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My new coral greenhouse


ctenophore

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is the new sump system that Coral Hind helped me install (Thanks David!). Now when the power goes out, I don't lose 50 gallons of water on my garage floor. Also I added auto water change and kalk dosing systems using the cole-parmer peristaltic pumps from the group buy over the summer. The kalk reactor is an 11" wide custom model from Grey Seas Aquatics (Thanks Dan!). The white barrel in the far right will be a rotifer reactor that will dose enriched rotifers 24/7 to the coral tubs. This way I'll also have live rots on hand for raising baby fish as well.

PB220101.jpg

 

I'm using the left sump bin as a holding tank for my coral plugs. I'm going to add an actinic or two to promote coralline growth on them so that freshly mounted corals encrust faster and look better for market. I can hold over 5000 plugs in this bin. The right bin will be macroalgae like graciliaria once I get the last of the mother colonies moved out to the greenhouse tubs.

PB220102.jpg

Edited by ctenophore
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How is the greenhouse doing on the colder nights? Enough water in there to keep the temperature inside fairly stable? I know some solar heating systems use quantities of water that absorb heat during the day, and release it at night.

 

bob

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How is the greenhouse doing on the colder nights? Enough water in there to keep the temperature inside fairly stable? I know some solar heating systems use quantities of water that absorb heat during the day, and release it at night.

 

bob

It hasn't been a problem so far. I plan on running the top vent during the winter to draw humid air up and out, and warm, dry air from the house out to the GH. The air stays about 62-65F on a 32F night. The colder the air gets, the more water evaporates from the tanks. Without the top vent running, it will rain inside the GH when it gets cold enough outside.

 

I'm thinking about installing a woodstove in our house to make our fireplace more efficient, and using that warm air to heat the GH air rather than gas from our furnace. That will give me an emergency off-the-grid heat source if the power is out for a long time as well.

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  • 3 weeks later...

HI! Do you think you'll have an open house sometime soon? If so please let us know! It seems like many would enjoy and benefit from your GH and your experiences.

And if you do install the woodstove, I'll bring and make some hot chocolate for the fireside question and answer chat.

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Here is the new sump system that Coral Hind helped me install (Thanks David!). Now when the power goes out, I don't lose 50 gallons of water on my garage floor. Also I added auto water change and kalk dosing systems using the cole-parmer peristaltic pumps from the group buy over the summer. The kalk reactor is an 11" wide custom model from Grey Seas Aquatics (Thanks Dan!). The white barrel in the far right will be a rotifer reactor that will dose enriched rotifers 24/7 to the coral tubs. This way I'll also have live rots on hand for raising baby fish as well.

PB220101.jpg

 

 

I want to come over for christmas with a handful of wire ties....lol

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And what would be the purpose of the ties, Gary? He does have enough to stock a tank.... LOL! Just kidding! Justin can put "wire ties" and help from you on his Christmas wish list :biggrin:

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm taking a break due to issues with humidity (and limited tank placement options) and a small electrical fire that had my wife and I a little concerned about the safety of this hobby right now! Before the break, I'd considered doing a small attached greenhouse outside one of our sliding doors since I didn't have a good place for a fish room and my house has huge single paned windows that create a lot of condensation that would cost a fortune to replace. Did you have a formula for determining how far from the glass the tanks could be, what the R value of the glass needed to be, etc?

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  • 1 month later...

Justin,

Way to long since I've done any searching on the website, Greenhouse looks awesome!!!!

Got to stop in and see in person sometime soon!!!

Congrats on putting the finishing touches on everything!

:clap:

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All i can say is WOW!!! Do you have any pics form your first green house build in Florida? How is this one different?

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Thanks guys!

 

The heat melts the snow slowly, it slides off the steep pitch part. Luckily I got the heavy duty architectural gutters which handled the 2+' of snow damming up on the eaves. I had to shovel the shallow part, but it only took me 20 min or so.

 

It is different from FL because that one is just a cheap hoop & plastic structure, this one is engineered aluminum ribs & argon-filled glass. Also this is version 2 as far as layout, filtration, etc, incorporating a large number of changes that I made based on mistakes in the first design. I just got back from breaking that one down, so look for version 3 eventually coming to MD/VA. I kept all the tanks (13,000 gal worth!) and equipment so if/when I find a good space up here I will have a much shorter build time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are some black & white ocellaris babies that Almon and I are raising. I am co-culturing them with rose anemones. Feeding the clowns also feeds the anemones, and the clowns help keep the anemones clean. Which means less work for me! Win-win-win.

 

JMC_4599.jpg

 

Depending on the light, they either look dark, almost maroon-black, or bright red:

JMC_4600.jpg

 

I am interested to see if bright sunlight helps them develop their all-black color faster than artificial light.

 

Once it warms up a little, the contents of this rubbermaid tub will go into one of the large white 750gal tubs.

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Very nice pictures.

 

This is just my observation. I've found that my clowns seem to lose the black when they are with BTA's, and even more with the roses. Colors always seemed better with my purple sebae or just in a tank with no anemone. Keep us posted on the color changes.

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All of these B/W Ocellaris were hatched around December 2009 in three (3) batches, 11/28, 12/15, and 12/30.

Edited by Almon
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wow i heard about a greenhouse project but didn't realize it was a full on coral/fish farm, awsome work.

 

justin, do you want a convict tang to help with algae? my pbt is pestering him like crazy, LMK.

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