Construction starts today, so I thought I'd share the final design I'm going with.
Because I am constrained to have the structure less than 5'2" above my patio, I'll be digging a sunken aisle down the middle of the greenhouse, between the growbeds. I had wanted to have a 300 gallon fish tank, but I'm willing to settle for a 150 gallon (600 liter) stock tank for the fish with a 100 gallon (400 liter) stock tank for the sump. The smaller tank will allow me to have an aisle through the entire greenhouse, which should be simpler than having the center blocked by the tank. The plan is to raise blue gills and redears, with a catfish or two.
The little green circles are planned vertical towers I will be making out of 4" PVC sewer/drain pipe - you can buy these at Aquaponicsource. I'm going to try my hand at making them myself, since I think I'll break even making 6 of them.
The large green oblongs are the 50 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks. The two overlapping the fish tank will just drain into the fish tank. The fish tank will have a drain near the top that will be plumbed to drain into the sump. The vertical towers and the two grow beds overlapping the sump will all drain directly into the sump. So this will be a hybrid CHOP/CHOP-2 design.
Today I'll probably won't get more than the foundation in, but the die is cast...
Thanks for the suggestion of the pocket tower. I'll bet you can use 4" or 6" drain pipe as you say.
ReplyDeleteI plan to cut a slot, then use a heat gun to soften the PVC and push it in.
Also, there are test caps that are far less expensive than heavy PVC caps.
Good Luck!