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G-Towers

by Larry Athey

See also Smart Grow Technologies

Instructions - Building Towers.

  • First, cut a 4” drain tube to size
    • Mark and drill ¼” keyholes at every 6” of vertical distance
    • Spread verticals by 3”
    • Mark a horizontal line ¾” in each direction, and cut line with jigsaw
  • Heat hole with a heat gun until edges start to curl
  • Ream it out with a LA Reamer - a coke bottle
  • Cut filter medium

Actual Process:

  • Slits were made with a cutoff saw
  • 2 vertical rows only, not all around collumn.

Instructions - Operation

  • Make tower
  • Grow fish
  • Prior to fish, use compost leachate and compost tea
  • Feed tube is a ½” greenhouse water tube
  • Drain the Tubes into a trough that can filter addition waste, such as an azolla trough

Questions

  • Can we start g-towers prior to establishing fish culture? Can we use leachate from finished compost beds or from worm towers?

Sourcing

  • Filter medium - Keith Pavlansky - Hibco - 800.849.8683. MOQ=$350, enough for about 35 towers of 3’ length.

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Notes

  • The OSE build improved on the above instructions in 2015 and 2016 by marking the holes first, and then cutting with a miter saw using a stop so that the cutting stops at the right depth. A miter saw or cutoff saw works well on PVC.