Greenhouse project

I agree. There is some potential there. Running the rain water through the purifier would be much less abusive than the 900 TDS I was planning on sending into it.

They can produce ~ 1 gallon of water / square foot area / 1 inch of rain
Click to expand...
According to that calculation, we would capture about 1300 gallons per inch of rain from the roof of the greehouse. Basically, every time it rains our tank would be full of rain water ready to go. Even if it was used in a supplemental fashion, it is worth doing. I'll let the dad do it. I've got other things to spend on right now.
 
900 TDS sounds more like a mud puddle than water. :)

I wonder if having a new well dug might have any effect and whether or not someone can find out before actually digging?
 
I would think you could automate the recharing of the DI resins. You would need a couple of chemical pumps, ph probes, timers, etc, but it could be done. Usually, in an industrial setting it is just easier to replace the DI.

One thing to note that rain water is usually very high in nitrogen (due to ionization caused by lighting strikes) , which is why it is great for plants. Comparing rain water to a bag of fertilizer, it can have a nitrogen content of 78 (first number on a bag of fertilizer) which is double what most commercial fertilizers come in.
 
Hi Dendro,

Great project that you are working on. I hope once you get it up and running that some of the local Akron area folks could come and take a look. To clean up your water you might be able to use some swimming pool filtration equipment that might cut down your cost. Most wells that I have delt with have clear water coming out of them. If yours is mirky there might be something wrong with the well? If you are interested Steve Seal is having a frag swap at his house this Sunday in Stow. I know you would be welcome. PM me if you need directions to Steve's house, he recently moved to another location in Stow. Good luck with your project.

Burgman
 
Great project! :thumbsup: It will be very interesting to see how corals do in your greenhouse.

I was wondering if you re-measured the TDS after you let the water sit for awhile. It seemed so much clearer after it had sat for a day. If the 900 reading was measured right out of the tap, I'd think that a lot of the disolved solids would have precipitated out after a few days and the reading would be a lot lower.
 
Hello all,

I received a quote from the professional chemical analysis company downtown here, and for the tests I was interested in, it costs $165. That left out one major test for organic carbons which costs $200 by itself. I decided to take a saltwater and freshwater sample to the LFS and test it with hobby test kits just to get a ball-park estimate on what was going on in my water before and after the salt mixed. Here is what we found:

Freshwater
Ca 20 ppm
PO4 0 mg/L
General Hardness under 20 mg/L
Alk 18.2 dkh
pH 8

Saltwater
Ca 270 ppm
PO4 0.025 mg/L
Cu 0.1 mg/L
Alk 10.2 dkh

I bolded the reading that I found the most interesting. The water coming out of the tap had a very high carbonate hardness. It also makes sense that once the salt mix was added, much of the calcium in solution precipitated out. It would explain the depressed calcium level in the salt water as well as the dropoff in carbonate hardness.

I decided against going with the more expensive test because I figured if I saw something in the simple hobby test kits, I was going to have to invest in a large water purifier, so why not put the $165-$365 towards that? It will take me a little while now to save up for the filtration system I want.
 
I would highly recommend spending the money to find out what is EXACTLY in the water. The money you spend may be the best money you spent. The hobby test kits are not very accurate and you have not tested for copper or anything else. And it could save you later because you could possibbly use a different kind of filter that would be less expensive. Maybe you could look for a different testing company in your area.

If you want another opinion why don't you try Anthony Calfo's forum here.
 
Dendro,

I just wanted to share. I might have the opportunity to run a 30' x 60' Greenhouse Prop System that's going to run on Algal Scubbers for filtration :D WOO HOO! Part time to start, if it pays enough to make the bills, I'll go full time with them :D I also told them I wanted control of their whole SW system :D
 
That's funny, I only sent the email once? ;)

Call me later tonight after 6...There's a ton more about the store that I didn't email you.
 
Lift Tubes

Lift Tubes

Dendro,

Your set it up is phenominal! If you dont mind, I wanted to ask what the lift tubes do specifically, do they interconnect with the RCSD or are you using them for constant water motion, and hope far from the bottom of the lift tube does the 1/2 airline start?

By the way, interested in seeing how the whale tale portion of the RCSD outlet is impacted by extending it to the center of the tank, I am definately interested in trying something like this, but would definately be concerned with the splatter as I use halides.

Thanks
 
minfinger,
Enjoy yourself at the greenhouse. I really like working in mine.

cmoresps,
The airlifts are separate from the RCSD. They are fed from the same air pump, but are independent from each other. The airlifts provide a constant laminar flow to the tanks while the surge device provides a periodic surge. In this movie, you can see the airlifts running constantly while the surge goes off:



Originally, I was afraid of the salt spray from the RCSD. Now that I've had a few days to play with it, the spray is no big deal. The exhaust actually creates a little bit of a surge across the top of the tank that looks quite beneficial. The key is having the exhaust a little higher. When it is submerged, the air explodes out. A longer tube that is 3/4 out of the water would have a muted spray.
 
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