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| Solar heating Barra (is it an option) http://byap.backyardmagazines.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6644 |
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| Author: | Devo [ Dec 3rd, '09, 20:25 ] |
| Post subject: | Solar heating Barra (is it an option) |
Thinking about solar heating my Barra tank to get some healthier temps and get them feeding more. Obviously it only works during the day and the system will lose heat at night giving a daily temp cycle. Can anyone tell me how big that daily temp variation can be before it starts to affect the fish? |
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| Author: | Outbackozzie [ Dec 3rd, '09, 20:27 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Solar heating Barra (is it an option) |
5 to 10 deg c. Wider variations than that appear to lead to health issues. The solar heating has been tryed before to varying degrees of success. At most it seems to give you an extra month or two of growing time. |
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| Author: | Chappo [ Dec 3rd, '09, 20:33 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Solar heating Barra (is it an option) |
Hard to answer definatively,..... depends on size of fish , were fish came from ,, and "peak" "lowest" temps etc. Optimum temp for barra is around 27C. I recon 32C day time , dropping over 12 hours to 25C would probably be ok. It's the speed of temp change that is the killer. |
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| Author: | TCLynx [ Dec 3rd, '09, 22:51 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Solar heating Barra (is it an option) |
Solar heating can be quite easy and effective but it is very important to shut off the solar heating loop in the eventing or it will not only loose some heat but could very effectively chill the water. Simple solar heating just takes putting a coil of black Poly drinking water pipe out in the sun and running system water through it. For my indoor system I had actually set it up so when the water drained from the grow beds, it would push some of the water through a loop of tubing before going into the sump which happened to be right outside the window. This was a very effective heater during the day but I had to remember to turn off the valve for it in the evening and open it again in the morning. For my big system right now, I have a solar pool heater feeding a half barrel in an old freezer chest. That is a closed loop with the pump on a timer to only run when the sun is on the panels. Then a separate coil of pipe down in that half barrel that I can use another pump on a timer to run system water through the coil in the hot water. This does warm up my system water but only a very little bit. The pumps involved really are not meant to handle hot water so I'm quite impressed that it has kept working. Anyway, if you want to warm up the water a bit during the day, womderful!!!!! But please don't just through the black tubing out and run water through it 24/7 cause it will probably be more harm to the fish than help. Definitely use an extra little pump on a timer that so it only runs when the sun would be hitting the black tubing (you will have to check the timer and adjust it a bit as the sun angles change where the tubing is.) Using a little low wattage pump is also great (provided it can lift the water to where ever the tubing is running) because you actually want the water to flow through the tubing pretty slow so it can actually warm up. Another tip, you should probably have the water from the black tubing re-enter the system in such a place where the water can mix well with other system water or it could cause a bit of a hot spot. |
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| Author: | Food&Fish [ Dec 4th, '09, 01:12 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Solar heating Barra (is it an option) |
Yes the temp got to 32 deg yesterday now its 10 deg c that is |
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| Author: | BatonRouge Bill [ Dec 4th, '09, 03:09 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Solar heating Barra (is it an option) |
TCLynx wrote: For my big system right now, I have a solar pool heater feeding a half barrel in an old freezer chest. That is a closed loop with the pump on a timer to only run when the sun is on the panels. TCL, What size pool solar heater are you using? I see they come in 2x20 and 4x20? I'm wanting this for my little 10x12 harbor freight tilapia greenhouse with a 300 gallon IBC grow out tank, 150 gallon fingerling aquarium, a 75 gallon breeder aquarium, 600 gallons of IBC sumps and 600 gallons of IBC growbeds. Seems like a lot more than it is. I still need to put this thing togather only parts lacking is gravel and plumbing and have a surveyer shoot elevation to be documented sure I'm above flood plain. |
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| Author: | TCLynx [ Dec 4th, '09, 03:48 ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Solar heating Barra (is it an option) |
I think the ones I'm using are more on the order of 4 x 10 maybe. I have two of them. They are the ones that are simply a large pipe at top and bottom connected together by lots of little tiny black flexible tubes. |
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