Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yes it is. If you don't keep up with it, it will take over the entire grow bed.

Sounds like some cool projects, I like the sugar cane look.

Thanks

Hello;

I just want to say I enjoyed following your system setup, and look forward to seeing you finish up your greenhouse. So you think all of your fish kills were from temperature fluctuations? I am in the planning stages of a system now, and would like to go the greenhouse route. Just not quite to the scale of yours. Maybe 10 or 15 feet shorter. HAHAHHA.

Tim

Thanks

I am fairly confident all my dead fish where because of temps. I have over 100 fish inside all winter and have not lost any. Just moved about. Just moved out 10 fairly big ones about 14" long, and 25 babies about 1" long. Water temps right now during the day are about 70F, and in the morning mid 60's. Hoping that comes up soon.

I did have 4 tilapia make it through the entire winter with no supplemental heat. They where in the blue tank I am using in the pics above so water temps got down below 50F for a while. I am going to use the ones that made it through the winter as breeders. They will be coming inside soon so that I can try to breed them. Hoping there is some reason those made it through the winter.

Hello Helo,
LA Boy living in Gilmer. Not quite off the ground yet, as far as AP.
COULD YOU PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHERE I CAN GET SUGAR CANE, IT WAS
PART OF MY GROWING UP EXPERIENCE AS A LA BOY.
Thanks
Mark C.

Sorry I missed your post. I got mine when I went home to visit my parents last summer. I could always give you a stalk if you wanted.

Getting my wind generator installed today. It is supposed to put out 1500 watts at 12 volts. This is a test bed, the guy that built it wants to test it on my place ( I have lots of wind) and if I let him test it, he will sell me one at his cost. The one he sells me will be a lot cleaner of a build. The tower has a winch on the side and it can be cranked up and down to what ever height I want it at. I think he said it has a start up speed of 2 mph and he has had it in winds over 65 mph with no damage. It is supposed to put out 1500 watts in a 8 mph wind.

Even the wind is bigger in Texas!

LMAO, not right now, it is the calm before the storm that is headed our way.

very nice. 1500 watts seems like a crazy amount. The storm just came through dallas. Some lightening but nothing sever in the way of wind or hail. Topped off my tanks which were getting very low so I'm happy.

Radar shows some some more but smaller cells coming through later.

brian

We got some lighting, and about a half inch of rain. Just enough to muddy up the yard for the contractors that are coming today to fix my wall on my ap system.

I got told there was a massive tornado somewhere in Texas?

Glad to hear it wasnt anywhere near you mate.

I think your friend was a little generous with his calculations.

To calculate maximum power of a wind turbine you use
Power Available = 0.5 x Air density x Blade Area x wind speed^3 x Power coefficient
Air density I'll estimate at 1013hpa which is 1.225kg/m^3
Blade area I'll estimate to be about 10ft x 2ft so 1.8m^2
Wind speed 8mph is 3.6m/sec
Power coefficient, Betz law states that max is 59%, however most turbines sit on around 40%
Looking at the blades, and allowing for bearings, gearbox etc, I'll give a generous 25%

So Max Power at 8mph = .5 x 1.225 x 1.8 x 46.656 x .25
= 13w

Even allowing for no friction and a perfectly efficient blade you will only get 30w out of it at that speed.

Don't get me wrong, my figures are estimates, but I think they are pretty close.
The deciding factor really is wind speed, so you need MUCH larger blades to pull 1.5kw out of that wind speed.
That formula works it out to be around 200m^s or over 2000sqft

Looking at 1kw VAWTs on the market, their surface area sits on around 4m^2 and they are rated for that power at 13m/s. which is around 30mph, and the design will be far more efficient.

However I would love to be proven wrong and am all for the testing

No gearbox friction in that setup that I can see. It seems to be directly connected to an alternator. Those bearings aren't usually setup to support weight in that direction but rather for tension on the side of the shaft so that may be an issue later.
Also, I think helo expects more than just 8 mph winds regularly.
Its an interesting blade design for sure.I wonder if the deep pockets would actually be trapping some air and maybe causing some inneficency at higher speeds. If your innovating friend is doing some comparison testing, maybe he should try removing some of the blade material near the shaft.