Tag: gravity fed

Water Powered Timer

So, I’m playing around with a gravity fed Aquaponics bed. Most ebb and flow systems I’ve seen use either a bell siphon, or an electric/mechanical timer. This idea is a little different, it uses a Shishi-odoshi (“scaredeer”) or sōzu to start a siphon which drains a 5 gallon bucket of water into a grow bed. The timer is governed by the flow of water into the scaredeer (the 2 liter bottle).

Some background:

I have a fish pond, a rain barrel and a gravity fed water timer. The rain barrel is 10 foot off the ground and a solar powered pump replenishes the barrel with pond water while the sun is out (like a water tower). The barrel, in turn, drains into my water timer overnight and on super cloudy days.

The aim of the timer is to be able to slow down the water flow as much as needed and not worry about stalling the siphon or fully draining rain barrel.

Here’s what I got so far:

Here’s a video of it in action:
Here’s the sunshade I made for it out of sugarcane leaves.  I’m thinking of re-making it out of banana later on.  We’ll see.

Mini Bell Siphon Seed Sprouter

This is a mini flood and drain setup made from stuff around my house. See a video of it in action and/or make your own, referencing the photos below:

I made it because I didn’t like sprouting seeds in a paper towel – mainly because I had know idea when the seed actually sprouted, but I also encountered the following issues:

  • I’d forget to add water to keep the towel moist. And if I remembered, I would add water because I didn’t want to forget (making them too wet :)
  • The seeds would stick and/or roots would grow throughout the paper making them hard to separate.
  • Requires paper which I’m trying to avoid using if I can.

With this seed sprouter, I just watch the progress of the seedlings and when they sprout, I nab them! Sometimes my little girl wants to plant seeds and I just say “drop it in the seed sprouter!”.

Maintenance:

When the water is low (every 2 or 3 days), I recycle the water from the bottom catch to the top. I refresh the water every few cycles or so and give couple good squirts of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is the key to maintenance free (or relatively so).

What else can I say? It’s great!

UPDATE: 2018

I learned that some seeds won’t sprout (not sure why). Some do some don’t. Also when trying re-growing onions, make sure water doesn’t get on the top of the onion or it will rot and don’t keep the onion in the sprouter for too long; it seems they might inhibit the growth of other seedlings.  I’m moving to an aquaponics/hydroton ebb and flow setup for seed sprouting.

Water Powered Timer

Pond

Garbage Day Garden

I posted an article on constructing a garden from 2 litter bottles.  I like 2 liter bottles for their uniform look, and thought they would work well to make a kind of a modular garden which is easy to water. In reality, there are a lot of caveats.

So you can read about the basic construction here:

http://www.moderndaydads.com/garbage-day-garden/

Also, you don’t have to buy pipe strap.  You can cut straps from other 2 litter bottles, which is how I do it now.

Here are some of the problems I ran into using 2 litters as pots in this tower fashion.

Drainage and PWT( perched water table).  It’s was easy to overwater my plants because the soil on top felt dry long before the soil on the bottom dries.  Poking holes all around the container helps, adding a wick helps, mixing pine bark into soil helps, and having awareness of root depth and the plant type helps. Also it helps to buy a moisture meter :) – They are cheap.

 As a software architect it was tempting to try to automate watering.  By design you can water all plants simultaneously, but that doesn’t mean all plants want water at the same time.  To close the gap, it helps to group plants of the same type and size in one column.  It also helps to sort the plants so thirstier (or well drained) plants are on the bottom. 

See the following link for more information about PWT:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/527353/#b

Plant Types – don’t expect grow lots of tomatoes, or peppers, it can be done, but they like more room.  Here’s some plants that I’ve had success with:

  • cilantro (I grow a lot this)
  • scallions (I grow lots)
  • basil
  • parsley
  • oregano
  • ground cherries,
  • lettuce,
  • lemon balm,
  • blue porter weed,
  • thyme
  • pineapple sage (needs lot of water)

Algae – you might read that algea grows in clear containers and competes with the plant’s growth. If your worried about this, you can leave the labels on or paint the outside of the bottles. I’m happy regardless of the algae, but it’s worth noting.

…More to come…