After 12 years of trying to find room for our corals in the tank indoors we finally decided there really wasn't any more room and we'd have to look outside the house.
We then spent a long time reading the greenhouse threads on here and Calfo's book and noticed that some at least of the greenhouses were being run in climates not so dissimilar to ours in the UK. Got to be worth a try we thought so in the meantime we got the par meter out and took some readings outside during the winter and spring - the results were quite a shock with readings between 100-600 depending on the amount of cloud cover.
Our garden is not large and is on a 40 degree slope but there is flat-ish space at the bottom which also happened to get the most light. We had no real idea how well corals would grow in natural sunlight in the UK climate or even if we could keep them alive in such a structure during our winters. There was a good chance it would be a bit of a disaster but having read all the info we could find on growing corals in different climates we though it might work and at least we wouldn't have to contend with high temperatures - or so we thought.
After much reading and planning construction began in September 2010 and proved to be far more work than we'd anticipated - hauling a cement mixer and concrete blocks up and down that slope was an experience.
looking up the slope from the greenhouse
laying foundations
What also made things difficult is that the nearest point for materials to be delivered was 50 yards away from the site, through a car park and down that slope. Still, it kept the neighbours entertained.
The cart didn't make it though:
Once the foundations were done we dug a trench from the house to the greenhouse (about 50ft away) for the electrical and water supplies... the stony clay soil, wind, rain and the slope turned that into a bit of an endurance test and I was known as the Mud Monster for a couple days.
The greenhouse itself was the biggest we could fit in the space - 16 x 12 ft. In that space we crammed in 4 tanks, a work area, shelving, a water storage barrel and of course the kitchen sink.
I know what I'm doing - honest!
By November the tanks were online and we began stocking them with the excess corals from the indoors tanks - our display tank had been running over a decade so we had built up quite a variety.
That first winter was a real struggle with the coldest December on record and water lines freezing and condensation raining inside the greenhouse. We ended up standing in the snow on Boxing Day defrosting the ro line with a hotair gun - the things you do.
Somehow we got through to the spring without any losses but quite a few headaches along the way. We looked forward to warmer weather and more sun which came much earlier than usual with the hottest April on record. We hadn't been able to get hold of good shading and were badly caught out with most of the corals bleaching, some quite seriously. It did confirm though that even in this climate there is such a thing as too much sun.
Summer visitor
Summer finally came and our working environment in the greenhouse was much more pleasant. Not having condensation dripping on your head was a bonus. We had our shading by then but, as we later realised, it wasn't as spec'd and was only 20% instead of 50%. Temperatures soared on the sunny days but fans and the insulaton kept the tank temperatures under control. Some corals were still bleaching though and we finally did the obvious thing of measuring the light through that shading and discovered it wasn't what it was meant to be.
Winter came and we were better prepared this time, no defrosting water lines at Christmas for us this time.
This year the greenhouse is running much better though we still have a huge amount to learn and different corals don't always react the way you expect to natural light.
Head of Security doing his rounds
We then spent a long time reading the greenhouse threads on here and Calfo's book and noticed that some at least of the greenhouses were being run in climates not so dissimilar to ours in the UK. Got to be worth a try we thought so in the meantime we got the par meter out and took some readings outside during the winter and spring - the results were quite a shock with readings between 100-600 depending on the amount of cloud cover.
Our garden is not large and is on a 40 degree slope but there is flat-ish space at the bottom which also happened to get the most light. We had no real idea how well corals would grow in natural sunlight in the UK climate or even if we could keep them alive in such a structure during our winters. There was a good chance it would be a bit of a disaster but having read all the info we could find on growing corals in different climates we though it might work and at least we wouldn't have to contend with high temperatures - or so we thought.
After much reading and planning construction began in September 2010 and proved to be far more work than we'd anticipated - hauling a cement mixer and concrete blocks up and down that slope was an experience.
looking up the slope from the greenhouse
laying foundations
What also made things difficult is that the nearest point for materials to be delivered was 50 yards away from the site, through a car park and down that slope. Still, it kept the neighbours entertained.
The cart didn't make it though:
Once the foundations were done we dug a trench from the house to the greenhouse (about 50ft away) for the electrical and water supplies... the stony clay soil, wind, rain and the slope turned that into a bit of an endurance test and I was known as the Mud Monster for a couple days.
The greenhouse itself was the biggest we could fit in the space - 16 x 12 ft. In that space we crammed in 4 tanks, a work area, shelving, a water storage barrel and of course the kitchen sink.
I know what I'm doing - honest!
By November the tanks were online and we began stocking them with the excess corals from the indoors tanks - our display tank had been running over a decade so we had built up quite a variety.
That first winter was a real struggle with the coldest December on record and water lines freezing and condensation raining inside the greenhouse. We ended up standing in the snow on Boxing Day defrosting the ro line with a hotair gun - the things you do.
Somehow we got through to the spring without any losses but quite a few headaches along the way. We looked forward to warmer weather and more sun which came much earlier than usual with the hottest April on record. We hadn't been able to get hold of good shading and were badly caught out with most of the corals bleaching, some quite seriously. It did confirm though that even in this climate there is such a thing as too much sun.
Summer visitor
Summer finally came and our working environment in the greenhouse was much more pleasant. Not having condensation dripping on your head was a bonus. We had our shading by then but, as we later realised, it wasn't as spec'd and was only 20% instead of 50%. Temperatures soared on the sunny days but fans and the insulaton kept the tank temperatures under control. Some corals were still bleaching though and we finally did the obvious thing of measuring the light through that shading and discovered it wasn't what it was meant to be.
Winter came and we were better prepared this time, no defrosting water lines at Christmas for us this time.
This year the greenhouse is running much better though we still have a huge amount to learn and different corals don't always react the way you expect to natural light.
Head of Security doing his rounds
