November 13, 2014, 8:41 pm
This is too good to keep silence about it.
What will happen if you can have a battery that can have a lifespan of 20 years, charges in few minutes instead of hours and can deliver better current.
I leave it to your imagination on what is possible. Regardless of the outcome, we will then have a much cleaner source of energy, easily transported and store as compared to oil and it is much safer too.
Read about it more : Here
Thank you god for delivering these brilliant scholars, that manage to make these things happen. You have gave mankind Oil and they made an ass of themselves on administering it, you don't take it away.. but you have better option in giving us alternative.
Amin
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November 16, 2014, 3:50 am
It has been sometime since I last tried Crawfish, that time I was not ready and don't know what to expect of this crustasean . With some time to spare this afternoon and many surplus tanks and pipes, I decide to make a tank for it and at the same time making a small 15 mm siphon to test. Killing two birds with a stone.. as they said it.I am using existing water source to water the new addition and right return tank as support. Surplus Dickson bars or angle irons make a rack using return tank as support. This arrangement make the distance for water return to be very small. It will be difficult to make a siphon.Using one of the surplus smaller tub which already has holes in it for water inlet and previous 25mm siphon. The 25 mm siphon I use a tank adapter and pvc piping to make a stand pipe since I am not using this siphon, it is just to close the hole.
The other hole was for 15 mm pvc piping, this is just right for the smaller siphon I am testing. I made this siphon same as the 20 mm StrainerBell just that it is using smaller parts.The shorter return creates problem with existing fittings, I had to cut it to length so that siphon outlet just above water line in the return tank.For now I'm setting the siphon to operates at water height of 11 cm, no extender use. I do not want to use too much water since there is no hydroton in this tank. I think Crawfish don't need that much water, and having a flood and drain can keep them continuously supply with fresh water.This siphon will drain water to about 2 cm, it is preset that way due to the vent on the inverted vent cowl used. BTW it is a 2 inches vent cowl and uPVC pipes, the 20 mm Siphon make use of 3 inches uPVC.That's the 11 cm water mark, hope Crawfish will not manage to escape.Water inflow is a trickle, and I "tee" from existing feed to the right growbeds on my CRAFTS set.That's the completed 15 mm StrainerBell siphon and water feed.Outlet flushing, I will need to test these. Since it is smaller the operating margin is much less. Water required is also very much less, making this siphon a good candidate for a gutter growbed system.The completed crawfish tank with smallest siphon I made to test.
Next I will need a few Crawfish... :)
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November 22, 2014, 8:33 am
The 25 mm (1 inch) Funnel Bell Siphon was the first siphon that I made after few months of trying out various siphon style to get a good water control of the aquaponics growbed. It is reliable in its operation and has made my aquaponics quest a breeze.I later made a smaller 20 mm siphon which are able to do same function as the 25 mm but with less parts, smaller and lighter to shipped. Smaller siphon will requires less water inflow to operates thus making power consumption of the water pump less as compared to its bigger brother.I had been toying with even smaller siphon ever since I started aquaponics, in fact the first siphon that I made make use of 15 mm size stand pipe, however it was without the funnel for that venturi effect making in operationally unreliable. Again the smaller 15 mm siphon was use when I was testing hydroton somewhere early 2010 as here and photo below.The siphon that I use in the above photo around February 2010 was a 15 mm siphon with strainer and bell enclosure. I did not use this design much because at that time it was very difficult to control.Video of this earlier 20 mm Siphon can be view below and from previous post : HereSince then I had gain more and more knowledge in the operation and tuning of the siphon making the 15 mm size standpipe a viable option again.
Few days ago I made a Crayfish tank and I decide to make use of the 15 mm siphon, this time it is a StrainerBell design to be use with the tank for water circulation purpose as in photo below.The smaller the siphon, the more difficult it is to get right. This is due to its operational tolerance is very small, e.g. the water inflow required is small and the pump that being use also will be small, if there is degradation of pump in the case of blockage or age then water flow affected thus making the siphon fail to operate correctly.
I'm making another 15 mm siphon for my Ornamental set which currently using 20 mm siphon. The main reason why I am keen on trying this smaller size siphon is only for one reason that is for energy saving. Due to smaller inflow requirement, this siphon will be able to operate with a 5 watt pump, this small power requirement is ideal if we want to be off grid and operates the aquaponics with solar energy.
Smaller water inflow also means that we may be able to get the siphon to operates with water from an airlift pump which we could powered by compressed air from a hand pump reservoir or just a tiny aerator which consume even less power.On the left is the 15 mm StrainerBell Siphon and the right is the 20 mm, all parts are the same just that it is 1 step smaller.The siphon is installed to my spare Ornamental set for testing, which I need to verify it operational reliability and problems in actual growbed environment for at least six months before I can make any recommendations.Installation is same like the 20 mm, it is just smaller. The extender tube is a 25 mm size which I use a 25 to 15 mm reducer to do the venturi.Capped and ready to go.I use as smaller pump, my the 20 mm siphon uses 1000 liter per hour pump, this 15 mm siphon uses 500 liter per hour pump. Even at 500 liter per hour with 2 ft head the water inflow is still too much for the siphon. The pump is rated at 7.7 watt, from my test a 5 watt pump should be sufficient.Siphon top part is fixed in its design and tuning it can only be adjusted to set water level, what left is the outlet to be tune. Like a two stroke bike, the entire air path need to be tune for optimum operation, which will include air intake right down to the exhaust chamber for balancing the airflow.
Siphon is the same, we will need to tune it making an optimum water path and since the inlet part is already fix what's left will be the outlet part to be adjusted to suit. As a baseline design, standard double elbow arrangement works in most cases, but it has its limitation, if water inflow above or below the baseline for the siphon, the outlet needs to be modified.Below are various outlet style that I am trying to get the optimum operation with water inflow more than what is needed.Few more as follows, it is for illustration only. Each of these will require a long explanation of why its is that way.
Each outlet is tailored to specific condition of what we want to do to the siphon, either to reduce noise, to increase aeration or to compensate for too much or too little water. There is more that the above design outlet that I am currently testing for this 15 mm StrainerBell siphon and so far it's holding fine after few hours of operation.
Now let see whether it can still hold after six months.
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November 22, 2014, 9:18 am
It was done here and almost three weeks has pass for this cutting, and at last it show new growth.... walla.. it survive.. well at least until today.Small leaf has emerges and hope it grow this next few weeks.
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November 25, 2014, 12:23 am
The 15 mm StrainerBell siphon has manage to reduce water inflow to growbed hence pump power required is less, it is now possible to make a low cost solar set up due to this. Price of solar panels and its equipment can be less if power requirement is below 20 to 30 watt.Above diagrams is a simple setup which make use of the 15 mm StrainerBell siphon in a media base flood & drain growbed over a fish tank and the following components;
- 12V/24V 3A/5A Charge Controller
- 12 VDC 5 watt DC Submersible pump
- 20 ~ 30 watt Solar Panels
- Battery
Item 1 ~ 3 total cost should not be more than USD 50.00 ~ 60.00 as in ebay, but the battery will be subjective either new or used.
Excess power from the solar panels is stored to the battery for over night use, the pump and charge controller estimated current requirement is less than 1/2 ampere at 12 volts DC.
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November 25, 2014, 7:23 pm
Got my EDTA Fe few weeks ago at Nine Top TradingMy strawberry plant was showing sign of iron deficiency as below.The plants not that healthy.That was two weeks ago on 12th Nov, today its show sign of recovery with encouraging result.It is still not as green as it should but nevertheless it is good to see some progress made after applying the EDTA Fe even some says that Aquaponics water is too high in ph that EDTA will not work.
My advise to those that are too concern about EDTA Fe is - Don't read too much, practice then you will not get confuse over the information overload.
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November 29, 2014, 12:57 am
These Crayfish is very elusive and will hide the moment they saw me coming. I use the Samsung Galaxy S5 with Framelapse apps and leave the phone shooting for about 45 minutes at 1 frame per second.Next time I will try not to feed them and get the camera ready before feeding, it may give better footage.
Anyway here is the timelapse footage.
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November 29, 2014, 9:27 pm
Making deep fried Aquaponics Garlic Chives Fritters, it is simple to make and encourage kids to eat vegetable.You can add bean sprout, grated carrot, spring onion, leak or any herb to add flavoring.
Thanks for watching.
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November 30, 2014, 2:37 am
This current batch of Tilapia a little slow to grow, maybe not enough feed. If it is fed too much then it will form more fat in the fish. So give it a lean diet to reduce this fat, fish in the wild don't get fed twice daily, they forage for food and eat what they find. Catch few Tilapia today and have it deep fried as a simple dinner.Each of these are palm size and just nice for Malay cooking. It's easy to catch since my fish tank is only 4 feet in length and about 12 inches of water. Five Tilapia in the pail and next to get them clean and prepared. Fresh fish, once cleaned next step is to marinate them.I use a simple old traditional way of marinating with salt, turmeric and a bit or tamarind to flavor the fish and get rid of the fishy smell. Let it stand for few minutes, like half an hour.Deep fried the fish in oil until golden brown, it will give good aroma since the fish is fresh of the tank. While it's being fried, I prepare the final flavoring. Onion slice, Chili and some garlic these for the final fried together with the last piece. It doesn't matter with which, but I normally do it with the last fish. Last fish in.. Those onion, chili and garlic (whole) ready for your turn. Turn over the fish, only then add the above to fried with the side needs cooking. Once fish cooked, remove it and switch off the flame and scoop up the garnishes to add on top of the cooked fish.Walla.. it's ready.Simple and fresh, take it with hot rice and some fresh vegetable salad.. it priceless.
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December 4, 2014, 7:25 am
Two item has arrived earlier today, its the 5A Solar Charge Controller and a 12VDC 5W Water Pump. These two is part of the components needed to get my aquaponics into solar powered.
Below are unboxing video of the two.
Thanks for watching.
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December 6, 2014, 9:40 pm
A spare Microsoft Lifecam Cinema HD was laying around not use much and gathering dust. Why don't I make something useful out of it, all the PC, Tabs, Phones even the Ipad in the house has its own camera so this webcam is extremely redundant.
Simple close up video shots is what I have in mind, so decide to make a quick retrofit to the Lifecam and make it able to focus further and at the same time giving better magnification shot.Modifying the camera with an Eye Loupe, so got myself one of those cheap Loupe (ok the box says "LOOP") to use the lens as a magnifier for my Lifecam Cinema.Doing a quickie check whether it work.Just a quick twist the loupe is easy enough to dismantle and all I need is this lens.The lens is loosely placed on the camera, wish I had bought a bigger loupe so that the lens will fit snuggly, but this will do. This lens is at 5x magnification, I will try other multiplication next time.Use a simple tar putty that they use in Car accessories shop for fixing anything that rattle, this putty is sticky and removes cleanly. Next time I use other lens this can simply be removes and replace.The camera came with its own flexible bracket, I use a GoPro base that has tripot 1/4 inch screw thread to use with a mini tripod. Need to secure it better, this is just a trial.Not bad for a dollar modification, the intent is that I can make a close up video using various lens magnification value and at the same time keeping the camera as a distance where I can work with the subject like this watch for instance.Yep, it works... need to buy few more Loupe to get other magnifying factor to test. Other webcam should work, just that I have this Lifecam Cinema handy that's all.
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December 15, 2014, 6:01 am
Done the mint test for my Ornamental set that uses the 20 mm StrainerBell siphon, on this 15 mm siphon Ornamental set I am planting tomatoes to see how this siphon stand against those deep rooting plants.This lone strawberry plants removed and pot it separately to make way for fresh tomatoes seedling.Sown these few weeks back and they are ready to be transplanted to the ornamental set.Planted it directly to hydroton and bury it as deep as I can.I put two plants in one planting space, I guest that overdo it since I do four planting space on this small set.Oh well.., just doing it to the extreme.Bad photos since it already dusk, will need to snap fresh photo again tomorrow and replace.
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It's a bit late but nevertheless
"HappyNewYear"
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On of my pump that running the three barrel CRAFTS set just operate unreliably, it occasionally died and require so knocking to get it going. Remove the pump from the tank and upon close inspection found that the rotor shaft has worn a lot.Closer look that what the rotor shaft looks like below.Bought a replacement, same rating of 2000 Liter/hour and this time I ensure that the rotor shaft is made of ceramic.This Astro 2000 pump set me back RM 40.00, that about USD13.00. I had use this make before and on average it lasted about 3 years.I would recommend ceramic shaft pump if you can find it, the steel shaft just can't last that long.
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Just to share, the Tomatoes that I transplanted few days back on 15th Dec : Here has grown fast. Below the single plant in the pot is from same batch but the different is like night and day.The one in the pot do not grow as fast as the growbed transplanted.
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It was mint in this Ornamental set, reason for the mint was to test this set how it stand the vigorous root growth of mint.It has successfully withstand mint and being running about 10 months without problem, so it's about time to change to another plant.Trim those mints to get it all out, but I find it's very difficult to pull them roots out.Nothing else can be done but it is best to overturn the mint growbed and hopefully it pop out cleanly.Yes indeed, just like a freshly bake cake. It pop out with root and all but leaving the siphon and water inlet intact.Massive root ball, the center hole is where the siphon was.There are sign of root invasion into the siphon but not much that it stop the siphon from operation. I just give some minor cleaning pulling those roots out and proceed in getting the LECA loose from the root ball.The amount of roots is massive and the siphon survive it.I use car boot tray to avoid making a mess, and it did help in containing the LECA from floating away while I rinse it.Manage to get all LECA free and back into the growbed to start again.Next are these Strawberry runners, not sure whether they will survive being planted without parent support. They will have a 50-50 chance of making it if the weather stays overcast and rainy over this next two weeks.If it hot and sunny, then no way they will survive. Oh well I have many more runners in the strawberry bed or these below.
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It's Calimyrna, I am a twig.. just a thin short twig from USAOk, so much for the twig bit.. I'm trying out Fig. Got myself a Calimyrna Fig twig to try planting it here.Dip the lower end in rooting hormone and pot it.This variety may not fruit if it requires that special Fig Wasp or a male plant. Just a test for me and see. Will takes about 2 years to find out, that is if this twig survive the equatorial heat.
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January 3, 2015, 11:57 pm
Affnan's Aquaponics - Crawfish Time lapse 4th Jan 2015
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January 10, 2015, 4:42 am
Run out of space for new strawberry runners, October to February are the months where these plants produce lots of runners. Decide to make a rack for these new plants and maybe they can grow better before figuring what to do next.Above container can hole about 50 pots of new strawberry plants, I will need to get same size pots to get them easily arranged.Rack above was from surplus material that I have and reassemble to make a 3 shelf rack and I use the car boot plastic tray to hold those pots. Water added to tray and some nutrient to ensure those plants can survive. This is required since I am planting the runners without parental stolon.
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January 10, 2015, 4:53 am
Apart from doing the racking.. as earlier post : Here
Few seedling needs transplant and rear growbed redo to after few weeks of neglect.Eggplants above don't look healthy, these need urgent attention !! Transplant three of them into individual hydroton pots and place it in the growbed where the Sambung Nyawa are located.Will see if they recover into healthy plants in a couple of weeks.After the eggplants, Tomatoes that I transplant last week still has few more of same batch and just re-pot a few and the rest has to be wasted due to overcrowded.Nothing interesting, just a normal day at the Aquaponics.
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