Now, I have the opportunity. The water input will be through a shallow algal turf refugium that overflows into the tidal system. I am hopeing to funnel the output water from the tidal system into a reef tank. In the future, I want to place a dump bucket style wave maker onto the reef tank.

Of course, these plans could and probably will change as the system develops.
John

[BaboonScience]

First tank is done and filling. I have three trays of sea grass in in right now. Will have startup pics as soon as it clears.
John

[gabreeder]

updates?

[BaboonScience]

Umm..Yes, there has been some progress.

The tidal tank is doing well but I have not yet implemented the dual system. Time is the problem, just not enough time.
The seagrass beds are still going but not as well as I had hoped. Way too much algal growth. So I put some cerith snails into the system. They are multiplying fairly well and are starting to deal with the algae problem.
I need to have some glass cut. Large pieces that I am not confident enough to do myself. I have a friend at a local LFS that is good at that and is willing to help. Then I can put together the other tank.

I have focused largely on the fish room and the lab build. The lab is functioning well with two incubators with good air filtration.
I went with a piston style air compressor for air supply, running lines from the main tank to all locations. The result is that I have replaces all diaphragm pumps with a single supply that compresses a storage tank to 120 PSI and turns off until pressure reaches 80 PSI (about 1 hour). The pump then runs for less than 2 min to pump back up. Saves a bundle in electricity.

Well, there is some progress, I guess.
John

[jolson]

been lurking for some time glad to see you progressing on this project. I was a fisheries biologist for a while but had to change jobs 35 years ago but still have the interest. Would love to see a picture of your tidal system.

[Suzy]

What a gorgeous place you live in! It looks like you live in the middle of a forest!

Please keep the updates coming. This is amazing.

[BaboonScience]

Suzy
The forest is all around us. We have a few neighbors but not many that are close by.
Most of the surrounding area is either farmed or forested. Since the big lumber firms moved out (pine beetle), the forests are returning to the native hardwoods. It is starting to get nice.
I really don't like the pine forests that the tree farmers planted much, no diversity.
John