Bio-Cultivator

I just can't get enough of my micro-herds, so I decided to build them a home and breeding ground. This is what I came up with; kind of a X between Bio-bucket and composting. (If I ever decided to go to hydro, I think bio-bucket would be my choice)

Here's a shot of the whole thing:



30gln res at the bottom. The tub has a 4" hole cut in the lid and a 350gln Magdrive pump to push the water to the top of the bucket and a 50gln pump helping circulate the bulk of water.

The pumps pushes water to the top of a 5gln bucket where it trickles back down through 3 distinct layers where it will drain back to the res.

The bucket has a 4" hole cut into the bottom.

A 4" plastic pot was dropped into the bottom of the bucket where it fits snuggly through the hole leaving a lip overhang in the bucket.

The lip and inside bucket bottom are sealed with GE Silicone II (this stuff is delicate enough for the most sensitive of organisms - used in terrariums with "environmental indicator" pets; ie...arboreal frogs, etc...)

The outer bucket bottom is then lined with the silicone and the pot is dropped through the 4" hole in the tub lid.

Here's a pic of the inside of the tub:



You can see the pot hanging down through.

The pump output runs straight up through the pot, through the center of the bucket where it stops about 1/2" short of the lid.

There seems to be plenty of oxygen created and the bacterias are hard at work already.

Here's a pic of the inside of the bucket:



The top layer in the bucket is rooting plugs; they provide great surface area vs. pocket distribution and are fairly large chunks.

The second layer is shredded plugs (1/4 and smaller pieces), this creates a surface similar to slow sand but not quite as slow or dense.

The first 2 layers are where 90% of the action is going on.

The third layer is crushed lava rock, this is where I get alot of disturbance in the water flow to create a bit of oxygen and a little bit more of bio-filteration.

I ran it for 3 days with plain tap before adding anything. On days 4 I added some micros and molasses. On day 7 I added some Nitrifying bacterias(5 strains). On day 10 I added Rhizobacterias (10 strains). On day 14 I topped up both bacterias. On day 15 (today) I had to add more molasses, the workers have been eating quite a bit. The initial dose of molasses had the water very dark brown/black but by today even after stirring in the res the water has become very light colored and so I added a bit more molasses to make sure there is plenty to eat in there. I also added about 2 cups of Marine Cousine to the top of the bucket, bacterias should eat this up and leave me some nice enzymes. The bottom of the tub is not painted since it is dark enough to keep light out but the lid and bucket were painted chrome to reflect the light off (this was also around the house - Krylon Plastic Fusion). I also added a tube to the lid of the bucket for fresh air; I forget what this is called but the downward flow of water creates a suction of fresh air through the bucket and water.

Feedback? Anything is appreciated.

J.

Interesting. Is your plan to take the liquid and "innoculate" your soil with it, or is there something you are going to do with the rooting plugs? Why did you choose this over bubbling a tea in a tub (which is what I have previously seen done)?

Thanks,
PHB

Pretty much, so far I use about 1cup of tea in a gallon of regular water or ferted water. The tea has a little to it nutrient wise but it's more for the rhizocolonies. After a few days the res has become filled with a yellow foam on top of the water but it smells more earthy than stink.

J.

Do you think a simple bubbler would be effective as well? Your setup looks like the Cadillac of bio-cultivation, but a bucket, a pump and air stones are probably more my speed.

The bubbler thing is just adding oxygen and disipating Chlorine/Chloramine. What I'm doing is closer to homemade "Hygrozyme". I'm intentionally breeding mutiple beneficial bacterias and feeding them different things to get (hopefully) a multitude of enzymes. So far it seems to be working great with other plants. It doesn't contain much nutrition of its own since most of what I add gets eatin by the herds - ya outta see 'em take off a couple hours after feeding. Initially the water turns black when I add molasses but within 2 days the water is back to a golden honey color. Right now they are feeding on some pineapple scraps and Hybiscus leaves.

I do have a question for anyone who might know: What role would temperatures play in the breeding of bacterias?

Colder temps (night) seem encourage the res to over-flow with the golden foam but during warmer temps (day) the foam settles more and retreats back to the water.

J.

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear in my question. Assuming the same flora/fauna and molasses were added - would a bucket with a bubbler achieve the same result? I don't understand how water flowing over the layers of rooting plugs and lava rock creates a significantly different environment for the microherd to flourish in comparison to a bubbler + bucket.

Sorry to pester you with questions.

PHB

In a bucket and airstone situation or any that lacks actual media, you are just aerating the water and disipating the Chlorine. You can add the Myco and bacteria to the water but it doesn't provide a breeding ground; you would/will need to add the "beasties" at every water use or whenever you'd like but they can't live in water alone for any extended period of time.
I do use a sepperate bucket of fresh water that is aerated and disipated of Chlorine for a few days prior to use for watering or topping off the res for the bio.

The short answer to your question is; No! Simply because bacteria and fungus do not live in water alone (not the kind we want), no matter how oxygenated.

The idea behind what I am doing is that I don't have to buy Tarantula, Voodoo Juice, Emerald Shaman, Sub Culture, Hygrozyme or any of those other related products. Instead I create my own and add a shot of that to my water (which I do use airstone and pump in)

J.

Ok so it's not exactly ground breaking proof but it is interesting (at least to me)

I've had these plants for about 7 weeks now and they are all of 6-8" tall. They are severely stunted and just plain shitty now. I stressed them too much bouncing around with ideas and they are just alive because they aren't in the way yet. So I decided to use the tea from my biocultivator on 1 of them. Guess which one; it's multiple choice.








J.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes complete sense.

I'm going to say #2. How long have you been feeding it the tea? It looks *much* healthier.

2nd time in 2 weeks; Saturday before last and last Saturday. The middle one has grown the 2 side branches in the last 2 weeks, all the rest of growth is from 5-6 weeks from seed. Pretty pathetic growers but I don't have my summer plants yet so I just toy with these for now. I'll tear 'em up and toss 'em when I need the space so I just test my tea on it. If something is amiss then I can correct and try again without hurting good plants.

J.

what a great project, in essence it's a bio-filter. if you could actually house and maintain a stable bio-film, you'd surely have a more efficient tea brewer than a simple bubbler, where you have grow a new micro-herd from scratch every time? and if i'm not mistaken it's more efficient to pump water than air, in terms of aeration potential. anyway i've got a small water pump that has "Bio-Cultivator" written all over it, nice one thanks

SatGhost, thats exactly it! On one hand I don't "need" to innoculate everytime i water so I do crerate a bit of excess but then again I also grow alot of other things too; all of which benefit from it. 200+sq.ft. of strawberries, another 200-300sq.ft. of tomatoes and peppers, etc... and then the ornamentals. It's all good.

J.

cool idea. i knew guy who brewed all his tea's almost this exact same way. ill have to read through again and get the details but id love to make one of these.

I just thought I'd add that I removed the lid for better oxygenation since the water spout doesn't spray or splash out of the bucket. No reason to limit aerobic activity. The foam has stayed constant, and the smell is still earthy; very much smelling just like a rainforest. The tea color is consistent and seems to do good with pineapple scraps (core and base) as the feed source and on a daily basis you can easily observe the dwindling of pulp. I have also removed the full plugs since they are done now. The plug idea was just to innoculate them since I know they sit for quite sometime.

J.

was the pineapple just a random ingredient or are you intentionally using the pineapple scrapes for the bromelain enzyme, to digest protein?

Uh yeah the brom enzyme.......No, actually i would normally toss the scrap chunks but I figured the pineapple outta be a damn good source of Sugars as well as other possibles. The Brom enzyme might be beneficial but I don't know; just coincidental.

[unrelated] It also occured to me last night that since honey doesn't spoil then that must mean it resists bacteria and mold, so honey would be a bad option for feeding possibly.

J.

wormcastings will give a big boost to your micro heard.

Pyrex said:

It also occured to me last night that since honey doesn't spoil then that must mean it resists bacteria and mold, so honey would be a bad option for feeding possibly.

J.

Click to expand...

Diluted honey does indeed spoil; heck that's "mead"! I suspect full-strength honey doesn't spoil because it has very high osmolyte concentration and osmotic pressure difference whacks bacteria and fungi and other wee beasties.

I wouldn't sweat using honey in your system. Though molasses has the benefit of adding some sulfur and magnesium and suchlike that honey doesn't have.

Cool tea-brewing operation you have there! I got my BS, MS and PhD degrees in Microbiology, but haven't spent much time lately thinking about growing critters like you are. Sounds like fun!

Hey Pyrex have you tested the pH of that resevoir? Id be interested to know how the pH fluctuates during different stages of microbial activity. For instance, after serveral days of inactivity what pH does it stabilize to, and what happens when molasses is added? What pH is the tap water when you started? All this assumes you have the means and interest to even test the pH. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Great execution by the way, very interesting. I have been thinking alot about the interaction of recirculating hydro systems with this sort of innoculation strategy. The main problem (among hydro guys) seems to be that with organics and heavy microbial activity you get 1) a chance for infection/overpowering beneficials 2) a fluctuating pH. Well Im just throwin it out there.

3bm

drrico,
I haven't used honey before but have heard of it being used. I was just thinking about all the possible Sugar sources (honey, molasses, fruit pulp, corn syrup, maple, etc...) and kinda crunching them in my head for any possible bennefits and the honey thing occured to me. Also, Welcome to the forums!

3BM,
I have been thinking about that, as a matter of fact when I was at the store yesterday I almost got one of those cheap PH/Moisture/TDS meters just so I could check the PH and see what it's up to. I know that during relative slow periods the PH should stabilize quite easily to an almost perfect but I'm sure it probably does jump when I add things. The tap PH is originally 8.6 "officially" by the website of the Utilities District. After I fill a 5 gallon, it sits outside for 48-72 hours with a small water pump moving it. I don't have any airstones, so I just use a 40gph pump to circulate and I'm sure that dissipates Chlorine too - the 48-72 hours gives leeway.

I haven't been real concerned with the idea of overpopulation but thats because I still maintane control over the amount that actually reaches rootzone.

Yesterday, I add some fish (MaxiCrop - 1/2cup) and immediately my foam dissipated to nothing now. I'm not sure why this happened other than maybe something to do with the oils in fish perhaps act as a natural anti-foaming agent? Any ideas about this?

I continue to treat other plants in the yard with my tea and still no negative effects observed yet. I want to make sure that the tea is absolute before I start using it on my non-expendables.

J.