For sure we are less exposed as we are facing west/north west, but we had enough wind gusts to slice the seedlings during the previous Typhoons. We'll see this week if they survived.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Typhoon cheap protection
This time, I didn't want my seedling to die after the strong winds of the Typhoon (not that bad in fact after wise). I had to protect the setup, without creating a sail... A simple food wrap around the structure gave enough protection to the young radis, tomato plants & basil...
New water tank system
Last summer, I ran out of water because of a tiny leak, but also because my daisy chained IKEA Trofast buckets system didn't work. So September was a fresh start, with new ideas. A lot of garden hydroponics/aquaponics systems are using food grade blue barrels, and it happens that they are widely available in Hong Kong: any construction supplier have these as bins, or they recycle them as so.
I went to a nearby shop and selected a 60 Kg barrel, 80 HK$: worth it ! Cheaper than 2 IKEA Trofast for more than 4 times the volume. It comes with a locking top, so I wonder if it can be pressurised or not...
I also ordered some 1/2" Uniseal online as they are an easy solution to have the PVC tubes going thru the buckets and keep a good seal. I also got a little UV light from the Fish Market. They are made to be inline in your water flow and kill all nasty bacteria.
3 holes are drilled on top and fitted with the Uniseal: 2 in the front, one in the back. Another 12V pump will go at the bottom equipped with the same inline 25cl bottle filter (so cheap & so efficient). The 2 front hole will connect with the sump. One is coming from the sump pump, and the other is the overflow. You need an overflow system as it is a 2 pump system and whatever you do, the two identical pumps will not have the same flow after a while.
The overflow is going thru a syphon with the intake about 20cm below the max level, so as soon as the water reaches the top of the Uniseal, the water drop will initiate the syphon, and will empty the top of the barrel in less than a minute, back to the sump.
As the sump will get all the water system and the main tank overflow, it needs to handle a bigger amount of water. By linking several Trofast buckets from the bottom (with Uniseal), I manage to enlarge the water reservoir.
As you can see, there are 4 buckets linked, but the last one has an elbow and a vertical tube. This is the overflow for the sump system. When too much water is getting in the sump, the water level will go up, and reach the top of the tube, and overflow in the last bucket. This is the last chance before the sewer ! In fact, I could put a security pump here with a water level switch: if it reaches the max level of this bucket, then we can pump the water back to the main barrel...
I went to a nearby shop and selected a 60 Kg barrel, 80 HK$: worth it ! Cheaper than 2 IKEA Trofast for more than 4 times the volume. It comes with a locking top, so I wonder if it can be pressurised or not...
I also ordered some 1/2" Uniseal online as they are an easy solution to have the PVC tubes going thru the buckets and keep a good seal. I also got a little UV light from the Fish Market. They are made to be inline in your water flow and kill all nasty bacteria.
3 holes are drilled on top and fitted with the Uniseal: 2 in the front, one in the back. Another 12V pump will go at the bottom equipped with the same inline 25cl bottle filter (so cheap & so efficient). The 2 front hole will connect with the sump. One is coming from the sump pump, and the other is the overflow. You need an overflow system as it is a 2 pump system and whatever you do, the two identical pumps will not have the same flow after a while.
The overflow is going thru a syphon with the intake about 20cm below the max level, so as soon as the water reaches the top of the Uniseal, the water drop will initiate the syphon, and will empty the top of the barrel in less than a minute, back to the sump.
As the sump will get all the water system and the main tank overflow, it needs to handle a bigger amount of water. By linking several Trofast buckets from the bottom (with Uniseal), I manage to enlarge the water reservoir.
As you can see, there are 4 buckets linked, but the last one has an elbow and a vertical tube. This is the overflow for the sump system. When too much water is getting in the sump, the water level will go up, and reach the top of the tube, and overflow in the last bucket. This is the last chance before the sewer ! In fact, I could put a security pump here with a water level switch: if it reaches the max level of this bucket, then we can pump the water back to the main barrel...
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