Aubrey Zhang

This is the style I want to start with: https://pyrapod.com/pyrapod8

Yesterday we got the general Sketchup design done in one day (god speed). here is the pic of the desgin and video:





I am in the process of talking to local manufactures - we want the locals get our business orders. DIY or mass produced.

It is fun. And this soap bubble filled greenhouse will be the only one standing out. It will take the whole world by storm!

OK, I finally have time to shoot a video about my first and second real tests of iAVS, the simplest form of aquaponics:


I pump water for 8 minutes for every two hours. No water pumping during the night time.

I am using the 120W pump purchased from Amazon - see link https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07PRT3VLJ

As for the 24/7 running air pump, its power is only 12W. With the h-siphon and H-flow thing, the water level remains constant even though the airlift pump can still pump some water out - it simply goes back to itself once the water level comes to the limit. That is why I say it simply as an aerator rather than an airlift pump after this, until the next cycle of water pumping by the water pump.

S Bengi, 20 minutes of pumping maybe too much.

In my test system, I happen to have a spare pump there and it is really powerful, I can only run the pump for 1 minute to fill to the upper water level in a barrel (supposed to be fish tank but no fish in it while I am doing the testing). I use an airlift pump running all the time to pump water slowly from there to the grow bed and also to aerate the water. And I use a siphon and an H-shaped device made based on the following video so that the fish tank water level will not go below a certain limit:



iAVS was well tested and researched by the original inventor Mark McMurtry. I will follow his advice properly once I get our property (my wife and I have made the offer and got the mortgage approved). I will do it even before I build the greenhouse to cover it - the spring is coming :-)

Well, digging deep here, I found this video...



and this website...

SolarBubbleBuild.com

showing how to use liquid soap bubbles to regulate the greenhouse temperature and humidity dynamically and on demand, even in very hot or cold climate. Wow, better than using aircrete.

I have searched for "aircrete" in this section but found none. So I start this topic. Hope t hear from someone who did or who plan to do this as well.

Of course we need to use plastic films or sheets for areas that allow light to come. But since aircrete is light and seals well and has good R value, using it to build a greenhouse should be good. What do you say?

I made this type of self-primed siphon:

Kevin, focus on the big picture. As long as the fish waste is not ended up at the bottom of the grow bed, you win.

As for the sand, I am testing the Play Sand I purchased from Rona (I live in Canada).



Yes, maybe this type of sand is too fine but I still have hydroton and simply place hydroton at the bottom and then add my sand. Just in the testing stage so that I do not need to follow every detail of iAVS, otherwise you will never be able to start.

BTW, I have not placed any fish yet so that I can add whatever I want to test. For example, I added a whole 4L milk bottle of fermented urine to the sand to see how clear the water be coming out of the grow bed. Well, the result? Clear water.

Just to add one ore point... since I am going to place the whole iAVS setup in a greenhouse (with both solar thermal and geo thermal air to maintain the temperature), sand acts as a better thermal mass than expanded clay.

I just searched on this forum for "iAVS" and found it was only mentioned by Gary Donaldson and another person once respectively. No one posted any pictures about it. I thought this permies group would be the best place to at least talk about and try it.

Anyway, I have done some home work and primary tests. But I am in the process of purchasing a home and planning to try it in the backyard, so I am switching to it but not in the full scale. So I do not have a lot of pictures to show it either. I just finished posting an article about it on my blog so I just post its link here, hoping to find someone who are interested in it as well.

http://dripgrowtower.com/blog/2020/02/03/shocking-discovery-of-iavs-sand-aquaponics

Well, I do see that I need to post Mark McMurtry picture and the basic layout of iSAVS for now...





And this video...