Fishy Greenhouse

[Mr.Peabody]

I believe I had a pretty decent idea recently. I saw how my fish tank had warm water, and most of the heat just went off into the air, which is fine since my house is cold, but I figured I could use it for something else.

So, I built a greenhouse that sits on top of the fish tank. My plants now have nice warm, humid air even though the house is 50 degrees! I did this for my chacruna plants and salvia plants. They seem quite happy, and hopefully I'll get some good growth through the winter months.

Not only is the air humid and warm, but the fishies will make carbon dioxide that the plants will use, and the plants will make more oxygen rich air that is good for the fish! Symbiosis man!

One challenge left is to see how it does when I light my wood stove. The stove dries the whole house out, but I think the greenhouse should be fine.

Here's a pic! Not super pretty, but I wanted to see how it worked before I make it look nice.

 

[RebornInSmoke]

super neat

can you elaborate more on the construction and how it works?

also what kind of fish do you have?

 

[Mr.Peabody]

It's made of a couple 2x4s I cut into six pieces each. The base is made of plywood. I cut out a section for the water filter for the tank, and some sections to allow air flow into the green house. I actually needed to cover up quite a bit of the opened space. It turned out to be wayyy too humid, and I had water running down the sides and out of the green house. I am going to make a frame and hinge the plexiglass door and get some better plastic to cover it. I think also I'll put in an outflow valve in the top of the greenhouse so I can regulate how much fresh air and by default humidity.

This thing would be killer for mushrooms, that is if I didn't mind growing them in my living room. Maybe I'll stick to portabellas!

My fish are just some cute little tropical community fish. I have a lot of dalmation mollys, and some neons. I have a bunch of shrimp, too. I have been waiting for them all to die off so I can get some larger tropical fish, but they never seem to die! I have had some of those neons and one of the mollys for over 2 years now. Plus the mollys made about 20 babies this year. There's been some serious love going on in that tank!

 

[Ringworm]

only thought is even treated wood gets green algae and mold on it.
you may eventually want to revamp this to a pvc structure or something like that.

otherwise, awesome use of available stuff

 

[Vodsel]

Very nice, Mr. Peabody

You're just one step away from aquaponics. I wonder if anyone has grown hydroponic salvia and fish using the same device...

 

[Sky Motion]

Sick and genius!

 

[Mr.Peabody]

Thanks everyone! I thought there might be some folks here who would like this!

Ringworm:
I have considered that, as well. Have a few mods I want to do to it, like putting in a light. I think when I do that, I'll take the plastic off and give it some good paint or varnish. If it does go bad, I'll probably use pvc. It would have been faster, but I didn't want to spend any money, so I used what was lying around.

Vodsel:
I had actually thought of that! I have seen small aquarium set ups where the plant lives off the fish waste and the fish live of part of the plant. I think a plant would need really low nutrients for this to work. I don't know how well fish would tolerate an environment with enough plant food. The big problem is, the water in my tank is salty. It's not very salty, but probably enough to where a plant wouldn't be happy with it.

 

[Lago Chiller]

Very clever.
My woodstove dries out my house too, my plants are in the same room as the stove.

I saw a TV show about a doomer family that tried this out on a larger scale.

Dennis McClung - Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA) | LinkedIn

Dennis is an internationally-known innovator, philanthropist, and serial entrepreneur. In… · Experience: Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA) · Location: Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Area · 252 connections on LinkedIn. View Dennis McClung’s profile on LinkedIn, a...

gardenpool.org

I have to say I like your setup, too much humidity warrants a bigger garden IMO!

 

[jamie]

I have an indoor greenhouse about 5 feet or so tall with 2 grow lights and a fan..if you are going to concider getting a light I would also put in a small aquarium fan or something to keep the airflow going..my caapi plants seems to really like the fan with the light..without the fan it gets stagnant in there etc..

Ive been thinking a lot about aquaponics lately

 

[Mr.Peabody]

Lago, I think you might be right! That tank can put out some serious humidity, and I could use some room for future plants....... One day!

I think I may get into some aquaponics one day, but I don't really have the money or time to learn. The simplicity of soil in pots works for me at the moment, but I look forward to the benefits of da ponics!

 

[Vodsel]

I think I may get into some aquaponics one day, but I don't really have the money or time to learn. The simplicity of soil in pots works for me at the moment, but I look forward to the benefits of da ponics!

Same... I don't know if I'll be ever able to do it, but at least in the meantime I am documenting myself with books and magazines. If anyone wants to share stuff, drop me a line.

 

[Orion]

Very resourceful! I find that salvias do prefer a lot more heat and humidity than the normal indoor conditions allow for, they should be pretty pleased with that setup.

 

[Mr.Peabody]

They are quite happy, in fact! I had made a small humidity tent they were in for a while, but they have certainly perked up in the time they have been in my fishy set up. The verdict is still out on the crunas, though. One has dropped a few leaves, but I'm pretty sure I just over fed them. I wasn't paying attention. I hope that was it. They wouldn't do that because of high humidity, I'm pretty sure.

I am going to attach a fan on a timer so that the air gets flushed out a few times a day. I am getting a bit of mold/fungus since the humidity is quite high.