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Grow Bed Build – Bed #2 Complete!
Got this one done in double-quick time!
Since building the first, I now know what lengths are needed without trial and error, plus I pre-cut some of the supports for the second bed when I was completing the first. Makes the work go by a whole lot faster 🙂
Now that the first two beds are completed, I can move on to getting them setup, lined, leveled and plumbed. I’ll then add additional beds in sets of two going forward till all 8 beds are completed. This should be interesting as now I’m having to pre-plan a bit with regards to how all the plumbing will work together (not just for the first two going forward, but all eight down the line).
Starting off, I’ll have 48 sq ft of growing space. Upon completion of all the beds this will give me 192 sq ft of grow bed area to work with! Not too shabby! I have also considered the possibility for expansion and so if down the road I’m feeling spunky, I can expand the width of the greenhouse to accommodate another 50% increase in grow bed space. That will be phase two. I’d also have to incorporate a sump tank into the setup to help keep my fish tank levels from dropping. So this idea is a bit of a ways down the road.
I’m getting quite excited now!
I should be ready to start cycling the system come mid-August.
A slight delay as I’ll be doing a bit of traveling in the coming weeks.
Progress is good! I’m happy.. and more updates to come! 🙂
Fanatic Inspiration #2..
Took a tour of a commercial grade Aquaponics farm in Chandler, Arizona.. Rhiba Farms.
In comparison to the previous tour with Garden Pool, this was obviously an order of magnitude bigger than what I had seen before. A considerable amount of time and funding was spent on putting these facilities together and it shows. But it should in no way detract from the accomplishment the McClung families achievement.
This is version 1.0 of Rhiba Farms. There are currently plans in the works to move their entire facility over to a 3 acre plot in the near future, effectively increasing their size by about a factor of six!
The biggest surprises I found at this facility was that everything is raised on a foundation of asphalt (the current facility was at one time a phone servicing business). Mosquitoes were out in force over the floating beds since there was no barrier to keep them at bay. They are currently experimenting with small fish and shrimp in the beds to work on breaking down wastes, but also to act as a curb on the mosquito larvae that seem to thrive in these beds.
Our tour guide was actually the owner of the facility and took his time answering everyone’s questions (the tour was topping 2 1/2 hours before we had to depart). So if you are ever in the area, they give these tours the last Sunday of every month.
Unfortunately, video was not an option as my batteries were getting low, so I stuck with still frame shots. They do however cover the majority of the facility.