Gazebo to Greenhouse: Insulating and doorway

I am going to describe the steps and techniques I used for the conversion.  As usual, if you want more details or explanations on certain items just drop me an email.

The first step is ensuring the gazebo framework is solid.  My frame was already bolted down to a concrete slab using the screw holes as part of the frame.  So my first step was to go around and using "liquid nails" adhesive to solidify any portions of the frame metal that had rust holes.  The rust I had to deal with was very minimal and limited to one side so the frame was still very solid.

Second I chose one of the entryways to the gazebo to my doorway.  I shored this up with 2x4 pressure treated lumber on the side.  This was put in such that it was tight so that there was tension on the frame.  It was also screwed into the metal framework.  The picture also shows the 2x2 framing (light colored wood) in place that would become my door.  The purpose of using wood was to strengthen the frame to be used as door frame, and also to provide wood to screw the door hinges into.  From this picture you can see that the gazebo top "second story" canvas frame has been removed to allow a smooth roof install later.

Third, I used 1/2" foam insulation on the lower 4 foot of the frame.  This went all the way around except of course the chosen doorway.  This material has a foil layer on one side and this was placed facing outside.  The material was attached to the frame by twist ties, and I also used liquid nails adhesive from the foam to the metal framework. Note that to prevent the twist ties from being pulled through the foam, some form of stop has to be used to apply pressure on the twist tie on the outside.  I used pieces of scrap plastic and also 1/2" irrigation hose for this purpose.



Other posts in this series:
Pictures More Pictures
Start (this page)
Insulating and Doorway
Upper Walls
Door
Roofing

Making a greenhouse from a metal gazebo frame

The next few entries will detail the conversion of a metal frame gazebo into a greenhouse.  This is how I built my greenhouse for my aquaponics setup that I have been writing about.  It all started with a 10x10 DC America gazebo frame similar to the picture below.  After a few years of use, the canvass covering disintegrated.  Starting cost of the gazebo was about $300 new.

The actual view that to start is below:

Other posts in this series:
Pictures More Pictures
Start (this page)
Insulating and Doorway
Upper Walls
Door
Roofing

Tilapia Third Harvest

The players,

The preparation,

The show (Shui zhu yu)

Cee Gwa Harvest in Pics

Harvested today.

These were growing on vines that had "escaped" from my greenhouse walls and were climbing on the adjacent fence.  Couple yellow overripe ones, but plenty of good ones here.

These ones were from inside the greenhouse. Have about another 6 there and its done.

Wine Cellar Update

Cooling system upgrade -- converted to a true wine cellar cooling unit.

The 12v power supply driving the cold air fans failed on my cellar cooler.  It was at least a day before I found out. After finding the fault, I replaced the supply.  The system was not as efficient though as it had trouble hitting the 66F that I kept the cellar at.  So it was time to replace the cooling system as the entire project had been proven successful.

I first got a CRU 4200.  This unit came and during the bench test I was only able to power from the side plug but it did blow air.  Upon opening the lid, I found the rear plug wires disconnected, and worse, the entire high pressure fan system was toast. Presumably damaged during shipping but the box was in good shape!!??

Anyway, I changed the order to a WhisperCool 3000.  Made the final cut in the wall (don't do this until you have bench tested!), and installed the unit.  I had to run a separate power line for the unit, and chose to use a 20A circuit -- you may be able to use 15A -- the user manual says 20A, but the unit has a label that notes max 15A protection.  My WhisperCool came with some errors in packing -- I had an extra temperature sensor that didn't even belong to this model, the foam weatherstripping were all one size instead of mixed, the bench test plug was missing, and the owners manual was for a different system (a split air conditioning system).  It turns out none of this mattered much as the manual is available on the net, and the unit can be bench tested with the actual PDT sensor -- you don't need the test plug.  The manufacturer (WhisperCool) was very helpful as was the seller (WineEnthusiast.com). The latter through the whole purchase, refund and substitute and also in getting me in touch with the manufacturer.

Because the WhisperCool will allow me to lower the cellar temp to 55F, I increased insulation.  This was accomplished by drilling holes and filling my indoor door with foam, and also by installing 1" foam insulation on the inner side of the door.  My door is a small non-standard closet door, and also I didn't want to get rid of the insulating cork decoration I had installed on the outer side.

View from the garage -- you can see the older cooling system on the bottom right (still there for backup)

View from inside the wine cellar.  I had to cut out 9 bottle spots to accommodate the cooler.  The display is when first turned on.  It took less than 12 hours to reach 55F and is holding fine.  Now I need to determine the duty cycle to see how reasonable the insulation is.

Late Season Results

My overgrown greenhouse.  The Cee Gwa  is liking the cooler weather and really setting fruit.  I will have a lot of vegetation to clear though once the harvest is done.

Cee Gwa grown in aquaponics greenhouse in hydroton substrate.  Yes, these are the same beds that I show in earlier posts with seedlings at the beginning of the year.

Even though I have ignored my outdoor garden for the most part this year, it still likes me :-)  This is a cherokee purple grown in a large container (old blue recycling bin, the type that's not used anymore).

Aquaponics Greenhouse Harvest Summary (in pics)

 

Oh yeah, bells think they are in the tropics.

2.25lbs!!

 

Soybeans -- yummy!

Summary: this project was definitely a success.  I will follow up with details on converting the gazebo to a greenhouse.

Aquaponics Greenhouse Status 06-2011

Tomatoes, bell peppers, long beans, luffa gourd

Soy beans, tomatoes, bell peppers

 

Tilapia

 

Sludge separator in action.

Freeland FP100 as Aquaponics Growbeds

I use Freeland FP100's for my growbeds.  I run deep grow beds.  That is, at least 12" grow depth for the plants.  This is not usual, but I found from my normal growing that plants do a lot better with deep roots.

I recommend the FP60 for those who are interested in this design. I just happen to get the FP100's at a good price.  As you see though, I effectively cut them down to FP60 size.

This is the starting point:

A nice unit.  Made in the USA. http://www.freelandind.com/fipolytanks.htm

Next I cut the top off using a sawsall.

Don't these look like very nice garden bed separators?  Good recycling use.  That's another post.

Note, the FP100 has a drain pre-plumbed.  This is re-usable, but the internal fitting is aluminum. This needs to be replaced with a 1" FT to 1" SLIP adaptor.  The FT portion just replaces the aluminum threaded fitting.  Put teflon tape on the plastic thread prior to putting the FP adaptor on to prevent slow drip leaks.

This is a picture of a completed grow bed.  It is filled with a hydroton mixture.  Due to the pre-fit drain, this setup is configured to drain from the bottom side.  Normally beds are made to drain down.  This works without tuning, but what happens is that the drain is not at a consistent speed. The drain starts quickly then slows down for the last third of the level.  It takes about 10 minutes to fully drain the bed.

You can see the overflow on the top left of this bed.  This is made with 1" hose and uniseal fittings. http://www.aussieglobe.com/uniseal3.htm
The small hose is for air being pumped into the bottom of the bed.

I will post the siphon design for this bed and also the media layers I use in future posts.

Cheers.

$1 Aquaponics Water Polisher

I saw this $1 "Mini Trash Can" at a local OSH.  Couldn't resist the idea.  Simple.

The "trash can" has a lid that turns to lock.  This is the key. It allows the filter to be easily opened to replace the media.

Cut out a 1.5" hole in the lid and replace with 1.5" PVC pipe (suitable straight length or as shown with a 90degree elbow).  Next drill 1/4" holes (two rows) all around the bottom of the can.  Fill the can with polyester cotton.  Put the lid on and you are ready to attach your new filter to the water return on your tanks.

















Another implementation of a polisher is shown below.

Cheers.

Sludge Separator in Action

This is the implementation of the "Aquaponics Sludge Separator" design from my September, 2010 blog entry.  I simplified the design as follows:
* used a rubbermaid storage container instead of building square out of plexigla
* reduced baffle plates to 1 instead of 2
* reduced oxygenators to 1 on the baffle plate only
* did not implement the water feed "shelf"
* the drains were single orifice instead of a long feeder pipe

Parts used:
* rubbermaid container
* acrylic sheet from Tap Plastics
* 1" Uniseal connectors (www.aussieglobe.com)
* 1" PVC pipe
* 7" TopFin bubble Wall wand
* DAP Household Adhesive Sealant, 100% Silicone, food and aquarium safe

Special steps.  I used silicone glue to attach the acrylic baffle to the tub.  Ensure you sandpaper the tub well and clean off prior to applying the silicone or it will not attach.

There is no need to use silicone to seal the uniseals.  They work in place.

This is a picture of the build before installation and before I put on the overflow.

Cheers!

Update 2011:04:10 I am running this setup successfully with a 655GPH pump.  The intake and output is 1" pipe.  The output is gravity only and uses a 1m drop before going to the feeder pipe.  I am feeding 3 outputs of 3/4" PVC.  I will post the aquaponics setup in the future, but am considering how to add a second feeder tank -- I don't think this separator will handle another 655GPH input.

Serendipitous Seed Starter (Aquaponics)

Below is my 125Gallon indoor fish tank for my overwintering aquaponics Tilapia (waiting to go out for the summer growing season).  I keep the water at 80 degrees F.  Notice how that turned out to be an excellent bottom heater for my seedling tray.  Those are tomatoes, soy beans, long beans, and luffa gourd seedlings.  Germination took 2-4 days (specie dependant).

Large Fish Tank Heater Controller

The following is an inexpensive tank heater controller.

I started by purchasing a "ViaAqua, Aquarium heater, 250 watts, Titanium" from "amekaaquatic" on Ebay.  This unit has an external temperature controller attached to a 250W Titanium heater.  The picture on Ebay shows a perfect unit for this modification as the controller seems to have 1) power input plug, 2) temperature sensor on cord, and 3) power output to the heater.  The units actually ship with a little mod.  A controller has the power input, and a thicker wire that goes to the heater and then splits from there to the sensor.  This made the mod a little more complicated (just a little).

Also as part of this project you need a controllable power box at the desired capacity.  I wanted a single 1800W box (15A circuit).  This would be built as a 1800W receptacle, relay controlled with a plug input.  For time reasons, I had this built by JehmCo (www.jehmco.com) for $70 including shipping.  The delivered unit was very professional looking and to code -- always happy with JehmCo.

So, next step was to CUT the cord going to the heater.  I did this after it exited from the controller so I maintained the water resistant seals to the controller. I also cut the smaller sensor wire coming out of the heater (the left most wire in the picture of the heater).  Interesting that the wires coming out of the controller are:
blue: fused neutral
brown: switched live
green: sensor
yellow: sensor

The two sensor wires leaving the HEATER are new wires that are blue and brown (smaller gauge than the power).  Confusing!

I sealed the cut on the sensor wire at the heater using Starbrite Liquid Electrical Tape, AND a piece of Storehouse UL listed Marine Heat Shrink Tubing.

The wire to the heater was "fixed" with a length of outdoor extension cord (16/2) with the male end attached.  The female or socket end of the extension cord was used to "fix" the power output of the controller.  You can see this setup in the first picture.  The controlled box (from JehmCo) has two plugs -- one for mains power in (that goes out the bottom of the picture) -- and one for the control input.  The control input is shown plugged into the orange socket wire from the controller.

The final connection was to extend the sensor wire -- I used household lamp wire -- at the cut wire coming out of the controller.

Total cost: $107 (including cost of sacrificed extension cord).

MW -- PS: do not undertake this project unless you are confident in you ability to do electrical work to code and in a safe and knowledgeable manner.  Always respect mains power.  This is for info only and not for the inexperienced.  I do not take responsibility for any actions you do based on this info.

Low cost high volume aquarium filter.

Update 2011:04:10  [As expected the plastic on this canister broke.  The canister is so large I didn't have to do anything with it while running for about a month.  When I went to check on the internals I found the quick release connectors had joined to the lid and they broke when disconnecting.  I have this unit shelved until I find a way to economically update the design.]

I found a recommendation for this large canister filter at Aquarium Gardening.  Sorry, couldn't find the post again, so I cannot attribute it properly.  I purchased the unit.  Ebay seller, "topdogsellers".  The unit is a US$60 "Aquarium Canister Filter External CFS 500 GPG 60-100g".  Note it is sized at 11.5" x 14.5" x 17".  It is BIG.

So here is the scoop.  The unit is a nice design. Unit comes with "everything you need" to get it running out of the box.  Well, maybe.  It is a nice unit, that has been volume low cost manufactured in China.  That said, it can be modified to use making it a very good deal.

The included media is foam sponge and a fibre mat.  This material still smells of the petroleum processing.  I thoroughly rinsed it and left it outside in the sun for about 4 weeks to flush it. The new "media" is shown in the first picture. The pump is good, and I believe the 500gph rating. It sits at the bottom of the cannister so it will be self-priming.  I modified the intake as shown in the picture to put a "U" pipe on the pump so that the intake is from the bottom of the cannister instead of the middle. This mod is just a 2 0.75" PVC 90 degree joints connected make the U.  The input screen then fit onto a pipe I put on the end.

The modified intake is shown here.


I filled the unit 3/4 full with about 400 bio-bullets I got  from Jehmco (www.jehmco.com). The bullets are covered by about 2" of the white foam material, and this is covered by the blue fibre mat.  I didn't use the included hose or plumbing.  This was for my 125gallon tank, and it was already setup with a Pentair Aquatics, Lifegard CustomFlo plumbing system -- I got that from Jehmco.  Note, that the hose is 1" ID potable water safe hose I got separately from OSH.

This is a picture of the installed unit.  [I know, bad spot for the power strip.  I glued it down :-).  But, it is protected by a separate GFI.]  Those red towers are shutoff valve hose connectors and are quick release.  Nice touches but they are fairly light plastic so I think they may be the first things to fail if overused.  Note the nicely designed screw down top.  It works very well -- that is, it is watertight!

Tank(s) Update

Quick update on the aquaponics front.  Actually, still in the aquarium phase.

Picture 1 is of the refugium with a variety of fresh water plants.





This is working very well.  Picture 2 is the result -- the water is very clear and nitrates held at almost zero.  Sorry, the little fishies wouldn't hold still for the photo.

 



Picture 3 is a "hang off the back" purchased refugium I am using on my 125gallon tank.
If you are interested in the purchased refugium, it is a CPR Aquafage Large Class B (Seconds) unit I got from Ebay (Ameka Aquatics).
















Picture 4 is of the 125 gallon tank with another 35 or so Tilapia.  Also clear water and good chemistry.  Note the sand here seems to make them more conducive to reproduce!  Note the "holes" they have dug for attracting mates.















Picture 5.  Ahhhh.  This is a happy mommy in a nursing tank.  She has 100+ fingerlings swimming around her.
Note, she is only 5 months old herself!  She was from the "sandy tank".