Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All
I am new to this I have read the web site with great interest over the last few days as I am going to start a farm up and going I hope before Christmas this year
The tanks I have in mind at this stage are two large grain silos I have on the small holding I am just about to own I am going to cut off the firs 1 to 1 and a half mtrs off the top of each of them and try that could be to large any thought on how I could heat them
I am in the wheat belt in WA about 250 kms east of Perth and we do get cold in the winter but the tanks will be in the shed this should help
Look forward to the reply
Trevor

wow, sounds like you have a good potential pond there!
What is the silo made out of?

Hi aquamad
made of steel and large I have on order a 5 mtr by 20 meter Polly tunnel to take care of the veggie side of things but its the heating of it all that has me stumped
Trev

What if you had those huge ponds there, (I'm hoping they're stainless for your sake or they'll need lining)halfway sunk into the ground with insulation wrapped around them (polystyrene, cheap).

The top half of the tanks is under a greenhouse that comes off your tunnel house. It only needs to be big enough to cover them, nothing fancy, a sturdy frame with plastic on both sides.

Inside this square frame is a fair bit of space to walk around, see the fish etc. Cover the floor in stone chip, 100 mm, it will heat up and hold heat as well. If you can do this in the plant side as well it will make a big difference.

Wrap the top half of the tanks in black plastic. This huge volume of water (any idea how much you'll have) should rise slowly in the Summer recieving both radiant and ambient heat.

The larger the volume the longer it takes to shift the temperature, the above will save you an awful lot of heat energy you'd otherwise have to pay for.

Some recommended reading for you - Go to downloads, get the Get the "Integrated Agri-Aquaculture Systems" download. Open it up. In the index it lists the "Israeli Experience."
Jump to that, it's a great read.

HI Aquaddict
I have not measured the tanks yet they are part of the farm I am buying and I have not got a use for them so I thought fish I take your idea of burring the tanks good one and the black Polly cover I have thought of sola power but with the heat in the west in the summer I think it may get a bit to hot and that still leaves ma with the winter may be I should go to trout in the winter and the Bara in the summer it will take a while to get the bits up and going but when its done it should be good
Trev

Hi Quambie
Welcome to the forum.
If your tanks are going into a shed..I would make sure the shed and all your supply and return lines to your polyhouse are insulated. Your growbeds should absord alot of heat from the poly house.
At Minnamurra in Kinglake Vic. they use a slow compustible stove that heats the air space of the shed and they have a small heat exchanger around the flue made of copper that goes back to one tank in polyethene.
LB

Hi LB
Good idea and thanks for the help I can see this is going to take a lot of thinking to get it going correctly
Trev

Yep spend the time to think about every option
Keep to the K.I.S.S principle.

LB, heat exchanger was stainless

thanks steve

What are those silos made from? mild steel? if so you need to think about coating the inside (fibre glass?)