Building a Small Lobster Hatchery here in the Philippines

[jamesmusslewhite]

Well the three filtration tanks are coming along nicely and we are allowing the cement mortar time to dry and cure before we start working on building the wooden form for the 6 inch cap ring on top of the tanks. This so we do not accidently loosen or cause mico-fractures in the mortar or hollow blocks from simply being too impatient. This is another reason having multiple tasks at the same time is such a benefit as it allows you to remain busy while still allowing you to not experience downtime or unwisely rushing tasks and doing things you will later regret. As ole Ben Franklin use to say, "There is never time to do a task right, but always time to do it over.'' so I heed his waning and incorporated that little pearl of wisdom into my own working philosophy. So we start on the second foundation which will be my two primary lobster tanks which will house my five breeding females, two breeding males, the mating/birthing section and the larvae collection area. These two tanks are literally the heart of the whole facility.  

and now that we are caught up with all the work done last week I will show the progress as of this morning's cup of green tea.

 

 

 

and just like before, every second row of hollow block there will be a steel rebar rib to help with the tensile strength of the tank walls and the foundation was properly dry and cured before the work started on the tank walls.

 

 

 

So the work continues and the progress is steady and the weather has been cooperating nicely. It will probably be a few days before I post anymore photos to the thread as to allow the projects to progress enough to make post interesting. I am presently uploading two video onto my Youtube channel and I will post both of them on the thread later today once they are uploaded and edited.  

[jamesmusslewhite]

16 August 2016:

Well as promised here are the two YouTube videos that I uploaded this morning.

The first video is taken inside the chicken coop

 

The second was taken inside the lobster hatchery facility

 

 

 

[jamesmusslewhite]

Well I know that I said that I would probably not be posting any photos on the thread for a few days mainly to allow the work on the saltwater tanks and inside the facility progress to make the threads interesting. But we just finished replacing the wooden blocks with the hollow blocks and installed the rain tarpaulins plus introduced the 80 laying hens to their new home about an hour ago. It was a nice end to a long day and I just had to add this post. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of room and can still easily double my overall cage space and also strong enough to handle the tropical storms coming right off the open water.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2016 by jamesmusslewhite

[jamesmusslewhite]

21 August, 2016

I have been carefully calculating the inner dimensions of every tank and equipment which will be holding saltwater so I can figure out all my water volume totals. This way I can accurately determine the required water flow output for each pump that will be needed.  My total overall saltwater volume that will be housed in this facility will be 25,350 gallons ( 96,000 liters) and must be properly circulated, filtered and run through a UV sterilizer daily. I need to insure that I have the right pumps in the right locations to insure everything runs smoothly, and I made some adjustments in my tank sizes, number of floor sumps and routing of water which requires that I rework all the figures again. With luck I will have all those numbers crunched this week and design the plumbing so I can start purchasing the pumps. This is something I need to get right the first time as I do not want to underestimate or overestimate the pumps. To overestimate my pump sizes will mean that I will have purchased pumps larger than what was needed costing more and requirement higher consumption of energy than what was needed, and to underestimate pump requirements would mean higher demands on the equipment and possibly having to repurchase many if not most of the pumps which is simply not acceptable. So taking time to check the volumes as well as calculating resistances due to fitting and routing of water to insure that lift and head requirements are met is a rather smart thing to do before running out and purchasing the wrong equipment. Like the old carpenter's saying goes, ''Measure twice and cut once.'' is a wise thing to follow..

 

Well the tanks are moving on quite nicely, in fact actually quicker than what I expected as today we ran out of hollow blocks. We finished the hollow block work on first five saltwater tanks and poured the third cement foundation. for the two largest tanks which will be the Secondary Working tank and the Saltwater Reserve tank.

 

This third foundation is for the two largest tanks which will be used in this facility and will be the 'Secondary Working' tank and the 'Saltwater Reserve' tank. These two tanks will each be (5 foot wide x 10 foot long x 6 foot high) and each will hold approximately 2,224 gallons ( 8,500 liters ) of saltwater.

 

 

But when we reached the halfway point on the side walls for these two large tanks we ran out of hollow blocks. I estimated that these seven tanks would require 700 hollow blocks. I assumed that 540 blocks had been delivered already to the island and  that the remaining 160 blocks had been formed and were just waiting to be delivered the island. Well I was wrong 

 

So construction on tank six and seven has to halted at the halfway point. I have to take the blame for this mishap as I assumed instead of verifying before hand. It was a rookie mistake and I really should have know better. fortunately this is where my practice of having several additional tasks open will works well in my favor. While we wait this week for the additional blocks to be made and cured and then delivered here to the island, I can have the crew start leveling the ground area where the remaining three foundations will be located. Once they have leveled completed we can start building the wooden forms for these last three large foundations and have them poured. I also still need all the remaining floor spaces inside the facility leveled to grade as this task must be done in preparation for me to start staking-out all the locations for the cement floor sumps. I also can start work completing all the downspout drains for the four rain gutters and rout the piping so that all the rain runoff collected in the rain gutters can be run to the rainwater collection barrels. So I should have more than enough work ahead to keep everyone busy while we wait for the new hollow blocks to arrive.    

[jamesmusslewhite]

Funny story:

 

Last night we had a strong winded rainstorm blow over this little island last night. My wife went out this morning to check on the chicks as they were making quite a ruckus. When se opened the door to the coop she discovered that almost all the chicks had escaped the cage and were all on the ground under the cage laying about or playing in the dirt. So my poor wife climbs under the cage picking up the chicks by placing them in the front of her tee-shirt and then crawling out from under the cage and putting them back into the cage again. Being over 70 chicks had escaped and these ladies can move rather quickly this was quite a task. She then was looking for any possible breech in the cage but did not see any. Then as she watched a few chicks started squeezing through the PVC food trays and evidently when one of the little ladies discovered this little trick than all the other chicks decided to follow the first. It was like some scene from the movie 'The Great escape' or 'Chicken Run'. These girls learn quickly and they obviously can communicate with each other,

 

Unrelated to this morning I have a YouTube video showing the inside of the chicken coop and the 80 clever but happy ladies who now call it home.

 

[jamesmusslewhite]

28 August, 2016

Well it has been a few days since I posted last. They are making the new hollow blocks this week at a pace of about 100 blocks a day and the first 100 or so hollow blocks were finally dry enough that they loaded the first load in the 'Arthur 1' and delivered them this morning.

 

 

Speaking of being dry, we have received very little in the way of rain today so our eight 55 gallon water barrels were depleted between the concrete work and the gardens. So we loaded three of the 55 gallon drums and about a dozen 5 gallon plastic 'Jerry' cans on the boat and took them to be filled with freshwater. The boat will probably not be back until Monday morning but we should have more than enough freshwater to start back up on the wall construction of the saltwater tanks and sufficiently tend to the plants until we can make another water run sometime on Monday. Over the last few days we have also been receiving loads of gravel and sand so now that we have the new blocks coming in we can get back to full production.  

 

Now even though we did not have hollow blocks this week we were still able to work on the concrete work. On top of each tank there will be a 6 inch thick concrete ring with a rebar rib added. This is so workers can easily enter and exit the tanks during regular maintenance without causing damage to the top hollow blocks. We built two wooden forms and poured these concrete rings on top of five of the tanks.

 

Each saltwater tank will have three 1-1/2"''(40mm) PVC overflows which will channel excess water to a below-floor level concrete sump. The PVC overflows are placed on top of the last row of hollow block where they are level with each other.  On top of the PVC overflow pipes we place the final rebar rib before the concrete is poured, this rebar rib will give the top cement ring additional strength. Each of the tanks will be used to contain several tons of saltwater so adding the rebar ribs every second row of hollow blocks and in the center of the concrete top rings should give the walls the needed strength to avoid a tank rupture even during a moderate earthquake event.  

 

 

 

Once this cement top ring has had time to properly dry and cure it will give the walls addition strength and make a solid foundation for a tiled top and front lip to the saltwater tanks. The front facings of the hollow block walls will be covered with a smooth layer of cement for esthetic purposes

 

 

And started the cement work on the inside walls of two of the saltwater tanks. We added a water sealant to the cement used to cover the inner walls and flooring in preparation for the tile inner lining which will be done inside all the saltwater tanks.

 

 

This cement inner coating actually has a sealant additive to help water proof the surface. Later there will be an additional tile inner lining to the top, sides and bottom of each water tank used in this facility. 

 

  

 

 

 

So the work continues and each day brings us closer to finishing projects and being able to start new ones. It is more than enough to keep me busy between supervising workers, doing the necessary research on topics relating to my drawings, doing the computer diagrams and designing all the intricacies of all the equipment that still needs to be built for the facility. Progress keeps moving forward and it should be another productive week ahead.

 

 

[jamesmusslewhite]

This is the 9th YouTube video in this series of weekly project updates. (01 September, 2016)

[jamesmusslewhite]

Well the work is steadily progressing on the saltwater tanks as the materials are being delivered to the site. There has been a cement layer applied over the outer surfaces of the hollow block walls

 

and the cement layer has been applied to all the surfaces of the inner walls of all three filtration tanks.

 

 

There is a waterproofing compound added to the cement mix used to layer the inner wall surfaces of the tanks.

 

These three filtration tanks only need a little additional leveling work done on the concrete ring which was poured on top of the hollow block wall. With luck these first three tanks will be finished by Tuesday. Then we will let the wall sit for a few days to allow the new cement work proper time to dry and cure. Then we can start on the application of the ceramic tile work which will be added to the top of the tanks and on all of the inner surfaces of the tanks, and all the associated plumbing work for the over-flows and floor drains. 

 

The outer cement and inner cement layers are now being added to the two lobster tanks

   

 

 

 

So the first five saltwater tanks by the end of this week will be ready for the ceramic tile tops and inner lining work to start and plumbing to be added. We also had the first 250 hollow blocks of the newest batch of 1,000 hollow blocks dried, cured and delivered to the island. So when the mason finishes the cement work on the first five tanks we can start back on the two 6 foot tall reserve tanks..  

 

So that is the progress of the saltwater tanks and facility as it stands today.

So I have to start on the rainwater gutter downspouts, level a working grade surface on the inner floor space inside the facility and start building the Stage I thru III Larvae Pots and Stage IV larvae grow-out Tray Racks, concrete anchors, floor sumps and associated plumbing. So the weeks to come will be certainly busy and additional post updates perhaps interesting to some of the members.  

 

 

[jamesmusslewhite]

I have reached the point in this ongoing construction that I need now to start working out all the particulars for building the Stage IV larvae trays and the racks which will house them. The traditional setup for lobster hatcheries has been a single level tray stand. For me I see too much wasted space requiring additional floor space meaning extra construction costs.

The early Stage IV lobster larvae are put in individual pots, short cut pieces of PVC pipe or PVC couplings. This is done because these little buggers are very cannibalistic so this is a necessary step in the general care of Stage IV larvae. The best I have seen is what I intend on using myself is plastic egg crate sheets.

All one has to do is to lay out an egg crate sheets and use a paint roller to quickly roll-out a thin layer of clear epoxy on the top of the sheet, then stretch a netting over the top of the epoxied side of the sheet, and use something like a playing card or thin piece of flexible plastic to squeegee the netting to the epoxied surface. Once the epoxy has dried then trim off the extra netting along the outer edge of the plastic egg crate sheet. Then simply flip over the sheet and place it in one of the plywood trays.

     

This allows them ample water flow and aeration while making them easy to observe, monitor and feed. The Stage IV larvae will spend about 2-1/2 to 3 months in these grow-out trays before they are removed and placed in a floating net cage located in the saltwater pond behind the hatchery facility.   

 

 

When I first stared designing them several years ago it was using fiberglass trays and heavy square iron metal racks. excellent solution but will be quite pricey especially here in the Philippines as finding suppliers for the needed metal and reliable welders fabricators for the racks, molds and fiberglass work could be extra problematic. Then I decided to make the trays out of 1/2 inch plywood and the racks out of thick walled bamboo.  This facility is designed to use 100 larvae grow-out trays which will be housed in 20 bamboo racks. Well each sheet of marine plywood sheet cost over 2,000php each. So I priced 3/8'' marine plywood sheets and found them to only cost 850php per sheet. So I decided to purchase a single sheet of 3/8'' marine plywood and build a grow-out tray to see if the 3/8'' sheets had the needed strength to handle the stress of the weight of the saltwater they need to contain. 

The 3/8'' plywood tray is (2 foot width x 8 foot length x 6' inches height.) 

It is held together with marine epoxy at all joints and small 1'' nails.

Then I added a second bead of epoxy along all the seams on the inside of the wooden tray.

After it had properly dried I found that it appears to posses the strength and the sides of the trays should not warp under the weight of the saltwater which will be contained inside the trays. All it needs is a light sanding along the top and side cut edges and once assembled having two coats of clear marine epoxy paint applied to all inside and outside surfaces of the plywood tray. This is a much cheaper and lighter solution to using then the  heavier and far more expensive 1/2'' marine plywood. I can cut the material costs by more than 50% and still have a tray that can possibly give me years of dependable use. This wooden tray is now being used as the model and it was transported back to the city where it will be duplicated and as the 100 plywood trays are being finished they will be delivered here where I will start building the first bamboo rack

    

So I sat down to figure out just how to design a bamboo rack capable of handling the weight  of the five trays. A single tray has the dimensions of 2 foot width x 8 foot length and 6 inch height. This means a tray will contain approximately 60 gallons of salt water and as a gallon of saltwater weigh 8.34 lbs. This means each of those five trays in the bamboo rack will be holding 500 pounds of saltwater each. Now consider each rack will be holding five trays each weighing 500 lbs. of water and these trays will be stacked in a bamboo tray standing over 5 feet in height, which would mean I will have 2,500 pounds distributed in a 5 + foot tall rack in a place where the floor can wiggle at various degrees depending on just how big of an earthquake we are having. This facility is designed to hold 100 grow-out trays in 20 Racks. K.I.S.S. must be observed as I need to use the bare minimum of bamboo supports as possible. This is to avoid any unnecessary clutter as possible obstructions while giving the required strengths. This is to allow ease while tending to and feeding the lobster larvae being housed in the grow-out trays. First I looked at all the cross-bracing and vertical and horizontal supports and you quickly realize issues with blocking easy access to the individual 2''x2'' square spaces in the egg crate sheets. But when I built the plywood tray I had some 6'' strips of 3/8'' plywood, and that was when it hit me. Use plywood to make brackets and braces and use wooden pins in the bamboo, then all that has to be done is use heavy (150) nylon to lash together all the corners, braces and brackets. This allows the necessary bracing while freeing the use of extra bamboo bracing which could easily cause unnecessary cluttering.

 

 

The individual rack trays can use plywood braces and brackets which can easily be lashed together and then the racks lashed to the rack braces. Very simple, very strong and very ridged but not needing additional heavy bamboo lengths. This allows open access and relatively little obstruction on what will be a rather tight working space.   

So I expect to be able to start building the first bamboo racks in the next couple of weeks, so I will be able to test this design and see if it needs any modification. With luck this will be actual solution which will be very cost effective compared to expense of fabricating fiberglass trays and square iron metal racks. If this does work than it helps to allow a facility like this to be duplicated with a much smaller investment budget. My intent to build this facility as cheaply as possible but by using sound reliable alternatives that will still give years of dependable service. I believe this is in keeping with that objective, and is an excellent money saving alternative.  

 

 

 

[jamesmusslewhite]

WARNING! This post is an utterly shameless act of self-promotion...

This link below is to my YouTube channel where I have been regularly uploading videos each week showing the weekly progress of construction of this lobster hatchery project. Please feel free to visit and view the videos and if you wish 'subscribe' drop a 'like' or simply drop a comment or message.

https://www.youtube....hnZ0MgGyXiJh5KA

 

 

Edited October 3, 2016 by jamesmusslewhite