Aquaponics

We've finally got our hydroponics system setup and mostly populated. There were all sorts of issues along the way, but I'll get to those later. First, the grand tour.

Click the pictures to embiggen. 

When you walk into the room this is the view you get. There's an old chest freezer, as in older than me old, that holds the fish. We've got fifteen in there. One that we took out of Mariah's parents' little pond and fourteen more that we got once we realized what a pain it was to get fish out of the pond. 

The ammonia in the fish waste gets transformed into nitrites and then into nitrates and is all of the food for the plants. 

On either end of the freezer there's a post running across. A small pump runs water through all the time. Probably a bit deeper than it should be, but the roots are still developing. Could be a problem later. Anyway, the water pumps in one side, out the other, and over to the second post. Might add a third post later. We just ran out of caps. I'd have to make my own. 

The bucket underneath has two small screw holes in the bottom. I was hoping to keep the water level high enough to grow duckweed in there to feed the fish, but low tide is too low. So, instead I use it to add water to the system slow enough to keep the temperature change from shocking the fish. 

Just a minor trickle. Isn't it cute?

Low tide

This is the inside of the chest freezer. I filled it half way and left it for a few weeks to make sure it was water tight. Terracotta pots give them something to hide in and keep the fish tank from being an infinite white void slowly driving the fish mad. You can also see the return hose from the posts and a bubbler. 

The posts are one system and this is the start of the second system. This is the control bucket. One pump in the fish tank pumps water into this and a pump in the control bucket pumps water back out. Water then flows through the six other hoses in the side of this bucket to six other buckets. The water automatically keeps level across all seven of them. 

There's a float valve inside the control bucket to stop the water at a certain level, but it's rather narrow, so it limits how fast the bucket can fill. So a timer pumps water in for half an hour, it sits for about fifteen minutes, and then the second pump drains it in about ten minutes. Then it sucks air for five minutes because the timer works on intervals of fifteen minutes. This give the fish tank a tide of 25-30 gallons. 

We did try giving them more water so that low tide isn't so low, but the float valve isn't as effective as one might like and there was overflow. 

Note the white(ish) block of wax under the bucket. That'll come up again.

The other six buckets are in a reflective grow closet. 

Closed

Open

Inside

When I take a pot out you can see the roots coming out the bottom. Once that's happening with all of them I can lower the water level by removing the wax block under the control bucket.

Right now, only the tomatoes have roots that big. If the other stuff, like the strawberries, don't catch up, they'll end up moved to the continuous flow system.

These are expanded clay pellets. They are neutral enough to not change the PH level of the water, big enough not to wash away, and serve to help hold the plants in place. 

The biggest expense is the lights. That's true in general and not just in the case of people like us who scavenged most of the material. This light was $500. And I shopped around until I found one that wasn't made entirely in China. 

They are a major source of heat. Not as much as the pre-LED systems, but quite a bit. The basement likes to be in the mid-60°Fs, but this reflective room gets to 79°F when the lights are on. 

Whinging

The biggest issue with a system like this is leaks. Or algae. So far, it's been leaks. Anywhere there's a hose coming in or out there's a rubber gasket and plastic grommet. Those weren't waterproof on their own, much to my disappointment.  So, I tried to use silicone to seal stuff up. Apparently a common mistake as the guys in the shops nodded knowingly when I griped to them about how that went. So I stripped it off and used a more adhesive caulk. That was better, but still drippy. So I put some inside, too. No good. Finally, after weeks of using different materials, letting it set, testing it, mopping the floor, letting it dry, trying something else, I got some Flex Seal and slathered it all over the ends of the posts. 

Suck it, leaks!

It still leaked where the hoses came and went... sometimes. That's why the control bucket is in a pan. And in the first picture there's an aquarium under the end of one of the posts. All that water didn't come from a leak. That's the fish hospital. The PH got a bit out of control and some needed assistance. Anyway, the leaks around the hoses seem to have stopped after running for a few days. 

That's actually, less complaining than I expected to do. BUT THE LEAKS WERE A BIG AND ANNOYING PROBLEM!

Oh, right the algae. If you're doing this at home you want to block out as much light as possible. Paint the buckets black, use black hoses, keep a lid on the fish tank, etc. A few years ago I helped set up a tower garden for my brother, but replaced the reservoir with a 300 gallon IBC tank and fish. But too much light got in, the algae clogged up the system, and water poured everywhere he didn't want it. 

Our system isn't as light-proof as I might like it, but it's better than my brothers' was and so far we have no algae. 

Materials

We got the freezer free from Craiglist. We thought we were getting a working freezer. So did the people who gave it to us. But the guys who pushed it to the curb tore out some vital parts... such as the power supply. 

The big fish was abducted from in-laws. The little fish are feeder fish rescued from a pet store. Cost us two bucks.

The posts came from the in-laws. They got them free some years ago as leftovers from someone's project. 

The pots were free from Craigslist. Some farmer was buying plants and had lots of empty pots to get rid of. 

The clay pellets were part of a previous attempt at hydroponics from 5-6 years ago. 

Buckets from the in-laws. 

Lids from HomeDepot. 

The reflective closet, the light over the fish tank, hooks, ropes, the drip pan, and some vent fans and other stuff we got off Craigslist for $250 or so - about 1/3 the going price. When this light was in the reflective closet the temperature sat at 77°F. 

The new light is new and ~$500. I did a lot of shopping to find one that wasn't 100% made in China. 

The tomatoes in the reflective closet are cuttings from stuff in the yard. The tomatoes in the posts are cuttings from a friends' yard. 

The strawberry in the closet is one from the yard that came with the house. The one in the post we got in the spring, grew like mad, and never produced anything.

There's blueberry cuttings from the blueberry bush outside using the light and some fish water.

We brought our peppers in and put them in the closet to see how well they keep producing over the winter. 

There is lettuce, zucchini, and some other things coming up from see to go in the system. 

There's two apple trees grown from seed.

We're still trying to figure out what to do about our two dozen lemon trees grown from seed. 

FlexSeal is like $30 a quart!

And the hoses and pumps and gaskets came from local hydroponics store and cost many moneys. By local I mean the several that are an hour away and the none that are close. 

Lawn mowing

No, I'm not reviving the blog. I'm turning it back to what it originally was, a way to keep track of when I did certain things to the house.

Oh, I bought a new house on Halloween of 2018. I'm in a town north of Frederick, MD. And today I'm gonna bitch about lawn care.

I guess I'm a true suburbanite now. I'm getting in a feud with an
elderly neighbor about lawns and worrying about lawn care.

In Westport I had an electric mower and would mow my lawn, the lawn of
a house I was renovating, up to 4 other lawns for elderly neighbors or
vacant houses, and about half of a sizable lot that neither the city
nor the state would claim. All the extra mowing was to deny rats
places to hide and to make the large lot useful.

But all those lawns had nobody to care for them so the grass was
generally pretty thin and my mower could cover some ground. In my new
house the previous owner, and the neighbors, hire lawn services. Which
is fine when you consider their ages. They all have 20 to 40 years on
me. Who wants to be pushing a mower in their 70's? But you could make
it easier on yourself. These services are fertilizing the lawns and
spreading herbicides and pesticides. Look, my lawn is like a carpet.
It really is. These services work. But it's not the 1950s anymore. The
neighbors are still worrying about keeping their yard a monoculture
and a perfectly manicured green carpet while we're concerned about
bees and runoff.

I expect my lawn to thin out a bit over the next few years as I stop
fertilizing. But for now I'm starting to see why mine is the only
electric mower. It's because I've gone through 4 batteries over 3 days
and am only about half way done with my first mow. My yard is only 1/3
of an acre! The grass is so thick, the mower has to work so hard, that
each battery charge lasts me only 10-15 minutes. So, exhaust 1
battery, then the next, then spend 3-4 hours to charge both batteries
back up. I'm hoping that later mows will go easier, but not counting
on it.

One neighbor I talked to warned me about dandelion seeds blowing from
the city property next to hers. She got real quiet when I said I don't
mind dandelions much and that they're a major staple of the diet of
spring bees. Another guy mentioned before the city council that
someone wasn't raking the needles from my pine tree or any of my other
leaves. Are you kidding me with this? I said "Hi, I think I'm the
needle guy you're talking about. If they bother you I can get them
up." They make a nice mulch for my garden since most plants I'm likely
to grow like acidic soil. I offered them to the neighbors first and
got horrified looks (which I'm starting to delight in). The leaves,
however, i'm just gonna mow into mulch. Once the mower battery got low
enough that it couldn't cut the main lawn I came back over and drove
over leaves repeatedly. Sure, a blanket of leaves can kill the lawn,
but the grass under the trees is already pretty thin just from getting
that much less sun.

So many people want their grass clippings hauled off in this county
that they are encouraging "Grasscycling". Really? We need a word for
just leaving the grass where it falls? No, they didn't come up with
the word, but I'd never heard of it until I got here.

When you tell someone around here that you moved from Baltimore they
go on for a bit about horrible it is there and how much happier we
must be out here. For the most part we agree, but we do have to throw
out a little "But, you know, we didn't see nearly as many Confederate
flags in Baltimore as we see around here."

I've been wanting a robot lawn mower ever since I saw the one my uncle
Steve has in his yard, but always had a hard time justifying it. Also,
I was worried it'd get stolen. I was planning to wait until I'd been
here a few years and my push mower was on it's last legs before making
the switch. But if the lawn doesn't get easier soon I may need to go
ahead. I really don't want to have to go back to something gas
powered. And if I'm gonna have to mow a dozen times a week I want to
make the droids do it.

Links dammit!

Zombie satellite. [link]

Simple homopolar motor.


Monty Python reference in Game of Thrones. [link]

The nuclear missile arsenal runs on 8 inch floppies. [link]

Little girl from Schindler's List gets traumatized by watching Schindler's List. [link]

12 Days of Evolution - complete video series.


Former NHL player talks about his abusive father and warns about abuse in youth hockey. [link]

Buried ships of San Francisco. [link]

Calling cards to get laid. [link]

A game I'll have to play someday.


Stormtrooper dressing room. [link]

3D printing ice buildings for Mars. [link]

175 year old battery that still runs, and nobody knows why. [link]

Cross sections of Star Wars ships. [link]

Links for whenever

Bloody Simpsons opening


Why we don't let the kids drive


Spock tribute song


Blue Origin's successful rocket landing


The perfect Republican speech. [link]

Words that should have died. [link]

A Star Wars love story - Green Leader [link]

Some people just need Darwin to smite them. [link]

100 fantastic photos made without Photoshop. [link]

Injured elephants turn to people for help. [link]

Hateful Eight filmed in native 70 mm. Why you should see it. 

Room temperature diamond manufacturing. [link]

Astronaut and cartoonist have a chat. [link]

Smartphone add on can diagnose malaria. [link]

A scan of Pluto's surface. [link]

Everybody Hates Ted Cruz. [link]

The biggest known planetary ring system. [link]

CLOWN FIGHT! [link]

The invention and death of privacy. [link]

Brilliant room model. [link]

Scientists who discovered gluten sensitivity change their minds. [link]

How Claire McCaskill won her election by funding Todd Akin. [link]

Duckweed

I recently ordered some duckweed for a couple of projects for family and neighbor kids. Step one is breeding it. I knew I'd need more than my own eye to be able to tell me how fast it's growing. So I took pictures. Here's a bit more than 24 hours of growth.

Friday Links: October/November

Toy Story refilmed with real toys.


$1 of drug treatment equals way more in enforcement and control. [link]
These are Canadian numbers, but I'd have to guess that America's numbers are similar.

Game: Mosaic Box - collect pieces of a song and then assemble it to make famous musical pieces. [link]

How to find out where your microwave heats. [link]

Obama's real economic record. [link]

Homeless man had his dog stolen by animal activists.


Homeless man's dog returned to him. [link]

Guinea pig bridge. (turn down volume)


SG1 reunion panel. [link]

Benny Netanyahoo blames the Holocaust on Muslims. Germany corrects him. [link]

Mortgage derives from the French for "death pledge". [link]

The Y2K bug did do something bad. [link]

Guns and Roses marionette in the subway.


Hillary e-mails prove Bush and Blair planned Iraq war. Thanks for exposing that Republicans! [link]

The clips on bread bags mean something. [link]

Watch the video - Tesla battery tech for the house. [link]

When you speed up a recording everyone becomes the Chipmunks. What happens when you slow the Chipmunks down? [link]

People have stripes, too. [link]

Super efficient lettuce farm. [link]

Photos of molecules. [link]

Failed islands make for successful coral. [link]

A prison with an open door model. [link]

Negatives found in Antarctica successfully developed. [link]

George RR Martin's house. [link]

That car from the Fallout games had a real world basis. [link]

The day the U-Boat washed up in Hastings. [link]

Talking with North Koreans. [link]

Will Barbie spy for you? Or for the government? [link]

Historical texts find no evidence of Jesus. [link]

Big badda-boom. [link]

DEA chief denies science. "Drugs are bad, m'kay." [link]

The Petticoat Rebellion - or that time women took office. [link]

Serotonin comes from your guts. [link]

Air Force dumped bodies of soldiers in a landfill. [link]

Mice sing, too. [link]

Who has a 3D printer?! [link]

Cats at the G20. [link]

It's harder to buy a barrel of oil than you might think. [link]

Paper e. coli. [link]

The budget camera rigs of The Evil Dead. [link]

It sucks to be Vigo the Carpathian or to be around him. [link]

This is Halloween, this is Halloween

This was my makeup for Halloween 2015.

I made a plaster cast of my face, filled it with foam created by mixing Gorilla Glue and water. I used a high heat hot glue gun and white hot glue to make the teeth on some glass, popped them off and trimmed them to shape. Used pink hot glue on the face to hold the teeth in place and to make sure they'd fit my face. Spirit gum held them on. Black sclera lenses on my eyes to make them black.

Bonus: the teeth on my eyes chewed when my real mouth did. 

Pre Halloween

A neighbor had me do her makeup for a party.

Pear tree - year 3

Movie Review: The Martian

Movie Review: The Martian

The movie version of The Martian came out last night. How did it come out so soon after the book? Apparently the movie and book deals were both struck within four days of each other. The movie was great. Yeah, some stuff was cut. Some stuff is almost always cut when they adapt a whole book to fit a movie sized spot. But some stuff is added. In the case of this movie they added some fantastic shots of Mars. We've had so many landers and rovers and satellites land there that they can do some super realistic shots of the landscape and the weather patterns. And it's gorgeous.

Let me tell you what they cut without giving away spoilers. Many of the problems and disasters. Most of the math is gone. Much of the botany and biology. Much of the chemistry. Not all of it. Some of it, one could argue, wasn't cut, but assumes the viewer isn't an idiot and knows what he's doing. Some of the chemistry is explained, but the movie doesn't tell where the catalyst was scavenged from. People who've read the book will know why Mark Watney is wearing a helmet indoors in one particular scene. It's not to protect his head.

You know how the Lord of the Rings movies were long, but on DVD they're even longer for all the fans to get the scenes they want? Most fans of the book want to add another hour to the movie just so the film makers can take the time to get into the details the book did.

The movie is hard science fiction. The only thing that is technically wrong is the weather. Mars does have storms that rage at 300+ MPH, but the air is so thin that you won't feel more push than you would in a breeze on Earth. The author knew that and twisted that fact anyway to tell a good story. He said that thanks to him the country is learning that fact about Mars and he's totally happy with that.

If you liked watching MacGyver then you'll love The Martian. Both tell about very smart people doing brilliant things with limited resources and with a good dose of action thrown in.

I'll absolutely get this on DVD. I may go and see it in theaters one more time.

Friday links - I got nothing

I got nothing this week.

Friday Links

What if there was a black hole in your pocket?


Gamal Abdel Nasser on the Muslim Brotherhood


An Alaskan village about to wash away. [link]

A bike riding robot.


Ferrofluid art. [link]

Where punctuation came from. [link]

Friday Links

The saga of the dead raccoon. Be sure to click "next". 12 pictures in all. [link]

Visual comedy the Edgar Wright way.


John Oliver cited by US Court of Appeals. [link]

Imagine someone so isolated that they don't know what a dog or a bear looks like. That guy found out that his guard dogs were killing all his chickens for a reason. [link]

C-17s fly like geese. [link]

Consumer Reports calls the Tesla the best car they've ever driven. [link]
And conservatives have fits. [link]

3D printing prosthetic arms. [link]

Thank you for your help. Why are we screaming at each other?


The pitch (to the studio or to us?) for the new Muppet show.


How 3M invented the force field. [link]

After about 2 minutes I totally lost the thread. A short film done in early 60's British gay slang. [link]

One of the top runners for President: Deez Nuts. [link]
Only the neighbor kids joking on my front porch give me any idea about this joke.

Pics from Banksy's Dismaland. [link]

The music video is more interesting than the music.


108 year old message in a bottle found. [link]

Midcentury modern hotel. [link]

1982 DC Comics style guide. [link]

When civilization collapses, what one fact is it most important survives? [link]

Short film collection

Stealing Time


I'm You, Dickhead


Time Trap


The Last Human in the Milky Way

Friday Links: 28 August

Baltimore area Batman dies in car wreck. []
I regret that I never saw him on area roads.

18 CEOs called out by Bernie Sanders for economic sabotage. [link]

Conservatives opposed to misogyny? Since when? [link]

Why CG sucks... or doesn't.


Bulldog loves his box.


Cheap synthetic muscle. [link]

Mortal Combat in the back yard.


Beer that's heliumated instead of carbonated.


Game: MineCaves - A MineCraft styled game where you find the gems and keys in the dungeon. [link]

Zorro: Beyond the Thunderdome. [link]

GTA5 plugin gives you better camera control to make your own movies. [link]

JRR Tolkien's latest book. [link]
Three movie deal coming soon.

Another article calling anti-choice groups a bunch of liars. [link]

Bears playing in a pool.

Friday Links delayed

The farmers' market on Thursday screws up Friday Links. Yeah, yeah, that's my excuse.
Place your bets on how long it takes to become Monday Links or I drop the blog entirely.

Toronto is smog free. Shutting down the coal power plants is one of the big reasons. [link]

Counter-script for dealing with telemarketers. [link]

What happens when cyclists obey the traffic laws. [link]
I don't mind stop signs meaning yield for cyclists so long as I'm not getting charged with vehicular homicide when they get hit when blasting in front of me.

Flying Human Torch.


They haven't release the light that runs 2 hours on a lift of the weight, so this will have to do. [link]

75 year old nurse commits suicide, because she knows growing old sucks. [link]

A natural quiet preserve. [link]

Making 2000 year old bread.


I used to love this dead mall.


The Nickleback of the GOP. [link]

Abandoned Japanese fishing village. [link]

Game: Error Prone - drive in a circle better than the automated cars. [link]

Popularity of swearwords across America. [link]

I made one of these for the farmers' market. [link]

Kitchen haunted by a baby ducky. [link]

The Food Babe makes up some bullshit about beer ingredients. [link]
Beer makers set things straight. [link]

"GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!" [link]

How to build a Mossarium. [link]

Friday Links: July 31

Guys who are abusive to women online really ARE losers. [link]

There are superhumans... of a sort. [link]

Adam Savage wires up his Captain's Chair. [link]

WOOHOO! Washington DC is the worst bang for your buck. What's $100 worth in your area? [link]

Before Adam Sandler there was a good version of "Pixels".


Marion-Kay seasoning 99-X is the Colonel's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. [link]

Once again, Fox News is confused by the Moon. [link]

The smartphone for the audiophile in your life. [link]

More of the Old Testament/Torah shown to be false. [link]

Did I post these modern grotesques? Have some modern grotesques. [link]
note: it's only a gargoyle if it spits water. 

Pretty sure this isn't canon.


Rocking out on homemade banjos.


A monitor made of thread.


Who has fired Trump? [link]

Luxury animal quarantine. [link]

University of Michigan built a small town just to test self driving cars. [link]

What most non-Planned Parenthood pregnancy counselling places are really like. [link]

It's not pool, it's loop. [link]

It's like a clean room, but for noise. [link]

Lion hunting is WAY easy. [link]

A haka is a traditional ancestral war cry, dance, or challenge from the Māori people of New Zealand. It is a posture dance performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment.


How to build a great bicycling city. [link]

Friday Links: July 24

How to cheat sleep. [link]

Why some people are "evil". [link]

Actual 3D, interactive holograms.


A Confederation of lies. [link]

... and I can't even blame it on the Japanese.


Lego Doctor Who trailer. [link]

Shop smart, shop S-Mart. [link]

The return of Bloom County... again. [link]

Most terrifying Joker ever.


This is how Star Wars is done.


19 September


Block God from your kids' computer. [link]

Chinese visitors to SW United States 2500 years ago? [link]

How to give mosquitoes a good population check. [link]

Fog flow.


Which political party is better for the economy? I mean, setting aside the fact that one in particular routinely boasts lower unemployment, lower deficits, and all that. Whose policies are better? [link]

Friday Links

Messages from BEYOND THE STARS! Or, more likely, from the actual stars. [link]

Mouse vs Scorpion: FIGHT! [link]

Judges told the Kansas Governor that he's required to fund the schools. So now he's trying to get rid of judges. [link]

Rich Californians ask what's the point in being rich if we can't use all the water we want? [link]

Shortest commercial flight. [link]

Delirium deaths: coincidence that 100% of cases are of people in police custody? [link]

The man who decides what goes on beer labels. ALL beer labels. [link]

Another history of Boko Haram. [link]

A history of musicians telling politicians to stop using their music. [link]

See through trucks. [link]

Friday Links

Laptop issues continue, but here's something.

Cartoon documentary about Washington's medical marijuana. [link]

The instrumentation that's been picked for the Europa probe. [link]

That time NBC funded a breach of the Berlin Wall. [link]

Source of weird radio station found. [link]

Robot dog/cheetah/horse can now jump. And operate off the leash.


Real Viking helmet found. It's short on horns. [link]

I mentioned the iron snail before. Here's more. [link]

I want these cats as strays in my neighborhood. [link]

The Wizard of Oz with They Might Be Giants as the soundtrack.


Clips from the DARPA Robot Challenge narrated by WWE announcers.


100 year old chalkboard discovered. It proves Oklahoma didn't know how to do math back then, either. [link]