Nearing Grow Bed and DWC Completion

Status update here:

The grow bed box and DWC tanks are nearing completion.  I have affixed the 3/4" plywood to the bottoms of each box, after having pre-drilled and countersunk holes along the edges of the plywood.  I suppose it was not strictly necessary, but then the plywood was also not going to be tied to anything else and so would have been floating free.  I can always disassemble the boxes, even after the liner is installed, but I'm figuring that they will stay together until they literally fall apart.

The two boxes, upside-down

In the (unfortunately messy) image above, the two boxes are seen, the larger DWC tank sitting on top of the GB, and both upside-down.  On top of the DWC is the 2" foam board for the rafts, already cut to width but not yet to length.  I have given it 1/2" of clearance on either side of the design size of the tank.  Hopefully that will be enough.  I have enough 2" board left that I could play around with non-floating rafts.  I believe I read about these in the FAO AP publication, and they sounded interesting, albeit with their own brand of downsides (like everything else).

The beds had been sitting on the sawhorses (right side of the image) until a few nights ago.  I was able to lift the GB down to the ground myself, only by virtue of exploiting the physics of balance.  After the plywood was attached, each box gained considerable weight.  Further moves will require the assistance of at least two more people (unless I can find just one rather burly individual).

Roughing-in the stands

On the porch, it's a game of musical junk.  There are some outstanding projects that need to be completed, and for which materials remain (such as all that white junk on the floor).  Also, I have a few too many pieces of lumber, so there will be a return to the home-improvement store in the near future.  Once we relocated the DWC, however, it was then time to get the sawhorses out of the way and trial-fit the three stands.  You can see in the photo to the right the sands and the slants.

I had intended to rig up a jig to ensure clean, consistent cutting of the slants, and also purchased enough lumber to cut individual boards for both top and bottom sets.  As it turned out, a single board made two very nice pieces (thanks to the law of similar triangles), so I cut my board requirements by half.  Second, making a jig became extremely difficult due to the lengths involved.  I eventually settled on using as much of the jig as I had already assembled (which was a glorified board-holder, and not a very good one at that), and marking and free-handing the circular saw along the cut.  For the most part, the cuts went well.  I rarely strayed from the line, and when I did it was because the line was nearly invisible on some of the pieces (curse of pencil on PT lumber...I used a Sharpie for the board that followed).  I tested one of the pieces with a level directly on the porch floor, and to my exuberance the angle evaluation and cut was good!!  So now we should have nearly level grow boxes.

Next up will be purchasing the liner, the paint, and the marine sealant for the bulkhead fittings.  I am still working on the lighting, and have finished most of the reading I had started on the subject.  I'll discuss my findings in another post.  I haven't yet planned where the fittings will go on the GB, since I must account for the 6" diameter media guard.  I was thinking of locating them near the back of the unit, so as to keep the plumbing out of the way of the DWC, but it occurs to me that the DWC is wider than the GB so that point may be moot.  In any case, once the liner is installed and the GB and DWC tanks are fixed in place, I can start doing leak and siphon testing.

Rockin'....