Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems Assembly Manual Colle Davis, All rights reserved Utility Patent Application Filed December 24, 2013

Transcription

1 1 Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems Assembly Manual Colle Davis, All rights reserved Utility Patent Application Filed December 24, 2013 Section D - Site Requirements The site you select for installing your Portable Farms needs to be in a location where the entire Grow Table receives at least six hours of direct sunlight or equivalent Grow Lights installed above the Grow Table. (More specific information about Grow Lights in Section S.) Photo 1 above: Greenhouse attached to side wall The Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems must be placed within an acclimatized (climatically adapted) greenhouse structure for your particular climate or placed in another enclosed acclimatized structure such as a garage or basement for growing food and fish. The exception for this ruse is in tropical climates and even here then, the structure must be screened to protect it from invasive insects and birds and protected from wind and rain. If you re installing your Portable Farms in an exterior greenhouse for outdoor growing, any shading from a tree or building during those six hours will limit the food production of the system unless you include supplemental Grow Lights. If you live in a cool or cold climate, it is much more effective to attach the Portable Farms to an existing building or orient the long axis east/west so the north wall and roof can be heavily insulated as in Photo 1. Water needs to be available and a garden hose running from a source of water is usually sufficient. In some installations, rain water is collected and used. If you choose to use rain water, then arrangements need to be made to transfer that rain water to the Unit as needed. The maximum amount of makeup water required will be an average of 2% per day of the Fish Tank capacity (depending on the size of the plants and the weather conditions; if your plants are large and if your current weather is hot and windy, you may need to add more water and vice versa.) You ll learn more about building the Grow Table (Section H), but note that the Grow Table must be level in both directions so all of the plants in the Grow Table receive the nutrient laden water as it flows through the Grow Table and so the ATV - Automatic Trip Value - will drain the Grow Table completely and not trip too early or too late.

2 2 Photo 2: 10 x 16 PFAS Photo 3: 16 x 33 PFAS Photo 4: 6 x 8 PFAS (NOT RECOMMENED) Photo 5: 10,000 sq. ft. Commercial gutter connect greenhouse Before installing your Portable Farms in an indoor space such as your garage or basement, clean the area first. Make it a practice to regularly sweep and hose down the floors, vacuum nooks and crannies, clean around benches and remove all toxins and poisons from the area near your farm (this includes paint, paint removers, insecticides, gasoline in cans, etc.) Provide fans and proper ventilation for the installation, be it in the garage, basement or a greenhouse to insure adequate circulation to allow for pollination and to move the air in the space to avoid mold or fungus on your plants. Prevent all bugs/insects, birds or rodents out of the farm area. If you install Portable Farms in a garage, consider building a simple frame surrounding your farm that is covered in screen mesh. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. All living things

3 3 (bugs/insects, birds and rodents) LOVE pesticide free food so protect your investment. For indoor or outdoor growing, use one four-foot, four-tube light fixture with four T-8 bulbs (use SuperSunlight 6500k tubes) for growing both greens and blooming plants for every 25 sq ft. of Grow Table space. More in Section S. When installing the light fixture above the Grow Table for indoor growing or greenhouse growing, install the light fixture 24 to 48 above the Grow Table surface. More in Section S. If you have NO sunlight available, keep these lights on for a minimum of 10 hours and no more than 18 hours per day for indoor growing. For greenhouse growing, keep the lights on for an additional four hours per day at dusk from November to March in the Northern Hemisphere. More in Section S. If you are installing in a basement, start with a clean basement. If the basement has not been painted in a while and shows signs of mold, mildew or rot, then seal and paint the area to avoid contamination. Sweep and hose down the floors, nooks and crannies, around benches (regularly) and remove all toxins and poisons from the area near your farm (this includes paint, paint removers, insecticides, gasoline in cans, etc.). Avoid placing your Portable Farms too near the water heater or furnace in the basement or garage. Build insulated Fish Tanks (Section G) to maintain the temperature of the water and the gravel. By installing a Portable Farms in your basement, you will be adding some humidity to your house during cold winter months. In the summer months, this humidity must be vented outside of the house to avoid accumulating in enclosed space. Provide fans and proper ventilation for adequate circulation to reduce humidity and allow for pollination and moving the air in the space to avoid mold or fungus on your plants.

4 4 NOTE: A Portable Farms Aquaponics System must be installed in a climatically adapted (greenhouse) structure which includes exhaust vents, intake vents, wet walls or swamp coolers in hot climates and heaters in cool or cold climates. In addition to the need for climate control within the greenhouse structure, the entire structure must also be well-sealed to protect insects from flying, crawling or invading the space to eat the vegetables inside your Portable Farm. Please, be very careful to assure that silicone seal is used around doors, windows, and screens to protect the interior from any kind of bug since NO insecticides of any kind can be used inside the greenhouse or it will be washed back into the fish tank and it will kill your fish. Yes, a few bugs (mostly ants which may carry aphids with them) may find their way into the structure and we will discuss organic solutions to pest control in Section Z, Pests. Every Portable Farms Aquaponics System installation is slightly different, especially with respect to its exact dimensions and adapting it to the specific (micro) climate in your location. The enclosure housing your specific unit must take into consideration weather protection, as well as keeping the space warm, clean and dry on an ongoing basis. Make sure to have an adequate air flow through the space and make arrangements to adjust the air in both summer and cooler times of the year. The larger units are designed and calibrated to be more efficient with the door closed. This means do not leave the door(s) open SMALL OR LARGE UNITS. Photo 6: If you live in a tropical climate (as we do), you can install your Portable Farms on a back porch in a screened lanai for growing food. Portable Farms Junior Aquaponics System 4 x8 32 sq ft of Growing space. Can be placed in a garage or basement to grow food year round (grow lights mandatory for indoor growing).

5 5 Sun shade installed on roof of greenhouse. Photo 7: Note shade cloth above Colle Davis head on roof of a greenhouse. Installing shade cloth on the interior of an outdoor greenhouse is usually 70% in strength meaning it blocks 30% of the light transmission, but brighter locations may need 50% shade cloth to keep the gravel from becoming too hot in the sun and burning the plants. Shade cloth is VITAL to the success of your Portable Farms if it s installed outdoors in a greenhouse. Building an outdoor acclimatized greenhouse for your Portable Farms Photo 8: A small outdoor greenhouse built by Colle Davis, Lane McClelland and Phyllis Davis for a one Module Portable Farms Aquaponics System in San Diego, California. 1. Again, there MUST be 70% shade cloth installed on the interior of the farm before planting. 2. The distance between the top of the gravel and the gutter of the roof needs to be a minimum of 8 to insure enough air volume to remove heat from gravel. Plus, this extra space above the Grow Table allows plants to grow high above the Grow Table in vertical growing.

6 6 3. Place a circulating fan inside the greenhouse to allow air to circulate and to support plant pollination. What NOT TO DO... Photo 9: Three hoop houses and a Harbor Freight greenhouse for aquaponics systems that we do NOT recommend. Hoop houses (Photo 9) are NOT recommended for installing your Portable Farms. The plastic exterior s curved sidewalls become very hot and burn the plants, the hoop houses collect moisture and provide poor/no circulation (the food rots before it ever ripens) and the wind creates other problems such as being blown down and collapsing in high winds and torrential rain. WE built these VERY UGLY HOOP HOUSES ourselves in our early days in aquaponics and we had a terrible experience growing food inside them. Save yourself the trouble and do not use them. The little Harbor Freight greenhouse has the shade cloth on the outside and in impossible to keep the bugs out. Please do not use these type greenhouses, you will not be happy. We still have nightmares about these ugly hoop houses all blowing down in a storm on Christmas Eve Day. Crestfallen, Colle and Dolly-the-Dog jumped in the truck and drove to Home Depot to buy lumber and other materials to quickly rebuild them to save the plants and fish. When he came back to our farm, more than 30 of our friends had shown up unannounced with building materials and ladders and were all in the process of rebuilding the farms. I remember that day well, Colle drove down the long gravel driveway to the farms, watching our friends rebuilding the hoop houses and he sat in his truck and cried. Yes, it was a tragedy the hoop houses blew over, but it was our friends that were our Christmas miracle that has stayed with us all these years later.

7 7 Image 10: WE DO NOT RECOMMEND Geodesic Domes for aquaponics Furthermore, we do not recommend Geodesic Domes (Image 5 ABOVE) for aquaponics because of the lack of air space (curved walls) and lack of adequate air circulation. Ideally, you must have 8 to 10 feet of air space above the Grow Table for adequate circulation in an outdoor greenhouse. Plus, there must be circulating fans and exhaust fans with thermostats in place in all climates. Indoors, you can control the heat more precisely, but you must have adequate circulation in the room with fans and fresh air (open windows) to dump the warm moist air outdoors. NOTE: Portable Farms must be installed in outdoor greenhouses that are climatically adapted structures and include exhaust vents, intake vents, wet walls or swamp coolers in hot climates and heaters in cool or cold climates. It is far easier to HEAT a greenhouse than it is to COOL a greenhouse. Make sure to have an adequate air flow through the space and make arrangements to adjust the air in both summer and cooler times of the year. Again, keep BUGS, BIRDS AND RODENTS out of your farm. Greenhouse advantages: Controls pests, diseases and predators (bugs, birds, small animals, etc.) from the natural surrounding environments Protects plants and fish from extreme weather conditions (except for tornado, hurricane or major flooding) Enables ability to provide shade cloth to protect from too much sun for maximum production

8 8 Extends growing season for year-round growing Provides pleasant, comfortable, quiet work environment for owners (it s very quiet and peaceful inside a greenhouse that is growing food) Offers ideal conditions for growing plants and fish Creates a space for the option of installing Grow Lights above Grow Tables for yearround maximum growing conditions. The physical building needs to enclose as much air space as possible to help regulate the temperature. Buildings with taller roofs are much easier to keep cool and interestingly, they are actually easier to keep warm when using the Portable Farms trade secrets. Builders can begin construction on the Portable Farms Modules after the roof and sunscreen have been placed on the greenhouse. Photo 11: 10 x 16 Portable Farms with Dolly photobombing at doorway Photo 12: A 16 x 33 Portable Farm with three Modules

9 9 Photo 13: 6 x 8 PF Jr. Early version NOT RECOMMENDED Photo 13 (above) was an early design for Portable Farms and it was a complete disaster (for many reasons): There was not enough air space above the Grow Table and the plants burned from the sun and heat. We had to keep the door open to keep the temperature down inside the greenhouse and the plants were invaded by bugs (ants, white flies, aphids and butterflies, etc.). Note the shade clothe is on the OUTSIDE. Bad idea. DO NO USE THIS TYPE OF SMALL GREENHOUSE. Plus, the Grow Table (Photo 13) was a 3 x6 hydroponics Grow Tray instead of our modern wooden Grow Table and the weight of the gravel caused the plastic grow tray to bulge and eventually break and leak which was a real headache. (We share our failures so you ll understand the WHY of our design and to keep YOU from making the same mistakes.)

10 10 Photo 14: Latest PFAS tropical installation in a Lanai Grow Table 6 x16 Electricity can be a solar-electrical system consisting of a solar panel, inverter and a deep cycle battery. A 40 watt panel, inverter and timer are all that is necessary to run a small Portable Farm. This does not include the Grow Lights or heaters in the Fish Tank. Normally, the electricity of the building next to the Unit is brought in to the control panel with a simply extension cord. Please protect the cord and those who work around it by placing in underground or in a protected overhead location. The site (flooring) for your Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems Unit needs to be both, level and flat, at least flat and level enough for each Module to be level from end to end and from side to side. The Modules can be set level and terraced up a slight slope. The Photo below show the adjusters on each leg needed to level the GTT on a sloped patio. Photo 15: Patio slopes left to right and back to front. Photo 16: On a nearly level pool area Two Modules

11 11 Grow Tables can also be roughly leveled by cutting into the slope for the legs on the up side of the slope. An alternative is to shorten the legs on the upside. Working on a patio surface is a little more challenging and cutting the upside legs or putting block under the down side legs both work. See Photos 17 and 18 on next page. Photo 17: 2x4 Extensions leg adjustor Photo 18: Grow Table legs on flat ground As long as the Modules are individually level in both directions the systems will work properly. The Modules must be level in both directions so all of the plants in the Grow Tables receive the nutrient laden water as it flows through the Tables and so the ATV will drain the Grow Tables completely and not trip too early or too late. Leveling the Module also insures the gravel does not become covered with water, because having the water rise above the gravel will create an algae problem or have the water too far down from the surface for the plants to reach easily. MAKE SURE THE GROW TRAYS ARE ALWAYS LEVEL. Again this is your contractor/builder s responsibility. Please take into consideration that electrical power (even if it is alternative power such as solar, wind or fuel cell) and/or potable water must be available for the Unit, before the Modules are completed. Each Module can be viewed as a complete entity in and of itself. Each Module is selfcontained, functions as a complete system and has no connections to any other Module. See Operations Manual Section P Pages 6 and 7 for contingency plans for electrical failures. All dimensions given in this manual are in inches and feet (with metric added sometimes). The cases where we somehow leave out the translation, please forgive the oversight. Use this trusty site for conversions.

12 12 Climatically Adapted Structures PLEASE NOTE: Please make sure your new PFAS building/structure/greenhouse has a minimum of 8 to (preferably) 10 feet between the top surface of the Gravel in the Grow Table to the lowest point in the roof if you are enclosing more than 1,000 sq ft (100m 2 ) of space. This is because the gravel gets HOT and the building needs a larger amount of air in the space to remove the heat before it can hurt the plants. Less than 10 feet of clearance means the air cannot circulate properly to strip the heat out of the surface of the gravel. Even if you run the CAD Pump longer periods during the hot part of the day it will not be enough to pull the temperature down to a reasonable level. The exhaust fan(s) need to be set at 72 to 76 degrees F so they come on before the gravel gets too hot. Plants that have leaves touching the gravel will lose those leaves and not grow well. PLEASE READ THE Operations Manual Section P carefully on controlling heat. Exhaust Fan Photo 19: Exhaust fan in a 16 x 33 Unit