Budget Greenhouse Project

[Maryswaterworld]

I have a quick question or thought. Does it get real cold at night during the winter nights that you might need some sort of heat? Otherwise your project looks great and I hope to see more pics when you have them.

 

[hamburglar]

Sales Weasel,

Randall is correct about Anthony Calfo's "Book of coral propagation". I bought a copy several years ago, and I think it may be responsible for a lot of this project. Even if you don't plan on using a greenhouse for propagation, this book provides a weath of knowlege about coral types and propagation techniques. I enjoyed reading it, and I will now keep it for reference information.

Corro,

I think I can heat this greenhouse with dual 500 watt titanium aquarium heaters. I plan on heating the water directly. In a larger greenhouse it would probably be more energy efficient to heat the air. This greenhouse is about 48 square feet with about 300 gallons of water in it. Needless to say, there isn't much air space left to heat

Cold winter nights in my area average about 30-40 degrees. Hot summer days average in the 80's. So far, I have been able to keep the water temperatures under 82 degrees, even this past week with 95 degree highs and 70% humidity (man that sucked). We will see what happens this winter. This is a learning experience after all.

Thanks everyone for the nice coments. My wife wasn't too wild about me doing this in the backyard, so I have to keep it neat and tidy

I just finished adding all of the RO/DI water today. I also added 250lbs of Southdown Sand to the top tank. Hopefully that will knock it out, because my Southdown stash is running dry.

I promise that new pictures are on the way very soon.

 

[corro]

Thanks everyone for the nice coments. My wife wasn't too wild about me doing this in the backyard, so I have to keep it neat and tidy

I suggest you spend you first bit of money you make from your frags on her :lol:

 

[Randall_James]

Frankly, the green house is small, economical and I am totally jealous Wondering how to get away with one myself just for the fun of it.....

 

[Justin74]

Thank you soo much for posting this thread! Ive been pondering what size and process to follow for some time now. But havent seen any this small, and am eagerly awaiting your completion and hopefully success! Very comendable to post your "experiment" even with the potential of failure.This is definately a valuable resource! Its come quite far, very innovative and looks exceptionally clean.Good job and best of luck to you!

-Justin

 

[hamburglar]

Thanks again guys for the encouragement. Like Justin74 brought upââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦.I sure how this all works out. It would be embarrassing to admit defeat on the thread That is why I waited a little while before starting the thread. I wanted to make sure the tank would spin, and the surge tanks would work.

Time for an update. I have just finished filling the system with RO/DI water. I also added 250lbs of Southdown Sand to the top tank. I will add the salt and fire up the MAG7 this week. It's probably time for me to order some snails and crabs. I just know I'm going to get some algae growth early on. I will try to get some test corals in the system a few days after adding the salt. Probably some cheap stuff like star polyp, xenia, and mushrooms.

Here is a little trick for getting rid of a "southdown cloud". Just add a powerhead with a DIY filter made of filter floss and a 20oz bottle. You should have clear water within 24-48 hours.

Here is some more detail of the lower plumbing. Like I said earlier... The top tank has a 1 1/2 inch drain pipe. The pipe is in the center of the round pool, so it just spins around. This spinning pipe slips into a 3 inch pipe coming up from the bottom of the lower "sump" pool. There is about 6 inches overlap. An output tube ensures constant water rotation in the lower pool. This is important since a heater (or 2 or 3) will be placed down there.

Just a reminder....we are on real-time now. This thread will be updated as I get steps finished. Next picture update will probably have some corals!

 

[Tras]

Can't wait to see more!

 

[Justin74]

Are you not concerned about proper mixing of salt?Not being a pro myslef, but came up with some flags at your process in my head.First the salt being fed after the sand is in.I know in displays you need to pre mix to get more of a "dynamic" result w'proper PH.Wondering how long the salt will need to be in the system before it properly mixes with the sandbed as opposed to having freshwater pockets in the DSB? Also arent you concerned that the system would need to cure before housing any "easy"corals?It sounds as if you know something that Im obviously not aware of.Do tell

-Justin

 

[hamburglar]

Justin,

You read my mind I had that very same though the instant I dumped the first bag of sand in the tank. I had that, "I hope this is not a stupid mistake" thought running through my mind.

Well, I went ahead and dumped all 5 bags in I will add the salt a little at a time and see what happens. I plan on running the system with salt for a few days before adding test corals (possible victims) to it. I will keep the hydrometer out there, and probably test the water a couple times per day. I can always add a little bit of salt at a time, as the salt migrates into the sandbed. The sandbed is only about 3-4 inches deep.

Now in a home reeftank, I would wrap it up in black trashbags for a couple of months while the bacteria grow and the system cures. In this situation, I will probably just have to fight it for a few months. I am fully aware that I am going to grow funk in all colors of the rainbow. I will just have to get a massive cleanup crew to fight it off. I might even add some "easy to remove algae's" for nutrient export.

 

[Justin74]

:beachbum:

-Justin

 

[alatza]

Man, you inspired me. I will try to design a small greenhouse for coral prop too.
I think everything will be ok in your system, you are doing a great job.
Conglaturations!!!

 

[H20ENG]

Nice work, burglar
You are correct that you will get good water motion in a circular tank.
So the tubs dont spin all the time, right? Just when you need to reach the other side? I think people are under the impression that the tanks rotate constantly.
Great use of space!
I designed a similar large surge system before for a large (4'dia x 6' high) half cylinder display full of kelp. The water normally came in along one side behind the rockwork, forcing the kelp to one side of the display. Every few minutes about 300 gallons would dump in through a 6" pneumatic valve and pipe on the opposite side of the tank, sending the kelp fronds across the display. As the surge died off, the current from the return would slowly return the kelp to the other side. Fun stuff

 

[coralfarm'n]

looks cool!

 

[JuniusX]

Hiya!

Hiya!

hamburglar, I assume you know who this is. Anyways, just had to get me an account so I could follow along with your project. It is looking real good!

 

[Randall_James]

[welcome]
JuniusX

Hey can we go swimming while you are waiting for stock?

 

[hamburglar]

Dropped in some test corals today. 13 Tan Xenia, 5 star polop, 2 zoo's, and 1 White Xenia. I also added a couple scoops of sand from my indoor system. If the corals are still alive next week I will drop in some more.

I also added 3 heaping handfulls of whatever branching algae species I have in my frag tank. I figure I have some nutrients in the system that could be exported with this algae.

Just so everyone knows what page I'm on......I have been skimmerless in my indoor system for about 3 years. I grow some branching algae in my smaller frag tank, and manually remove some of it every now and then. I don't even know what type it is. I bought it for my yellow tang, but he ain't interested. I would like to go skimmerless on the greenhouse system as well. but, I am keeping an open mind about it. If I feel like a skimmer would be benificial, I will certainly add one.

 

[hamburglar]

Update time:

First, here is a pic of the pool.

Sorry the picturs is hard to see. I will probably have to setup a small glass tank for coral pictures. There is just a lot of current and light to contend with.

The pool now contains the following species:

tan xenia, white xenia, orange mouth button polyps, green star polyps, yellow polyps, watermelon mushrooms, metallic green hairy mushrooms (i expect sky blue tips soon since they did that under halides), orange montipora, green montipora, green acro, and tri-color acro.

My local weather has been rather warm lately. We have been getting mid 80's on cloudy days and mid 90's on sunny days. Nights have dropped down into the upper 70's at the lowest. Humidity has been freak'n nasty high!

The system temperature is swinging from about 77-85 from night to sunny days. On cloudy days the system has been swinging from about 77-82. I am happy with the temperatures so far because I do not expect to see many hotter days than we are having right now.

I used right at 20 Kilowatt hours the first week of operation. This is about 2.86 KWH per day. That is costing me only 29 cent per day (yes I am getting raped at 10 cent per KWA) The winter should be interesting when I cut on the electric heaters I'm keeping a log on electricity usage, so I will share that information.

I am getting some diatoms, but they are totally expected. I have been supprised however, that I have not had anything else blooming yet. I hope I didn't just jinx myself Snails and crabs are coming in the mail tomorrow anyway.

 

[sales weasel]

Great report. I look forward to reading more. I think most people would be rather happy about $0.29/day in electricity to operate a greenhouse. Good luck!!

 

[alatza]

Really cool! Yesterday I was thinking: "Where is that guy and his greenhouse?". Man, keep us informed about your experiment, I am learning a lot!
Great job!!!
I agree, skimmer could not be necessary. Some organic compound will be good for some corals, like Xenia.
What about light? Do you think the system is absorbing enough for good growth rate?

 

[hamburglar]

I'm not sure about the light levels just yet. Everything I have put into the tank is still alive. I guess that is a good sign I do have a 30% shade cloth over the entire greenhouse.

The problem is that everything is still in that adjustment period. I will report the first signs of new growth as soon as I spot them. I am really curious about the motipora and acropora that I added. They have been slow-growers under my PC lighting indoors. I hope they grow faster and maintain good colors.