Weeks and weeks of data is collected on the biosphere IV.  It will be published once I get it formatted.  The RH remains around 55% to 81%.  The CO2 is around 500 ppm.  Last, the temperate swings between 18 C to 25 C.  The water temperature remains a 10 C.

A lot of the traditional methods for farming in a biosphere are not used.  They are not sustainable in a small area.  The soil has to be cycled like a new fish tank.  It's accelerated by adding kelp, fish and compost. Read below for more details.   

Current Status of System

A number of plants have been planted to start the micro biology in the soil.  It turns out that disturbed soil is more damaged then realized.  The micro biology has to start over in making openings for air to get down into the soil. 

Push/Pull Soil Building Method

This method consists of a producer and a consumer plant planted intermingled between each other.  Here is a small list of producer plants:

• Fava Beans


• Peas


• Vetch


• Clover


• Grass (added with Azospirillum Brasilense)


• Any nitrogen fixer

 

Here is a list of plants that are consumers:

• Wheat


• Red Winter Wheat


• Any brassica or rhizome plant (grasses) - any early succession plant will do.  It needs to be seasonal.

The plan is to grow both together in the same soil and force the plants to grow together.  In the soil the legumes will die off and release NH3 which is turned into NO3 through bacteria in the soil.  The purpose is to grow the number of nitrogen fixing bacterium from NH3.  Do not put any fertilizer of any kind.  It shorts circuits the process and lengths the soil development time.  The grass consumes the fixed nitrogen; hence, building up the predator/prey life cycle.  

Adding compost helps, but not compost grown from your kitchen scraps.  There are too many chemicals in the supermarket food that hinders a wide diversity of animals.  If you are going to use horse or cow poop for your compost, check with the grower for the hay for the animals.  Often they are using herbicides that are not filtered out through the cow or horse.  This gets into your compost and into your plants.  There are times you need to check your compost with bean plants to see if there is RoundUp or something still in the soil.  Sprouting bean seeds in compost will show if there is stunted growth.  below is a picture of a tomato plant stunted by RoundUp compost from a horse farm.

Conclusion:  After a few years of using this cover crop, your soil is just beginning to recover.  This method can be used on dead soil (soil excavated from a basement or some underground project).  When the weeds are moving in, that is a good sign your soil is getting life.

Marine Tank

The marine tank is clearing up. The runaway algae has slowed down and seaweed beginning o take over.  There are a number of sand crabs hatching from eggs lain by their previous generation.  The water is clearing up.  The center of the picture below is one of the chimneys where air is pumped directly from the land tanks and is mixed with the salt water.  Again, there are no pumps in this system to blend up the microbiology.  

Here is another view of the marine tank.

Adding more Starting Organic Material

After taking soil samples of the farming tank, I noticed that my soil microbiology is very slim.  It needs to be built up.  

Soil Analysis

The soil had 300 ugm/gm of bacteria and half of that of fungus.  This is not enough to keep anything alive.  I decided to plant vetch, sorrel  and arrowhead.  These plants are all edible by rodents or anything I want to put into the tanks.

Adding Compost

This is the easiest way to add diversity to soil and build the soil predator/prey cycle is adding compost.  It only needs to be added to the duff layer; nothing deeper.  If there are plant roots and other water movement systems available, the microorganism will follow.  

Adding Kelp

Food for protests.  A completely blended fish is food for fungus.  You can get some at a hydroponic store, or a Vietnamese Supermarket.  It's called fish sauce.  There is another fish sauce that is fermented fish stomachs.  That one is clear yellow.  That is not what I’m talking about. 

Below are some pictures of the current system.

 

Water (Balance Sheet)
The farming tanks are taking almost 100% by weight of water to soil.  This means the microbiology is building up and storing water in the microorganisms.  Most of the time the soil is dry when upper plant growth occurs.  Some of the added water goes into building plants, leaves and stems.  The rest goes into the soil and builds.  

As times goes on, both tanks are taking less and less added water.  It's almost taking nothing.

 

CO2 levels stay level in an hermetically closed ecosystem for weeks by cycling day and night while passing all air through a marine tank growing phytoplankton.  When the system is first put together, the CO2 levels spiral until the plants and bacteria cycles get established.  This biosphere has a diversity of 15 different plants growing in an enclosed space.  The trick is to balance the plants out depending on their function in the ecosystem.  (including worms and insects)

Enclosed systems in the past generally consisted of one plant in a bottle.   They are easy to start.  Most of the time they are bogs.  Below is a link to one of them.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2267504/The-sealed-bottle-garden-thriving-40-years-fresh-air-water.html

Below is a description how the data is collected.  See other posting for how the Biosphere IV is made.

Data Results:

The following chart shows a typical day in the biosphere.  The left half of the chart is with lights on.  The right side is lights off for 12 hours.  The RH is in yellow.  You can see the scales on both sides of the graph.  Twice a day there is a dehumidifier defrosting cycle.  One in the day and one at night.  The blue line is CO2 in ppm.  It's a bit high; however, animals live for weeks at this level. 

Temperature and DP are always the same.  The DP is a calculated number by the measuring device. Here is a simplified version of the formula.  In most cases, air pressure is considered.

Tdew point = T - ((100 - RH)/5.)

And Relative Humidify is also dependent on air pressure and temperature.  It is not Absolute Humidity, but Relative.  

When given temperature and dewpoint, the vapor pressure (plugging Td in place of T into Clausius-Clapeyron equation) and the saturation vapor pressure (plugging T into Clausius-Clapeyron equation) can be determined. The RH = E/Es*100%. 

Clausius-Clapeyron equation


LN(Es/6.11) = (L/Rv )(1/273 - 1/T)

Es = Saturation vapor pressure

L = Latent heat of vaporization = 2.453 × 10^6 J/kg

Rv = Gas constant for moist air = 461 J/kg

T = Temperature in Kelvins

 

Equipement:

• Monitor indoor air quality and carbon dioxide levels in greenhouses 

• Displays temperature, relative humidity and CO2 simultaneously 

• CO2: 0 to 2,000 ppm, Accuracy: ±5% 

• Temperature: 14 to 140ºF (-10º to 60ºC), Accuracy: ±0.9ºF (±0.5ºC) 

• RH: 0.0% to 99.9%, Accuracy: ±3%

There is an RS232 output on the side of the unit.  The RS232 data is 9600 baud at 5 volt levels that needs to be pulled up to 3V3 or 5V using a 300 ohm resistor tied high.  The data is inverted from the standard RS232 standard. "0" =   -15v  equal +5v. "1" =  +15v = 0V.  This means there is no need to use the MAXUM chip MAX232 converter.  It can be directly connected to a Bluetooth module.  (HC-05 or HC-06 will work).  However, don't forget the pull-up resistor to high data output.  There is no connection for sending data to the unit, just out.

 

The RS232 outputs the current data in the format described below.  

CO2              Temp      RH          Dew Point

C594ppm    T22.6C    H89.6%    d20.7C    w21.3C59

Data comes out every 2 to 3 seconds.  It is then captured using a terminal software called Putty.  

Equipment Setup:

It requires opening the CO2 meter up and inserting a HC-06 board.  The power for the Bluetooth device is connected to the power adapter plug-in.  The unit can run off batteries, but it dies after a couple of days.  It's best to run off an adapter.

After the HC-06 is powered by the adapter, connect the connections directly to the "out" of the RS232 1/8 inch mono-audio receptacle.  It appears there are a lot of tricks put into the CO2 meter discouraging what I did.  They want you to buy the USB to RS232 adapter and software.  A wire needs to be connected between the ground of the RS232 connector to the mounting ring of the 1/8 inch receptacle.  It's embedded partly in the plastic housing.  When the jack is in place, it connects the GND to that ring by default.  It will not work without that connection in place.

 

Discussion:

The CO2 trends seem to follow the night and day.  At night plants make CO2 to grow; during the day they take CO2 and produce O2.  O2 is around 21% all the time.  And all air cycles through marine tank throughout the day.  And it appears the CO2 follows the RH changes.  This is really noticeable when a biosphere is first put together.  The CO2 will go as high as 1500ppm and the RH is 100%.  After a week or two, the CO2 comes down and stabilizes around a range of 380 to 600 ppm at a RH of 65 to 80%.  The Earth's average CO2 is around 450 ppm.  Indoor CO2 levels are around 600ppm.

Using three tanks, one for day, another for night and the last for marine phytoplankton CO2 sinking, it's possible to keep a stable CO2 levels.  

 

Remy, the rat (named from the movie Ratatouille), is named because this rat has to forage for it's own food in the biosphere.  In the movie the rat has to cook.  It's been in the sealed biosphere for two weeks and the CO2 levels have averaged around 400 ppm.  Sometimes less.  And sometimes more.  Obviously not high enough to kill the rat.  

 

The rat eats off the plants growing in the biosphere.  Plants are watered by the dehumidifiers in the center of the tanks.  The waste products from the rat are consumed within the soil.  It takes about two weeks for the waste products to start decomposing.  The smell in the tank went very "ratty" for while and then started to smell again like organic soil.  The CO2 levels raised when the rat is first put in.  There was a surge of required water.

 

The rat's health improved.  The coat (fir) is shiner and the rat has more energy than when I first got it from the pet store.  When the rat was first introduced, it ate none-stop.  After about two days, it slowed down and the rat's movements improved.  The O2 levels in the biosphere are around 22%.  It's a bit higher than the outside.

Remy

Pictured below is Remy sleeping on the air pump pushing air from this tank into the marine tank.  The average temperature in the tank is around 21 degrees C.  The light was turned on to take the picture this morning.  Rats seem to sleep hard.  That pump is vibrating.  They are nocturnal animals.    

 

Below is the complete setup.  The rat is resting on the air pump.  Air is constantly moved between all of the tanks.  That can be seen on the left two pipes.

:

The air pump moves air into the marine tank off to the right.  CO2 from the plant/farming tank is mixed with the phytoplankton growing in the water and produces more O2 while absorbing CO2.  Pictured below is the air bubbling within a glass chimney to provide water movement.  There are no pumps in the marine layer.  The only pumps are the water/air glass chimneys.  There are also no plastics within the biosphere.  Plastics gas off toxins that slow/stop reproduction of microbiology within the water and air.

Carbon Dioxide Levels

The RH levels in the tank effect the readings from the CO2 meter.  When the RH is around 99%, the CO2 meter reads around 2000 ppm CO2.  This is not the case.  Once the meter is removed from the tank and is left to stabilized in around 40% RH, it goes back to around 400 ppm.  (the earth's CO2 level is around 400 ppm)

 

When taking readings using current CO2 meter, I've learned to take RH into consideration with the measurement.  The CO2 levels hang around 350 to 450 ppm.  

 

The light levels in the tank effect the CO2 levels more than I realized.  This past week, one more light is added to each tank.  This decreased the CO2 levels by 30% within the first 15 to 20- minutes.  One light is added to each day and night tank.  CO2 levels started to hover around 350 ppm.  

Rat Behaviors

The habit of the housed animal needs to be understood and configured within the biosphere.  Rats make paths, chew on things and like to dig.  See the picture below.    

They drink water and can eat insects, worms and plants.  This is a small rat, if it gets larger, I may have to switch out the animal for this test.

 

A small grade (1/4 inch square) galvanized screen is used to cover the soil top in the left biosphere.  It's anchored with 5-inch pins.  This prevents the rat from digging up the plants.  You can see in the picture the rat dug up the sorrel plant.  The original shape of the pot can be seen.

 

In addition to screens covering the ground, all equipment is raised out of reach.  

 

Last, rats have to chew on things to keep their teeth short or they will starve because they can eat anything.  This is a common problem with rabbits.  Wood for chewing is provided.  It is also raised into the air.  Rats don't have homes on the ground; they live in trees and small bushes.  That is why this rat picked the air pump location for sleeping.  

 

Rabbit with overgrown teeth pictured below.

Grown Food

The left plant tank received new soil and potted plants.   Plants are placed directly into the soil.  This tank is left along from about 2 weeks to let it get established before the rat enters for feeding.  The plants are on the bottom and the dehumidifier is on the ceiling dripping water into the beaker.

Provided Water

The left biosphere tank is a plant growth tank.  It's used to house the rat every two to three weeks.  The rat grazes in one tank at a time; while the other tank has time to recover.

 

It can be seen in the center of the tank, there is a 100 ml beaker planted in the soil.  This is a water source for the rat and plants.  Water drips from the dehumidifier attached to the ceiling of the tank.  Because of the behavior of the rat, wires and fans need to be placed where the rat cannot climb along the wires or hoses.  This includes wires and small paths leading to fans and equipment.    

Attached on the ceiling is a small fan blowing air over the condensation fins.  Everything is hung from the ceiling to prevent the rat from climbing and chewing on the wires/hoses

Air Movement

Air movement does many things.  Air movement does more than we realize.  Air movement (wind) strengths plants for stability.  Air moves bacteria and microbiology around onto the canopy and under canopy to promote diversity.  Air movement also keeps a steady flow of high RH air over the condensation fins.  The RH went from 99% to 76% with in one hour after the fan was introduced.  Water drips occurred and dripped into the beaker below.  It has a rate of around 100ml per 4 hours.

Pictured below is one fan used for moving air around.  Since the discoverly of the importance of air movement, all of the fans are getting upgraded to something larger.

Summary: CO2 levels have been averaging round 400 ppm.  It started around 800 ppm when the tank is first closed.  Three weeks have passed.  And the CO2 level dropped.  The water level in the two plant tanks is going down.  This means the soil is drying out.   Dry soil was originally placed in the tanks.  Here is a list of general observations:

• The RH shifted from 89% down to 63% (Ave).


• The tank temperature is around 25/20 degrees C (day/night).


• CO2 averaged a little less than 400 ppm.  


• Plants started to stall in growing because of the lack of water.

The system is re-opened and the air pump is installed for the marine tank.  The soil in the right tank is watered until it starts to shift over into the sand.  The plants in the left tank are watered and placed on sand.  The screen support system is removed.  

Mirrors are added to the left tank for light distribution.

Since no water can get in or out of the system, it is concluded that the water in the tank's air must have been consumed by the plant's growth as foliage or went into the soil.  As the RH goes down, the amount of CO2 goes down as well.  It is observed that plant growth slowed down.  It cannot be concluded that plant growth slowed because of the lack of water.  It can have slowed because of lack of CO2 too.  CO2 is also produced on the soil layer.  This sounds like an experiment on the side.  

 

Light States

Sun light hits the earth 24 hr/7 days a week.  This means CO2 is produced on the dark side and O2 is being produced by plants on the lit side.  As the earth spins around, the CO2 is mixed and is distributed all over the place.  The same goes for O2.  

Since plants grow at night, they off gas CO2.  That means in a small confined volume, something needs to be taking up the CO2 and producing O2.  In this case, two tanks are swapped back and forth with lights.  Two small fans blow air between all of the tanks.

State 1

The center tank has its lights on for 12 hours.  The marine and left tank's lights are off.  The air pump continues to work all the time.  

State 2

LED lights are OK for lighting.  They get hot and add heat to the system.  They need to be cooled for life extension.  They are point source of light.  That means light is always coming  from one point source.  Light does not go under the leaves and around in all locations.  Plastic mirrors are places on three of the four sides of each tank to help spread light.  The light from the LEDs are reflected to all sections of the tank.  This helps with efficiency.  

Current Trend of CO2

The CO2 trend is lowering.  When the RH is high and CO2 is lowering, it means the plant leaves are working consuming CO2.  When the CO2 is high after watering, (around 900 ppm) it means plants are growing new leaves, but they are not developed enough to keep a high flow of CO2 to O2.  

Since the system volume is very low, CO2 gets tipsy.  While learning how to become a biosphere farmer, it makes a difference how much volume of foliage exists in the system.  The plants need time to establish and grow before anything new is introduced into the system.  This appears to be the same steps nature took before four legged creatures appeared on the earth.

 

Internal Air Pump

The piston air pump is installed inside the biosphere.  Air from inside the tanks is pumped into the air stones on the marine water.  It is noticed that the marine water grows more phytoplankton when the CO2 is up.  It is currently getting more and more green.  

Air stones are a bad way to blow air into water.  They get plugged up easily with bacteria and dirt.  The chimney pumps are getting replaced with graduated cylinders with glass pipes as the bottom to let in water and to pressure air.  Are will be released through an opening off a 4 mm glass pipes.  Graduated cylinders are used because they have a natural stand at the bottom and an opening at the top.  The current air stones are beginning to plug up and block air flow.  Since biospheres are self-contained, it is important there is high equipment reliability.

Water Cycle

The dehumidifiers are not pulling enough water out of the air to feed the plants.  More water is placed in the soil for initial starts.  It appears water needs to be monitored and controlled depending on the system's temperature and amount of foliage present on plants.  

Future Goals:

•                  Monitor the amount of water for starting up a system.


•                   Monitor the relationship between CO2, plant foliage and RH.


•                   Increase the amount of general foliage in the system to balance out the night.


•                  Increase airflow between the marine layer and the farming tanks.

Currently the CO2 level is shifting between 530 ppm to 609 ppm daily, since the new system was setup.  It was set up 3 days ago.  It takes time for the system to stabilize and grow into the environment.  The CO2 levels are way too high for a rodent, yet.  

This system does not have the marine tank connected to it.  Below is the configurations description:

• Two of the three tanks are used.


• 12 hours on and 12 hours off lights alternating tanks.


• Mirrors are placed on some of the walls reflecting the LED light back into the tank at different angles.


• Fans continue to blow air between both tanks.


• The RH is stuck at 99% day and night.


• Dehumidifiers are on 24 hours.


• Temperature is stable at 25 degrees C.


• Oxygen is at 21 to 22 %.


• All other gasses are unchanged.


• More than half of the pots in the tanks do not have leaves growing out of them.  They are still germinating seeds. 


• Ample water is being drawn out of the air to water plants in both tanks. 


• Water is beginning to dry up on the left tank.  (This is the water that poured out of the pots when the system was set up)


• CO2 does not jump up at night any more.  It's a constant average 578 ppm.  Still too high for animals.  Plants have almost grown twice their size from three days ago.  Plants seem to grow very fast in this environment.  

Plans:

• The left tank will have sifted soil placed in it.  


• All of the potted plants in the right tank will be planted into the sifted soil.  Water is being collected from the air and is dumped into the soil.  (This will remove the extra surface area around the pots).


• The marine layer will be connected to the two remaining tanks.


• An attempt will be to lower the RH.  Something as removing puddles of water can help with that.  In other biospheres, the RH settled around 55%.


• Give time for the system to grow into the environment.

It's planned to put in a few rodents in the biosphere when the CO2 is stabilized under 400 ppm.  The rodents need water and something to eat.  Currently a vegetarian diet it planned for them.  Water needs to be available for them too.  This is done with a beaker where dehumidified water is purred into before it overflows into the soil.  

 

There are two identical tanks, one is used for hosing the inhabitants while the other has recovering plants after eaten by the rodents.  It's a crop swapping method.  A 1 oz. mouse will eat around 3 to 4 grams of plant material and water.  That's already has been tested and the plants have been picked.  It's important to make the biosphere maintenance free because it's difficult to get in and out.  And I've found out nature can take care of itself better than I can.

 

Below is a picture of a glass funnel filling a beaker with dehumidified water.  The beaker overflows and waters the soil.  Soil is sifted in a manner where water moves horizontally to water all plants in the bed.  No mechanical irrigation needed.  See this link on the testing:

 

https://celss.net/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=3964

 

Below is a picture of the dehumidifier and the glass funnel.  Glass needs to be used instead of plastics because of the out gassing plastics have.

Inhabitance Habit Control

 

Rodents like to dig and chew on things.  It's important they are placed into an environment where the mechanics of the biosphere are not compromised by the rats.  

First - chewing

They like to chew on wires and plants.  Some to eat and others to make a path for them to walk.  Rabbits do that a lot.  The dehumidifier is placed at the top of the biosphere; out of reach of the rat/mouse.  A long tube channels water to the puddle (beaker) below.  What ever water is splashed out is absorbed by the soil. It's always fresh water.

Second - digging.

Below are pictures of planters that have a screen laying over the top.  Seeds for perennial vegetables are sown under the screen.  The screen will prevent the rat from digging up the plants.  Since the biosphere are so small, every square inch is important.  This is not like an open field.

The earth is always exposed to light and heat from the sun.  However, from our point of view, we see light and dark every 24 hours.  Plants have a adapted to light cycling.  Plants absorb carbon dioxide during the day and let out oxygen.  At night they consume the sugars collected through the day and use it to build more leaves and grow.  At this time they release carbon dioxide to the air

A biosphere needs to imitate day and night in the same way.  If plants are put into the dark for a time, they will not grow to produce food for inhabitants.  That means the lights cannot be kept on all the time.  To solved the problem, the biosphere is separated into two chambers.  One tank for day and other for night.  Each one is kept on 12 hours and then off for the remaining 12 hours.  The tank's lights are off by 180 degree cycle.  This means the tank with the lights "on" has to be developed enough to absorb the CO2 produced by the dark tank and vies-versa.  

Before this processes was developed, the CO2 level would stabilize to 2200 ppm.  This is with one tank and a 12 hour light cycle.  With both tanks connected together with air movement, it stabilizes around 540 ppm.  As the RH and temperature goes down, the CO2 also lowers.  As the tanks remains closed to outside air, the O2 hovers around 20% to 21%.  Other gasses like methane and NOX do not seem to change.  Before any animals are released into the biosphere, the CO2 needs to be consistently below 400 ppm.

Air movement

Wind is everything.  This is the device that mixes everything together.  CO2 is heavy and will settle to the bottom of the tank.  A fan moving air is needed to get gasses in contact with the leaves.  Just adding air movement reduces the CO2 by 500 ppm.

Below is a picture of a wind indicator coming out one of the pipe between both tanks.  It's a piece of plastic taped to the inside wall.  A small fan is attached to the in and out of the other tank.

Configuring a Mini-Spinning Earth

Both tanks need to be separated by a physical barrier but combined by air.  In this case you can see in the picture below the left tank is lit while the right one is off.  The two black pipes move air between each tank 24 hours.  The bottom pipe moves with from the left to the right.  The top one move air from right to left.  There are small fans in front of the pipes inside the left tank.  One point in and other point outwards.   Plants grow in both tanks.

The last pipe is attached to the marine tank.  Air will be pumped from the left tank and bubbled in the marine tank.  The returned air is piped back into the middle tank.  Please see the picture below.  This is not operational at this time.  The current test is to see how the plants can perform and reduce CO2 without the ocean.

There are two separate times for the lights.  While one tank is on, the other is off.  The marine tank is on its own schedule.

Other sources of Carbon Dioxide

The walls of the tank are a biosphere enemy; when it comes to controlling CO2.  Bacteria grows on the glass walls consuming light and moisture from the air.  The higher the moisture, the higher the CO2.  For instance, if all the walls are wiped down with isopropyl alcohol, the CO2 level goes down to around 100 ppm.  If water is left in a glass in an enclosed tank, the CO2 level will slowly increase to easily 10000 ppm.  It will take longer if the walls are wiped beforehand.  

If the walls are not wiped down, the CO2 shoots up.

If a plant in a pot is left in an enclosed tank, the CO2 will jump abruptly.  It will peak around 700 to 800 ppm and then settle to 600 ppm.  Slowly (over a few weeks) the CO2 will rise over 2000 ppm.  This is will a light source turned on and off every 12 hours.  If the plant is recently watered, the CO2 level climbs faster.

Future

This experiment is nowhere close to being completed.  I got CO2 to be consist around 550 ppm. It needs to be lowered.  As the tanks dry out and water is removed from the air, the CO2 has gone down under 500 ppm.  There are three dehumidifies in both tanks.  They are pulling out water from the air and watering the plants.  You can see in the right tank that is full of sifted soil.  Water is being pulled out of the air and dumping into the dry soil.  

There is also no soil in the left tank.  There are stilts holding up a screen where pots are supported.  Water dips to the bottom and create a load of CO2.  Once that is changed, I expect the CO2 to drop around 200 ppm.  This is the equilibrium achieved in earlier biospheres.

Stilts in tank

Sifted soil

General

(This blog post is not completed)

This biosphere was put together around 10 years ago.  A lot of time goes by when establishing biospheres.  This was the first biosphere attempt.  I needed to start small because I knew there would be mistakes along the way.  It started out as a climate simulator where I collected data in a number micro-climates.  A system needed to be designed where is would emulate a climate.  Very quickly I learned I did not really understand how the eco-system on the earth really worked.  Since then, my perception how the earth's eco-system works is really different than the normal thought process and intuition.

Before I can make a climate simulator, I needed to get something to grow in an enclosed space without it going into a mono-culture.  After doing extensive research on biospheres around the world, people putting a plant or two in a bottle and sealing it up for 70 years, no one really has been successful in bottling up Mother Nature.  Here's my turn.

I knew I would have to make a lot of new biospheres and keep solving problems once I solved another problem.  My experience in building inventions is to take a lot of good small ideas and put them into one system.  No one will wake up one day with a vision how to do this.  That is the sure way to fail.  There are too many problems to solve and it has to be done incrementally.

This version of the biosphere is my first best guess how to cork up Mother Nature.  It was decided to first use a high metabolism eco-system where I can be impatient and see results.  The majority of effort was put into getting the parts together and making it.  Below is a list of components and functions in this first biosphere.

Pictured below is the front of Biosphere I.  A breadboard computer (PIC 18F) with 16 segment LED display (a little of my past)  to monitor CO2, O2, NH4, H2SO4, water pH, air pressure, water temperature, RH and air temperature.  It is also used to control air circulation fans, air pressure for rain, water temperature, lights and RH.

The general structure is simple.  There was one immediate problem the needed to be solved before anything else would grow inside the tank.  There is way too much heat from the outside going into the tank.  The lights themselves was a huge problem.  An HID light can raise the air temperature 30 degrees C in a couple of house.  Later the lights were switched out for LEDs, but they heat up too and their reliability is not good.  Not only did I have to solve the problems with heat, but equipment failure and maintenance became an issue.

Ultimately the entire tank had to be surrounded with a plywood box and insulation.  A small dorm refrigerator was used to pass chilled air between the tank and the plywood box.  It did not work and a small window air-conditioned had to be used.  The lights had to be chilled with fans.  Finally the temperature stabilized.

Last, the bottom of the tank would be filled with water about 3 inches deep.  This would be the start of cycling the tank into a bog.  Aquaponic water is used.  The first food source was a dead rat one our cats gave us as a gift.  There is no water circulation.

Dehumidifier

This device is used to control the RH inside the biosphere.  A thermal electric water chiller is used outside of water.  The evaporated humidity would condense on the chiller and freeze.  It turned out the dehumidifier had to be cycled on and off every 30 minutes.  It was also discovered that methane would be generated for about 15 to 25 minutes.  It was a result from the defrosting of the dehumidifier.  Methane is lighter than air and would hang around at the top of the tank.  The bacteria on the ceiling of the tank would eat it up and produce CO2.  The CO2 would then drop to the bottom of the tank.  It would be consumed by the plants in the bog.  There are really no methane issue(s) in biospheres.  This is how the earth is different than a biosphere.  Methane rises up into the atmosphere and combines with ozone and OH ions.  And then it turns into NOx because of unburned petroleum form car's exhaust. Hence, smog

 

 

Lights

 

 

Water/Bog Level

 

Biosphere Cycling

 

 

CPU and Instrumentation

 

Pumps

Required Plant Types

Since there is limited access to the insides of the biosphere once it is closed up, it is important to plant plants that stay established.  It's best to use perennial vegetables where they come back year after year.  Below is a list of perennial vegetables that can be eaten by a gerbil or mouse and still survive.  All plants have been acquired over the years and are not being tested for growing in the biosphere IV.

Most of these plants are Vietnamese herbs.  They can be grown from seeds and/or acquired in pots at Vietnamese grocery stores.

Plant List

Rice paddy herb

Limnophila aromatica

Mexican coriander, thorny coriander, culantro, saw-leaf herb, saw-tooth herb, recao, Tabasco parsley 

Eryngium foetidum

Vietnamese coriander, hot mint, daun laksa, daun kakok, daun kesum, laksa leaf

Polygonum odoratum

Vap ca, Fish mint, fishscale mint

Houttuynia cordata

Sorrel (oseille in French)

Rumex family

Sending data and control lines into and out of a biosphere can be challenging.  In the past, holes have been drill through plastics walls and connectors used to seal the air in/out.  This is not possible with a none-plastic biosphere.  Since plastics can't be used in biosphere because of emitting of toxic gasses, data collection has to be reinvented.  Radio is OK, so far.

Bluetooth Schematics

I picked Bluetooth because it's cheap and easy to interface.  There are a lot of Bluetooth devices out on the market, but most of them are cheap and you get what you pay for.  In this case there is only 10 feet between the tank and the computer.  The really cheap HC-06 works OK.  If you are serious about laying out a board for a real product, don't use any of the Adriano hobby boards.  They go about 10 to 20 feet and that's it.  But for this test, one of the $3.00 boards works OK.

Most Bluetooths’ work on RS232 at 5 volts.  Not the standard RS232 voltage range from + to - 15 volts.  That means you need to change the logic levels from 15 volts to 5 volts.  Some of the instrumentation devices have an RS232 output port.  That can be channeled into a Bluetooth and collected by using an RS232 terminal simulation like Putty.   Putty can be downloaded and used for free at this site:

http://www.putty.org/

Below is a general schematics of RS232 connected to a Bluetooth device.  It is required to have a 3.3 volt power supply.  This runs the MAX232 chip and the HC-06.

Below is a picture of the current Bluetooth connected to an DO meter.

Pictured below is the data from the DO unit.  It's very cryptic and needs to be parsed.  

 

Instrumentation Methods

In this test, I'm collecting data for DO, RH, temperature and CO2.  The DO meter sends data out its RS232 port.  That is connected to a MAXS232 chip and converted to a HC-06 Bluetooth logic levels.  It's then collected by using Putty.  After, the data is imported into Excel and graphed.

Pictured below is a DO meter that is connected to a DO meter.  

When buying equipment for measuring biosphere, it's best to get something that can send collected data to an output.  A lot of the equipment can't do that.

 

Gerbil Test Tank

The respiratory exchange ratio (RER) is the ratio between the amount of oxygen (O₂) consumed and carbon dioxide (CO₂) produced in one breath.  This needs to be determined for test subjects. Since it's planned to put a mouse or something with four legs in the biosphere IV, it needs to be determined if the marine ocean section can handle the CO2/O2 load. Not only does the animal throw out CO2, but its poop and the (pre) rotting food it does not eat at the time.  

It's better to do a rough calculation of the gas cycle(s) before spending a lot of time, money and energy on building a system that will fail.  It is better to take out as many variables as possible while building systems.  It's understood how to sink CO2 and produce it in any quantities, but loading down the system is not understood.  This test tank is used to answer the questions for designing a farming tank(s).

Goals:

• Find the RER for a gerbil.


• Observe daily habits for creating an environment where the gerbil will not tear up everything in the farming chambers.


• Determine eating habits (which plants the gerbil eats and record weight gain or loss)


• Determine how much CO2 is thrown by poop and pee.


• Determine the number of plants and their growth habits.  (this explores how many plants need to be moved away for recovery before presenting the plant back to the gerbil)


• Train gerbil to eat through foraging.  (Since the farming chambers are small and not easy to access without breaking seals for exchange of gasses to the outside, it's easier to let the animal do what it does naturally and build the environment to help it.)

All glass walls, containers and equipment is wiped down with isopropyl alcohol before conducting the test.  It's been known for bacteria attached to walls and equipment swinging results.  And the gerbil will not be wiped down.  It brings in what it has.  In most cases (when it comes to worms and insects), they contain all of the bacteria and animals to help with their decomposition/construction life cycle.

Respiratory Exchange Ratio

In general the RER is around 0.8 (O2/CO2) at rest.  If it goes higher, we are consuming food we just ate.  Anything higher than 1.0 is consuming energy for movement.  Anything lower than 0.7 is consuming stored energy.  This is calculated by measuring the amount of dissolved O2 and CO2 over 24 hour period.  It needs to be for hours and averaged.  Sometimes these kind of experiments take a day to two for stabilizing  the bacteria on the walls of the tank.

 

Design Description/Results

Pictured below is the latest configuration for extracting water out of the air and putting into soil.  Looking close at the soil through the glass, water did not go straight down into the sand, but outwards.  This means uniform sized soil particles are needed for holding water in soil.  Plant roots have access to water without using irrigation or artificial means while water is coming in at one point source.

Please note there are no added elements like perlite or water retaining substances in the soil.  This is plain sifted soil.  There is no reason why this method could be not used in the garden.

Pictured below is a beaker with two to three days of condensation inside the tank.

New Configuration

Pictured below are added plants to the large beaker.  The shot-glass is added as a pool for avoiding erosion and providing a pool for the future gerbil to drink water.

Close up picture of the dehumidifier fins dripping water into the shot-glass.  By this time the water has filled the glass and is pouring over into the soil around it.  Currently the new planted sorrel has new leaves coming up from this irrigation system.  

 

Experiment testing goals: In this biosphere, it is planned to take water from the air (it evaporates from the marine tank) and waters freshwater plants.  Any unused water runs off the water table tank and ends up back in the ocean, marine tank.  A dehumidifier is used to take the water out of the air.

The current experiment setup did not produce enough water to supply two strawberry plants.  It is also  not enough water to examine how water moves within soil.  The setup is not in a true biosphere.  It was left in 15% RH and very little water is removed from the air.  In an enclosed system, there is a direct link between the marine tank and the dehumidifiers.  That is now changed.

Current Setup Changes

After 2 days

BioSphere IV Introduction

So far a closed eco-system can be developed without any animals other than roaches and small pill bugs with no problem.  The process of establishing  CO2, O2, water and other cycles can be achieved within about 6 months for a given container (sphere, cube, if you like).  Fish and shell fish have been growing for years in these Biosphere.  Below is a crab living for two years in a biosphere.  Wires are handing around the sides.

 

So far I have not grown food for human consumption when using this technology.  This Biosphere is designed for providing a closed living environment for something that runs around on four legs and farms food.

 

Goals

• Solve automated water irrigation problems with soil (make sure all fresh was is not drained back to the ocean)


• Sustain the environment for a mouse to live in a hermetically closed biosphere for a year or so.  (Most of the biospheres run for about a year or 2 until I take it apart to make changes for the next one)


• Create a process to control plant overgrowth and succession.


• Create processes for growing food for the mouse in the form of foraging.  (It's very difficult to go into the biosphere without opening up.  It's best to do automated practices)


• Create an environment that is in line with a mousses' habits (digging, eating, chewing and etc....)

Overview

Tanks

There are three 40 gallon breading fish tanks used.  One is used for the marine layer.  The other two are used for farming and the mouse.  The tanks are connected with a 4 inch pipe (not made of plastic) where are can move from tank to tank.  There is a door between the two farming tanks.  The mouse is moved into one farming tank while plants have a chance to grow after being eating.  This is something like crop rotations for mice.

 

Pictured below is the beginning stages of cultivating the marine layer in air.  Before it is put into a biosphere, it needs to cycle and get stable in the open air.  Once it's stable, then it is checked for CO2 sinking capacity.  There are sand crabs reproducing in the tank over the past 6 months.

This tank is covered with glass, but is still open to the air on the left.  Two air bubblers move water through a class cylinder by bubbling.  This is how air is moved back into the marine layer from farming tanks.

 

Pictured below is the start of one of the two farming tanks.  This one just got a glass wall glued to the top.  It will be stood up on end and filled with soil for plants.  Pipes go in and out at the top.

 

 

Plants

All plants will be perennial vegetables.  Two on the list so far is sorrel and strawberries.  There are other perennial vegetables what will be planted.  Right now strawberries and sorrel is being testing for growing and eating.

 

Another part of the experiment - can these two tanks produce enough food for a mouse.  The tanks are roughly 4 square feet of growing area.  This is tested before closing the system.

 

Air Movement

A professional cylinder/piston air pump is used to move air from the farming tanks to the marine.  The air coming from the marine moves into the farming tanks when CO2 has been removed and water is added to the air.

 

Mouse Farming

Because of the habits of mice, the farming tank will to be mouse proofed.  This means water is available for it to drink, food needs to be foraged.  Mice like to dig, chew and make holes.  Wires and sensitive tubing will have to be protected.

 

Two tanks are used for farming.  While one is being eaten by the mouse, the other is recovering.  A door is placed between each tank.  The mouse is allowed to enter each one on a controlled intervals.

 

Before the whole system is closed, a mouse will be living in one or both tanks while still in open air.  It's easier to change processes and equipment when it's open. In general , once it is going, there is really no problem closing it up.  All of the plants, fish, bacteria and the like have already made a home and is willing to stay.  

 

It is not possible to put together all of the equipment in a few weeks and expect it to work.  It takes about 6 months to a year to establish a biosphere.

 

Water 

Water is collected in a beaker for the mouse to drink.  The rest is overflowed into the soil.    For more information on water, click 

http://celss.net/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=3960

Below is a general schematic of the system.

 

Water movement in soil is called Hydrology.  It's important to design a soil bed for a Biosphere where water is delivered to all the plants and not drained away.

After taking apart the last Biosphere version, I noticed fresh water is running directly from the dehumidifiers down to the marine layer.  Most of the soil is dry as a bone.  There are a few plants that can stretch their roots to the column of water that survived.  

This version needs to have the soil bed engineered for water flow.  Part of the water cycle is rain; I've installed small dehumidifiers in the biospheres to take water moisture out of the air and give it to the soil; however, the dehumidifiers are point sources of water.  Without making an elaborate piece of equipment for irrigation, it may be easier to learn how Mother Nature does it and imitate it.

For more information on Biosphere projects, click below:

http://celss.net/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=3955

Hydrology Goal

Before spending time on guessing how water moves around in soil, it's best to make a planting bed in the open air and engineer how the water moves.  

This is not new science and most of this knowledge is readily available through books and videos.  Below is a really boring video explaining how water moves through soil from a single point source.  Warning: The flick below is really boring and you may want to take it in small doses.  It was made in 1959.  All of the information on the video is stilled ignored today for lawns and general planting.

It's one thing to see a 1959 flick on soil moisture, but another to build it.  It needs to be determined, with the materials I have available, how I can keep water moving in all directions within the planting bed.  Larger clumps of soil act like a drainage path to the bottom of the tank.  The soil has to be chosen with enough organic material and air movement for plants to grow.  It's also possible to have tons of water, but plants cannot grow because they can't absorb nutrients they need.  

All materials have to be made of none plastic because of out gassing.  No plastics can be used at all.  In this test, glass is used as the container(s).

The mistake I did on the last biosphere is not requiring water to move sideways, but only down.  In this case, I want to save the water that drips from the dehumidifiers.  Below is a 5 liter beaker with sifted soil (10% to 20% organic material).  The particles are smaller than sand.  The bottom layer has 1 liter of sifter soil.

The next layer is sand.  Sand is isolated from the top surface will not take water until it is forced to by gravity.  The forces between water and sand is lower than water and find soil.  An 1 inch band of sand is layered over the sifted soil.  The rest of the beaker is filled with more sifted soil.

Last, two native California strawberries are planted to one side of the beaker.  And a Petri dish is put on the other side.  See below.

Close up picture of the dish.  The dish is put at an angle where the water from the dehumidifier will enter into the center of the beaker.  The water than balloons out in all directions (hopefully) in the soil.

Below is a picture with the dehumidifier on the dish.  The dehumidifier produces around 100 ml of water per 24 hours @ 25% RH and 21 C.  It depends a lot on the dew point of the day.  Sometimes it freezes up.  When the whole system is closed, a dehumidifier is used to take water from the marine layer and provide fresh water for land.  This devices takes the place of rain. Any run off goes back to the marine layer.   Since biospheres are really small, it cannot produce difference in air pressure and temperatures to force condensations at regular intervals.  

Water moves well (sideways) through tighter (smaller to a certain point) soil than looser soil.  (I don't mean compacted)This means the adhesion of water to clay and silt is very strong compared to pea stones, sand and mulch.  If sand is surrounded by small particles of clay/silt, it will take a "supper saturation" of the clay/silt for water to enter into the sand.  If sand has an opening to the surface, water will flush strait down through the sand.

It's also the same for mulch for your yard (or a duff layer in a forest).  Since the particles of soil are smaller than the mulch, water has the tendency to say in the soil and not venture up through the mulch.

When wetting compost with a watering hose, the top inch or so gets wet, but anything under stays dry because the adhesion of larger particles on top run off the water to the sides.  It's important to mix your compost pile while wetting it.  

 

Results

Water had to be put into the planter, before there was enough from the dehumidifier, because the plants may be compromised .  The dehumidifier makes about 100 ml of water every 24 hours. It tends to freeze up every 60 minutes; hence, holding water on the fins.  A wall timer is put into place to turn off every 30 minutes and on again.  It startes to make a steady flow of water after making that correction.  This is the same technique used in the BioSphere III.

300 ml of water is slowly dumped on the Petri dish.  It overflows and slowly is absorbed by the dry soil.  It starts to expand in the soil reaching the roots of the strawberries.  And it also shows on the side of the beaker.  No water ran to the bottom.

After running it for two or three days, no water runs directly through the soil to the bottom, but stays by the roots.  

Next Test(s)

Another beaker is filled up with the same sifted soil, but the layer of sand will have a section where sifted soil breaks through.  Since it has been observed that water climbs clay/silt faster than sand because of proximity of adhesion; when soil is dry and there is water in the sand, it will be wicked up into the rest of the bed.  The assumption is the dehumidifiers can only keep up with leaf transpiration.  It's also assumed this sifted soil will grow plants.  We are testing that assumption.

Project Goal

The point of Biosphere 2 is to explore the web of interactions within life systems in a structure with five areas of general biological diversity.  It also explores the use of closed biospheres in space colonization, and allowed the study and manipulation of a biosphere without harming Earth's. Here is a link describing the general overview of AZ Biospere 2.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

The reason it is called Biosphere 2 instead of Biosphere I is the earth is Bioshphere I.  It's now owned by the University of Arizona.  

Below is a picture of the outside of the lung.

This is a side view of one of the larger greenhouse chambers.  There is an ocean area/tank off to the left.  There is a lot of experiments going on with growing veggies and other plants.

 

Reason for Building a Biosphere

This is the non-readers version of biosphere learning.  Each videos is a couple minutes long giving a brief description of the Biosphere III and some of the results.  

More details on Biosphere III hardware 

Introduction to Biospheres and their progression 

 

Introduction

 

 

Layer Construction

This is a set of videos showing the close-up of the biosphere.  You can see some of the details of the unit.  This biosphere has been closed for about 6 months or so.  

There is also a description how water changes from saltwater to fresh water to feed plants.

 

A day at the beach!!

 

 

Biosphere Control System

There is no real control system for a Biosphere.  What we are engineering is a house/home the allows microbiology to grow.  It's about making an environment or system hospitable to life.  In general it knows how to regulate itself better than any computer.  So let it.

 

Results

Here is a brief description of the common numbers.  Later, I'll post the collected information graphs.  There is a whole set of instrumentation at the back of the device measuring CO2, pH, RH and etc...

 

Here is an introduction to the different versions of biospheres I have made over that past 10 years. You can see each system is very different from the one before. 

Biosphere I

Summary:

This is the first biosphere I made are dinky little terrariums for the house and aquaponic systems in the backyard.  This system is built where air pressure is controlled for water condensation (rain).  Testing has to be performed to see how eco-systems (mainly chemical cycles with CO2, O2 H2SO4, minerals and etc...) are propagated and sustained.  

This was the first one built, it took longer to make because I have to build everything.  There are no companies or places to buy equipment for biospheres.  Often I need to repurpose vacuum pumps and pressure pumps from air brushes sprayers and other disciplines. A hydroponic store is OK for pH and some testing equipment, but mostly the equipment came from everywhere. (Wal-Mart, Halted, DigiKey, OSH, Tap Plastics, pet store and etc....) 

Goals:

• Create a "climate" and test the instrumentation equipment.  


• Make a CPU board to control the RH, temperature, CO2, air movement, light and methane.  


• This means making a system where the air pressure, RH and temperature for plants to grow.  


• Make a device where it is totally isolated from the external environments.  (Something to be put into space where only light and heat (input and output) are available.  Everything else has to be self-contained.  

For this first echo-system, I picked the highest metabolizing system on earth.  It's a bog.  Water gives a good conduit to slosh nutrients around for everything to live and decompose.  We live in the Bay Area, but about 90% of the native ecology is destroyed.  It maybe higher by now.  It was hard to find native bogs plants and microbiology; they have been filled up with cement and sand.

 

Results:  

• Heat is the number one problem.  The lights give way too much heat into the system and would destroy the eco-system in an afternoon.  HID, Fluorescent and LED array lights are out too.


• Air pressure does not matter.  The system is too small to matter for rain.


• A CPU board to control everything biological is not needed.  In fact it makes trouble.


• Use CPUs and computers to control the light timing and fans.  It can be used for instrumentation and data logging only.


• The echo-system when monoculture.  No surprise there.  The temperature and RH is not tempered enough.  


• Methane is lighter than air.  CO2 is heavier than air.


• When Methane is created, it is absorbed with in 15 to 30 minutes by the bacteria growing on ceiling of the biosphere.  That was hard to find.  A computer connected methane probe is around $700.  Since methane generated in the biosphere is a captured audience, it has no chance to connect with NOx to become smog.  


• A goldfish lived in the biosphere for over one year eating anything is can find.


• This was almost a 3 year run.

Below is are overview pictures of the first Biosphere.  The whole thing is encased in Styrofoam to keep heat out.  The brown box with the silver pipes coming out is a refrigerator making chilled air to keep the whole system at the same temperature.  Underneath is the pressure, vacuum pumps, SSRs and UPS.

General Description

This is the third version of completely/hermetically enclosed biospheres.  There are two earlier versions that will be described at a later time.  All of the lessons learned from the first two are used here.  The general structure for this biosphere is focused on completing/building natural food  chains, gas cycles (namely CO2 and Methane) and water cycles.  The top part of the biosphere has an open area where gas can mix.  The top part houses part of the water table shown in the plastic contained suspended over the marine layer of water.  

Top Section - Gas Layer

The gas layer function is similar to the Earth's atmosphere.  Water is condensed from the air.  This is the dew-point which is created by two thermal electric devices seated with small black fans.  This section also contains the main lights for plant on the water table.  This is made of a 40 gallon fish take put upside down.

Middle  Section - Fresh Water Table

This is the water table.  The picture does not contain any soil, sand and clay yet.  The system is still cycling the marine layer and establishing the micro food chains.  The water table also contains four lights used for giving light energy to phytoplankton in the marine layer.  The lights are water sealed with glass and MDF; and water chilled.  The copper pipes take away heat from the lamps so the soil temperature does not up when the lights are on.  All lights are LED and they make a lot of heat.  The copper tubes are connected to the marine water chiller and pump.

Bottom Section - Marine Layer

This is the marine layer.  It is chilled by the water chiller pipes that are connected to a bulkhead cut through the glass aquarium.  This is a 40 gallon fish tank.  The bottom layer has sand, live stone and some sea water.  It is kept at 53 F.  It is also lit by four LED light (around 6500 degrees K).  Anything higher does not work.  

Biosphere III Hardware Setup

Marine Water

The marine layer contains the heart of oxygen production.  The majorly of the Earths oxygen is produced in phytoplankton blooms.  These blooms are created in this biosphere.  The majorly of the green in the water is not algae, but phytoplankton.  The phytoplankton is eaten by the copepods and the copepods are eaten by shore crabs.  The shore crabs poop and create chemicals in the water used by the phytoplankton.  Light form the LED lights are used by the phytoplankton to make oxygen.

CO2 Cycle

Carbon Dioxide is heavier than air.  It sinks to the ground.  The ground in this case is the marine layer.  The CO2 is used by the phytoplankton as food.  The CO2 stays around 500 ppm in the beginning stages of this biosphere.  It's measured during the entire experiment.

Lights

There are two sets of lights.  One is located in the water table/soil layer.  It shines down on the water.  The second set is located on top where it exposes the plants to be planted.  The light intensity needs to be high in the low blue and in red.  Plants don't really use green light.

Water Movement

There are two forms of water movement.  The internal marine water circulation and the fresh water movement through the water table.  The water in the marine layer is shifted around by paddle, not pumped.  A pump will destroy the microbiology with is blades.  It blends them up.  The paddle moves the water around picking up chilled water from the external circulation hoses at the bottom of the tank.  

Here is a picture of the motor that moves around the marine layer.  This picture is from the teardown of this biosphere.  Hence, you can see some of the water and soil through the water table plastic.  It's a servo motor that is programmed to run up and down in speed throughout the day.

The second water movement is fresh water.  Water is condensed from evaporation from the marine layer.  It's dripped into the water table, goes through the water table to the bottom and drains back into the ocean.  Whatever water passes by plant roots is used by the plant.  There about 500 ml of water produced from the condensation per 24 hours.  Below is pictured a water test.  The beaker fills up daily.

The RH and air temperature of the whole Biosphere III system is determined by the marine water temperature. It's no different than tempered climate while living next to the ocean.

Marine Water Temperature

The water temperature is around 53 F.  This is the correct temperature for the life in the marine layer.  It cannot go above 60 F or the micro-food-chain will be changed.  The water is chilled by a 1/4 HP chiller and an external circulating pump.

There is a 100 GPH pump circulating water through the biosphere and the chiller.  The tank is the white bucket.  Below is a picture of the plastic tube in the marine layer.

Air Movement

Air is moved by small fans.  They are cycled on and off throughout the day.

 

Biological Setup:

Food Chain

Food chains need to be established before the biosphere can be closed.  In this case, the marine layer is first established.  It takes about 2 to 4 months to establish the growth in the tank.  Since the water temperature is low (53 F) there is not much evaporation.  Water salt is kept at density of 1.32.  The pH of the system needs to be monitored and kept around 8.  If your system is strong and contains plenty of diversity, it will keep there with no problem.

The food chain first designed in is a bacteria -> phytoplankton -> microarthropods -> Carcinus maenas.  From there the waste is put back into the water as food for bacteria.  Once this is going, the system can be closed and check without the water table in place.

After a few months of checking the closed marine layer, soil is placed in the empty water table.  Plants are selected.  In this case I picked the temperature and RH for heavy forest lands.  Fungi is planted and some ferns.  In this case the water table is tested to see if it can give plants fresh water from the marine.  The dead leaves and dead bacteria blow off CO2 and methane.  It is incorporated in the soil and marine.  

In this biosphere the land is dependent totally on the ocean.  The ocean stops working, the land goes into a sever mono-culture in no time.  And there is no turning it back.  These are some of the lessons learned from the previous biospheres II and I.

 

 

Succession is the natural process where one specie of plant will displace another by taking or blocking resources such as water, light or anything else a plant or fungus needs to live.

When designing a self-contained ecosystem, the food chain for micro-biology has to be worked out first. What goes on in the soil has more influence than what is going on top of the soil layer. That means we need to grow soil; not plants. And before we can grow soil, we need to grow ocean. But we will start with soil today.

The litter layer is a real thin compost bin. It's natures' way of taking apart dead things and reusing it for new growth. This is where a lot of the chemical reactions take place.

Below is a diagram of plant succession in the soil. In general (not always), larger plants, like trees and hard wooded stems, take more fungi and a more diverse sets of Protists and Nematodes for the soil food chain. Grasses require more bacteria soil. It's best to group plants that have similar and different soil needs to establish a strong growth. This also goes for the plants root structure and what family they belong to.
Example:
Tap roots, Fan roots and etc...

Example: If you plant a Prosopis glandulosa in the middle of a lawn, both are too far apart in success for them to be compatible. Water will be taken from the tree by the grass. The Prosopis glandulosa belongs to the Fabaceae, Leguminosae or Papilionaceae family. It fixes nitrogen once the roots die. It helps the soil to establish and give back to lawns by shading it. I don't recall if the fixing bacteria is Rhizobia or not. Perhaps some one can tell me.

The strange part is grass also fixes nitrogen and uses Azospirillum brasilense to fix nitrogen. The grass and the Prosopis glandulosa help build the soil for plants to grow, but they can't grow with each other. The trick is to configure the litter layer so both can grow at the same time. It's done by planting the Prosopis glandulosa in 50% sand, 20% pea stones and the rest is clay soil. Make sure there is a barrier between the trunk of the Prosopis glandulosa and the grass. Now the Prosopis glandulosa has a tap root that breaks up soil compaction and allows the grass roots to grow deeper into the soil. This reduces the requirement for watering the lawn.

A similar thing can be done with Fava Beans and red winter wheat. The Fava beans die and leave the nitrogen proteins. Wheat takes the nodules and consumes the NO3 once it is taken apart by the soil bacteria. The wheat stresses the soil to build more food chain bacteria from the Fava bean.

Below is a picture of plant succession on top of the soil. More disturbed soil generally grows grasses and things with tap roots. When the soil is more established, more "forest" things move in.



Pictured below is an example where one plant takes over and is not contained. When this Biosphere was taken apart a few weeks ago, you can see how the New Zealand Spinach started to take over. This Biosphere was designed for food production on a water-table suspended over a marine water layer. It's been hermetically sealed for a year and a half. CO2 levels stayed around 400 ppm. The intention was to take advantage of Woodland Climates because of the proximity of the water condenser. That is why a Maidenhair Fern and New Zealand Spinach were planted together. Strawberries work too. They take more water out of the soil than the air. There is limited space for the water-table; hence, plants have to be chosen carefully before you end up with a mess.


You can see the Maidenhair Fern on the right and the Spinach growing to the left. The fresh water condensor is to the right. It's a small grey and black "finned" thing.


Further Reading:
One of the first attempts to document succession was done in the late 1800s. The concept of succession has been known for centuries, at least on an intuitive level. Pictured below is the front cover for Fred Clements book on Succession. It's about 500 pages long. It's available online from any library for free.