A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners
-
Mike Konshak
- Male
- Como, CO
- United States
- Blog Posts
- Discussions (19)
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- Groups (6)
- Photos (29)
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Mike Konshak's Groups
Mike Konshak's Discussions
1st AP System - Ultimate goal to have a sustained system at 10,000 feet elevation
Started this discussion. Last reply by nathaniel taylor Apr 30, 2011. 37 Replies 0 Likes
Hi everyone.I hope that I will gain many new friends during my latest endeavor, to build a sustained aquaponics garden at 10,200 foot elevation.We built our place in 1993 and from day one tried to…Continue
Mike Konshak's Page
Latest Activity
Jordan Erickson replied to Mike Konshak's discussion Greenhouse structures to prevent wildlife intruders and survive blizzards in the group Greenhouses"Here is another company... http://pennandcordsgarden.weebly.com/greenhouses.html"
Jordan Erickson replied to Mike Konshak's discussion Greenhouse structures to prevent wildlife intruders and survive blizzards in the group Greenhouses"Hi,
Check out this companys websites...
http://ecosystems-design.com/Home.html
http://ecosystems-design.com/Greenhouse%20Design%20Services.html
They have greenhouses up around 10,000ft elevation...pretty cool stuff
Jordan
"
Mike Konshak replied to Jon Easterling's discussion Auto- Siphons aren't working 100% of the time in the group Aquaponics For Beginners"Jon, The cross sectional area of 3/4 dia pipe is 0.474 sq inches. Multiply that times 4 drains and you get 1.767 sq in needed for a common drain. A 1" dia pipe has a cross sectional; area of only .787 sq inches so its obvious you are…"
Meg Stout replied to Mike Konshak's discussion Wind Power - ALP Tower approved for my Mountain Home in the group OFF GRID"Hope the ALP shows you have lots of wind to work with for a subsequent wind turbine of your own!
Alas, there's been a fair amount of wind mapping here in Virginia, so I know I'm in an area that doesn't get much wind. Except…"
Mike Konshak commented on Sylvia Bernstein's page Buy / Sell Marketplace"Continued....complete aquaponics system (less water, plants and fish) for sale, located in the Denver Area.
Evidently, the last picture I place in the previous post exceeded the limit and it truncated the message, losing the last picture and…"
Mike Konshak commented on Sylvia Bernstein's page Buy / Sell Marketplace"I have a complete aquaponics system (less water, plants and fish) for sale, located in the Denver Area. It is a based on a 275 gal (1000L) IBC tote with a 55 gallon(200L) grow bed mounted on top with an aluminum sub structure for support. The…"
Mike Konshak added a discussion to the group OFF GRID
Wind Power - ALP Tower approved for my Mountain Home
I think this may be of interest to the off-grid folks... I applied through Colorado State University to get one of their 20M ALP towers placed on my 10,200 foot elevation property in South Park (the middle of Colorado). ALP stands for Anemometer Loan Program and is designed to accumulate meaningful annual wind power data throughout the state of Colorado. There are similar programs in other states as well. Wind data will be accumulated for one year then the tower will be dismantled and relocate…See More
Mike Konshak replied to Nagaraj's discussion Not able to keep quiet...."Nagaraj,
I apologize if my first response added questions, as what may be common in the US may not apply in India (or other places). Let me add some detail to my thoughts.
A ballast tank (also called a pressure tank) is used to store water…"
Mike Konshak replied to Nagaraj's discussion Not able to keep quiet...."Namaste Nagaraj,
I Think about these issues a lot, as I have a home that is not on the grid, where I would like to try AP gardening, and energy conservation and minimalism is a fine art. I'm just going to brainstorm a bit here and I'm sure…"
Mike Konshak replied to Robert Magnes's discussion Micro Hydro-electric power in the group OFF GRID"RM, You are correct that as of that point, the gravity is the force behind your waterfall. The higher you place the feed above the impeller/turbine/wheel the more force you'll have to turn the thing, however that also means that the pump is…"
Mike Konshak replied to Robert Magnes's discussion Micro Hydro-electric power in the group OFF GRID"RM, Just keep in mind that the water flow you are trying to generate hydropower with isn't 'free' . You are paying 10.4 cents per Kilowatt Hour to run the pump that creates it. As soon as you put ANYTHING in the path of the flow…"
Mike Konshak replied to steve's discussion Which prefered siphon drain growbeds?? in the group Aquaponics For Beginners"Thta's a very good point. Not having to deal with maintenance yet, I thought having the extra real-estate for crops would be good. I guess I should incorporate a basket such that it surrounds the siphon and extends all the way up to keep the…"
Mike Konshak replied to steve's discussion Which prefered siphon drain growbeds?? in the group Aquaponics For Beginners"Steve, I'm a firm believer (and indoctrinated in product cost-reduction) that the best mechanism is non at all. or one with the least number of parts. The more parts the lower the MTBF (mean time before failure).
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Mike Konshak replied to steve's discussion Which prefered siphon drain growbeds?? in the group Aquaponics For Beginners"Lonny, Keep in mind I'm a rookie at AP (but not pumps, head loss and flow), and at this time I am still waiting for my system to cycle, but it has been continuously operating for over a month like Old Faithful. I chose a basket that has…"
Profile Information
- How did you find us?
- other
- Are you an aquaponic gardener already?
- Yes
- If so, what type of system? (pick all that apply)
- flood and drain media
- How old is your system?
- Just started
- What type of fish do you grow with? (select all that apply)
- Tilapia, Trout
- How big is your fish tank?
- 250 gallons (947 Liters)
- Please tell us something else about yourself.
- We have mountain home at 10,300 feet elevation that has been off the grid for over 17 years. We have just installed our 3rd set of batteries. My goal is to research how to minimize the electrical power needs of the aquaponics as well as my well pump (1hp 500 feet down) Because of the location, I will be building a greenhouse under our 8 x 32 ft south facing deck which will contain the AP system(s) and supplemental HP drip systems.
My background is as an electro-mechanical product development engineer in the computer hardware industry. Currently semi-retired (not by choice). I hold 34 US and world patents and this is a technical field I think I could have a lot of fun with. I am currently building some DIY Wind turbines in order to add an additional resource to my photo-voltaics.
Mike Konshak's Photos
Comment Wall (1 comment)
- At 7:46pm on March 30, 2011,
Sylvia Bernstein said… Welcome Mike,
Thanks for joining the Aquaponic Gardening community! I hope you find it a fun place to explore aquaponics. There is a real blend of experienced and new aquapons in this community, so please don’t hesitate to get in there and start asking questions. Everyone is quite happy to help out new members – no question is too basic.
A great place to start is to read the “How to Use This Site” link on the upper right corner, “Start Here” section of the Main page. You might also find the “Aquaponic Gardening Rules of Thumb” guidelines helpful.
As I mentioned in our call today you will want to check out the Colorado Aquapons group and the Offgrid group (see the Groups tab above).
Thanks again for joining us, and I look forward to getting to know you. Great chatting with you today!
Sylvia
© 2012 Created by Sylvia Bernstein.
