Greenhouse Project [Pic Heavy]

[MVPaquatics]

Kyle, do they make photometers to turn lights on and off based off how much sun you are getting?

[badguitarist]

gee Mike, I bet they do but I have never seen one, I bet there would be a way to program something on an apex, or somehow hook a par meter up to an on off switch, it would just take someone with more electronics know how than I have.

[milesmiles902]

the drums will help but not a ton, there are lots of ways to cut down on heating. most of the ways you will see online are more for vegetable farming where the greenhouse has to be above freezing, not 80+degrees. but that being said if space allows any extra water volume will help stabilize night time temps.

 

regarding what types of corals the short answer is all of them. some do better in the winter some do better in the summer. many stony corals wont survive winter without supplemental light. I had about 80 cyphastrea start to bleach last month because they weren't getting enough light. put a halide on them and now they are fine. just because I get PAR levels of 200 on a nice sunny day, there are cloudy days where I get PAR readings of 20-30, get enough cloudy days in a row and corals start to go downhill. on the flip side things like mushrooms love this weather and look incredible. in the summer I have to put 4 layers of 20% shade cloth overt their tub just to keep them from dying, even with all that they still don't grow well.

 

I might try some evaporative cooling techniques. They seem to work for larger greenhouses, but use tons of water. I should start collecting rain water now. Haha.

 

Kyle, do they make photometers to turn lights on and off based off how much sun you are getting?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some commercial products like that. I know you can do it with an arduino, which is something I might try. Just need to wire together some relays and get a PAR meter. I only have a lumens one right now and they correlate, but are not a true correlation.

 

Day: I lost track

 

So I wanted to get my greenhouse done by January, but because there were some set-backs it is not quite there, but i do have some cool progress.

 

My dad came by for the holidays and saw that the structure wasn't level and we tore it down. He was so right. We reused a lot of the material and I saved all the insulation for my new structure. I advise everyone to keep a level structure. It makes building so much easier and it really adds to the quality. Here is a picture after we took down the endwalls and built a new frame. He also said my structure was too heavy for what I wanted to do.

 

 

My dad really helped me build a level structure, then I added the rear end wall. After making a level structure you can see how off the bricks were from being level. If I want an aquarium in there, the ground better be close to level...or else.

 

 

I went and added some spring lock (I like to call it wiggle wire) to the structure. It is around the trim of the end walls and the base of the structure. I think it is a great product and would suggest it to any person building a greenhouse. I was able to easily install the plastic and remove it in a matter of seconds without ruining it.

 

 

Here is what it looks like up close. The stuff is cheap and re-usable. I spent probably 9 dollars per 6ft of the stuff. With the channel and wiggle wire included.

 

 

I went and added some plastic to the structure yesterday and installed my fan. I haven't cut the wiggle wire or plastic quite yet. The issue is with one person it is kind of hard to pull the plastic taught. So, I am going to wait to cut both of them when I find another person to help. I started doing the brick, but really felt like I could just do it later.

 

 

I went and installed a fan to blow a layer of air between the folded over piece of plastic. I have a regulator around, which I will probably use because the fan is too strong. The fan is 12watts, which adds up to ~4.50 per month if I ran it. Not too bad for what it does.

 

 

My favorite part of the whole system is I went and dug up a contraption I built during the summer. Originally it was going to be a weather station, but now it is going to be a greenhouse controller. Reloading all the firmware was worse than doing a software update on the international space station.

 

 

It measures temperature, humidity, relative pressure, lumens and calculates heat index  altitude. Then streams them live to my website: http://localdatacenter.org/

 

The arduino collects data, which goes to the raspberry pi and emits the data wirelessly to a web server every five minutes. The web server hosts the website and relays any incoming data. The case is a pelican case, which is semi-waterproof, but there is wires coming out which break the seal. it does some other neat stuff, but a lot of it still needs polishing. It measures lumens, rather than par, which is kind of a problem. **Note the current max/min values are a little off because it was in my room last night and was being turned off and on***

 

My next few goals: Lay out the brick and figure out what to do with the pond. I extended the pond probably another 6 ft and has a volume now of 300-500 gallons. I am not sure if I should add an opening into the greenhouse for the pond. I know I want to attempt to do some aquaponic/vertical grow towers inside the greenhouse and that would require piping from the pond. I just think it is going to let in too much cold.

 

Edit: Due to unplugging and replugging in the power for the raspberry pi. Data values might be inconsistent with true values because it doesn't want to restart with the same ports etc.. Its a work in progress.

Edited January 2, 2016 by milesmiles902