Forums / TEAM Marine Depot / Pulse on the Hobby – by Steven Pro / My Greenhouse Build Project / Latest Posts

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

fazgood — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:08:01 GMT

Take this for whats worth as I have not tested this but I plan to this summer. With larger tanks it does cost a lot to do water changes so I am going to try to put the anemones in a reaceway tank above the big tank. It will have a pump curculating water to it from the main sump but I will also use it to introduce the water from topoff and water changes. I was not going to top off with chemicals, just RO/DI water. The thought is that the regular stressings will cause enough stress to make them split. I can then use carbon in the return to the sump to remove any toxins that may be produced.

Faz

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:29:09 GMT

xroads (5/1/2008)

I was wondering if you were working on propagation techniques, be it trying to get them to split on their own more often, or slicing.

I have done both. I have cut them in half as well as encouraged them to split on their own with large water changes. I the greenhouse, I will likely be doing only cutting because of the practical problems with doing "large" water changes routinely on multiple 600 gallon systems.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

xroads — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:20:41 GMT

Hi Steve,

I was wondering if you were working on propagation techniques, be it trying to get them to split on their own more often, or slicing.

Thx

Craig

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:22:49 GMT

xroads (4/30/2008)

Can you elaborate on what you are doing with anemones.

I just bought one from a local hobbyist/friend to see how well it does in the greenhouse environment. Did you have a specific question?

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

xroads — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:02:53 GMT

Hi Steven,

Can you elaborate on what you are doing with anemones.

Thx

Craig

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:10:46 GMT

Reefski (4/28/2008)

do you have to shade to cut down on the light intensity?

Last summer, I used a 30% shade cloth and still have some bleaching issues with stony corals. I will use it again perhaps along with some lighting films to further cut back on the light as well as change its color.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Reefski — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:39:45 GMT

thanks steven:

do you have to shade to cut down on the light intensity?

i too have a Kati-ani unit. not plumbed and online yet though.

the waste water i was asking about is water change water?

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:29:02 GMT

Reefski (4/27/2008)

what kind of light levels are you seeing at the maximum. do you use a PAR meter or Lux meter?

I have an Apogee PAR meter. As I recall, the highest light level I ever registered was 1,400. In contrast, the lowest I ever saw was 70.

Reefski (4/27/2008)

what species are doing the best for you?

Anything soft, particularly Toadstool, Pink Finger and Green Finger Leather. I am just now experimenting with some anemones.

Reefski (4/27/2008)

have you started selling yet?

No, still growing out.

Reefski (4/27/2008)

what do you do with your waste water?

I don't have waste water. Right now, I am using an Aquatechnik Kati-Ani DI system.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Reefski — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:06:56 GMT

Steven:

a couple questions-

what kind of light levels are you seeing at the maximum. do you use a PAR meter or Lux meter?

what species are doing the best for you?

have you started selling yet?

what do you do with your waste water?

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:18:15 GMT

fazgood (3/26/2008)

Where have all the other greenhouse build threads gone?

Now that Anthony's forum is locked...

Faz

You are welcome to start one here if you would like.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

fazgood — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:29:04 GMT

Where have all the other greenhouse build threads gone?

Now that Anthony's forum is locked...

Faz

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Snappy — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:22:24 GMT

Very interesting thread, good luck with your endeavor. Very cool project.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:10:30 GMT

Sorry. I used that website and the phone number posted on there to contact the sand guy. It did take me a few days worth of calls to get in touch with him.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

raaden — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:22:52 GMT

jrodscout,

They are some tough people to get ahold of; I spent a few months trying to get an order together and then just decided to scrap it because it wasn't worth the hassle. Steve is out of the country most of the time and not thorough in his follow-ups so you have to stay on him. I have heard from a couple of others that if you go down to the plant in person they will take care of you, but that means setting up your own haul which can be a nightmare as well especially if you try to use a third party. If you are interested pm or email me and I will give you what info I have.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

jrodscout — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:34:53 GMT

Steve,I have been trying to contact that sand source you posted for your greenhouse for weeks with no return.I need 6tons trucked to CT and my project is on hold.If you have another source or number I would appreciate it.Im not getting anywhere on the internet.
Thanks,Jerred

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:31:30 GMT

Correct, the more water you have, the more stable things are going to be. But, some temperature fluctuation is inevitable as well as completely natural.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

The Big Tuna — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:26:55 GMT

Raaden,

Sup Bro? I have the same issues as you & bad guitarist, but in my case it's bc I do not have my greenhouse up to full capacity wt tanks yet(3 x 300 instead of 10 x 300) so i believe that is the reason it's hard to keep stable temps wt the gh heater alone.Just not enough water vs air for heat retention. I started throwing some 400 watt heaters in my troughs & the temp bc much more stable & I cut my propane consumption by 30-50% I will be at full capicity wt tanks by next winter & it shouldn't be as much of a problem. I hope!?!! Maybe Steven could chime in on this.

On the plus side the soft corals that I have put out there are doing great

Joshua

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

kmacartney — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:57:57 GMT

So do you just have some spots marked on a sump for to know where to keep the water level? I was just pondering what would be the best system as it seems like if your bagging coral it could be confusing as to how much salt vs fresh water to use whe you fill it back up.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:54:26 GMT

kmacartney (12/4/2007)

Hi, I was wondering how you managed fw top-off vs. sw top-off when it comes to day to day operations.

I top-off manually, which is a pain but I don't trust automatic top-off devices.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:53:23 GMT

coralfan (12/4/2007)

hi steven

maybe you could share with us the difference between air temp and water temp (is it higher, lower or the same? and by how much?). also are those results only for greenhouses or does that apply to free-standing garage like structures. the more i look into it the more I keep getting conflicting answers and am not sure if it would be better and cheaper to heat the air(hvac) or the water (plastic coil type radiant heating on a furnace with separate zones for each system) or both. any insite would be appreciated

In my case, I have free natural gas, so it is a no-brainer for me. But, I also know Anthony controlled the air temperature in his greenhouse operation and I believe Dick Perrin does the same in his.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

raaden — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:53:16 GMT

Steven,

I am interested as well if you have rethought the idea of temp controlling the water or environment. I am having alot of problems keeping water temps in a good range this winter with just temp control for the greenhouse, not to mention the exponentially higher price of trying to maintain the temps with only the greenhouse heater. The last few weeks I have resorted to a bank of electric heaters in the vats and things are much more stable, and I have cut my gas usage to almost 1/3.

I know many have been successful with maintaining only ambient temps, but I guess I haven't found the key to it yet. It seems like the issue is that the sun creates an incredible amount of heat that is absorbed during the day when the sun is out, and then once the sun goes down no matter what temp the gh is the vats lose quite a bit of heat. I have a feeling the circulation fans are the culprits with dry cool air blowing across the vats evaporation is much higher than expected.

Are your temps pretty stable with the setting you listed. I had something like what you did with not so great results. The closest I came to stability was to go opposite with the temps. During the day I set the fans to 65; louvers to 70 and turned off the furnace. At night I was running fans and louvers off; and the furnace to 82. With these settings I had temps 78-80 during the day depending on how strong the sun was, but at night I couldn't get the temps to stay above 75-76. I would be working out in the gh sweating and still see the tank temps going down throughout the night.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

kmacartney — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:26:09 GMT

Hi, I was wondering how you managed fw top-off vs. sw top-off when it comes to day to day operations.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

coralfan — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:07:16 GMT

hi steven

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:22:49 GMT

w3tw0rx (12/3/2007)

Wow, pretty cool. I was considering something similar, but on a smaller scale. Due to climate, I was thinking about digging out a hole for each tank, and putting the tank IN the hole rather than sitting on top. Any thoughts? Pros/COns?

Cooling did not seem as difficult as heating is, at least for me. Not that it is difficult, but I did have to reset all the temperature controls this year. This winter is shaping up to be much colder than last year.

Plus, also keep saving your back in mind. Working hunched over all the time does not sound like a plan for a long profession.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

w3tw0rx — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:45:20 GMT

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 05:19:21 GMT

badguitarist (12/2/2007)

Steven, I love the thread and have a question regarding heat in the greenhouse. I have a 90 foot greenhouse mainly for plants. I have built a room around the propane heater for culturing corals. The greenhouse is on a thermostat and stays between 70-75 degrees. My problem is i cannot get the tanks above around 60 degrees without additional electric heaters. I am wondering what temperature you have your greenhouse at to keep the tanks warm enough. Will i have to keep the temperatures several degrees warmer to keep the water at 75-80. All tanks so far are on stands so the temp all around is warm (that is the ground isn't cooling them down).

Since the start of winter, I have changed the temperature control settings. The furnace is now set at 80*F, the louvres at 85*F, and the exhaust fan at 90*F. During the summer everything was set 5*F cooler, 75, 80, and 85 respectively.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

badguitarist — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:08:27 GMT

Thanks for your time, Kyle

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:26:17 GMT

I have considered adding colored lighting screens (think of a big blue sheet of plastic) over individual tubs to block additional light and change the spectrum, but if I can grow enough other things that make money, I will just focus on them. Although, LPS do have a special place in my heart and were originally going to be a large portion of my intended "crops".

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Trickman2 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:49:54 GMT

Thats to bad any thoughts on how to fix that. LPS is a pretty big seller and seems to grow pretty quick

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:45:25 GMT

Trickman2 (11/29/2007)

How does LPS do in your systems.

They all bleached. It was too bright for them this summer even dropped down to 24" below the surface of the water and with a 30% shade cloth.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Trickman2 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:15:15 GMT

How does LPS do in your systems.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:53:38 GMT

treeman (11/29/2007)

Congratulations on getting it going. It is a lot more work than you would think, isn't it?

Hey Matt, glad you found the thread. Building the greenhouse was substantially more work than I originally thought it was going to be.

treeman (11/29/2007)

How has your growth been? Or have you had time to even check?

Growth for some things, mostly the softies has been pretty good. The hard corals have all done rather poorly though. I think I am just going to focus on the corals that like this environment and forget about trying to grow my personal favorite things.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

treeman — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:17:27 GMT

Hey Steven,

I just found this. Read thru the whole thread.

Congratulations on getting it going. It is a lot more work than you would think, isn't it?

How has your growth been? Or have you had time to even check?

Matt

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:38:16 GMT

Steven Pro (10/14/2007)

The door is mounted on a small concrete pad, so it seals up nicely. My project for the winter (now that it is cooler and the vent fan won't be running and the louvres will rarely open) is to retrofit some type of filter box onto the intakes. I have seen giant rolls of that blue and white polyester pad out at Gary's. I am assuming it is some sort of HVAC material that gets repackaged for the aquarium industry since I have seen smaller pieces of it sold by Marineland. I know a couple of HVAC guys, so I should be able to get a big roll myself. I just have to figure a way to set it up on the louvres.

I am reconsidering the blue pad material. I am just so worried that it will get clogged with dust while I am on some trip that the air flow would be drastically reduced and end up cooking everything inside the greenhouse. I want to investigate electro-static precipitation. I had one on my old furnace and it seemed to work ok. The plus side is it would not affect air flow. The downside could be cost. I have no idea what these run.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 06:53:37 GMT

I have not taken any pictures in a while. I probably should, but I have such a mountain of other more pressing things to deal with photographing the greenhouse is way at the bottom.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

badguitarist — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:27:51 GMT

i know your probably busy i was just wondering if there were any current updates/pictures of the greenhouse.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

raaden — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:09:00 GMT

That should work for taking the largest portion out of the air, I would think. The stuff I saw was intended for pollen outcrossing (I think thats what it is called) and was maybe a little bit finer than that, but I can't find the greenhouse version now. There is this from Tesa, but it looks more oriented towards the home market and will probably be a bit more expensive. The stuff I saw was almost the same though and even had the velcro backing so you could take it off when pollen season is gone.

For what we would need it for I think that stuff should be fine. If some pollen gets in it is not going to hurt anything where for what most GH growers do they are trying to refine strains of veggies in their and want to eliminate 99.9% of the pollen.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 09:02:11 GMT

raaden (10/14/2007)

If you talk with a greenhouse supply place they should be able to tell you the name (I can't remember it off the top of my head), but there is a product that is made for greenhouses that is a net you can use and it just attaches over the shutters to keep out all sorts of stuff (pollen, dirt, bugs, etc). From what I have read it is also a pretty good insulator as well. The cost was pretty cheap and supposedly it doesn't get clogged like an air filter would. I think I saw it at Signature Supply, but I could be off on that.

I found this stuff:

Anti-Insect 50 Mesh blocks penetration of insects and protects against pests, including tobacco whitefly (Bemisia-tabaci), leaf miner, aphids, thrips, etc. It can be used in cultivation of flowers and vegetables in shade houses and nurseries The net is made of monofilaments that are manufactured with special UV resistant materials, giving the net durability and longevity. It has strong tucked-in selvedges, is flexible, light, and easy to spread. Widths are obtainable upon request.

Sound familiar?

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 08:39:50 GMT

raaden (10/14/2007)

On a different note, do you have any worries about water dripping down from the plastic onto the framing and into the tanks. I think your frame is similar to mine in that you have rails that connect the ribs and touch the plastic. I have seen alot of water dripping off those rails, and am afraid that the metals (steel with zinc) are being carried into the vats. I am not sure if this is a problem or even if you are seeing the same thing or not.

I have been rained on a number of times, but most of the drips in my greenhouse seem to be coming directly from the plastic, not the metal pipes.

RE: My Greenhouse Build Project

Steven Pro — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 08:37:58 GMT

raaden (10/14/2007)

Thanks for the lead! I will check it out.