Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I hear you, and thought of that when I saw the gallery on that site with the big rocks and the listed tonnage for the stoves. Water is easy to move around, and pipes are pretty light. Digging in the FT ruined the fun for me, and I got tired of shoveling gravel and moving it around so I'm not using it anymore. Water would hold heat well and is easy to circulate. I've reached the same conclusion about concrete blocks and intend to only use lumber for support nowadays.

And no one has pointed out the fact that I might melt my IBC tanks? LOL. Yeah AP insomnia followed by nightmares.

I'll continue to think on it. Anyone is welcome to input advice and/or suggestions. I'm open.

If you are heating it hot enough to melt the IBC's I think the fish were probably already done for before the melting happened.

However, remember that inside the IBC should be water which will help keep it cool unless you are building the fire right under the plastic.

Have you ever seen the hide pot with stew right over the fire? The water in the pot usually keeps the hide from burning.

True enough, TC, true enough. Good thing nightmares aren't reality, but it's worth tossing out there, just in case. I want to make sure all the angles are considered.

Now that you mention it, I have seen that water heating principle. It will be the burn tunnel and the chimney that will heat up. That part will be kept away from the tanks. The exhaust pipe won't usually heat up to melting point, depending on how much and how long the burn lasts. Looks like some folks just burn to heat up the thermal mass, then let the fire go out. And some keep it going for a few hours, or even all day. But the thermal mass is the key. If one is designed to use the fish tank as part of that heat storage, will the fish survive the temp fluctuations?

If we continue with this train of thought, we are looking at digging the tank in deeper. Next level up will be the rocket heater thermal mass at 8-10" above the exhaust pipe, then the tank. Have to keep the top of the tank low enough for the drain from the growbeds and DWC to fall in, creating a splash for airation.

Back to Sketchup.

Perhaps the exhaust pipe could run under the DWC beds since they are higher up anyway?

Let me finish this Sketchup first, then we'll try that version. Don't think the RH under the tanks will work out. Might have to cut the IBC's down some, or use the birthday tank since it is shorter.

Yeah. Rob posted another video. It was regarding his Rocket Mass Heater in his geodesic dome. Very cool. Probably watched it 5 times. Dang, wish it was a longer video with more detail.

Kudos to him. I think that is the first time I've seen a RMH in an AP greenhouse, and a geodome at that. Hope he posts data to go along with the build.

I think that TC may be right in that it would be better for my setup if the heat was under the DWC bed. That would be located between the growbeds and the tank, and would be easier for me to build. Faster water heat as the water has to flow 20 feet before it drops into the tank. Then in the summer, it could be cooled with one of Rob's inline fans that he uses to start the fire draft with. Dunno, it might be possible. Have to do some more thinking on it.

And someone just gave me some stovepipe... How cool is that? Karma?

Had someone come by today and give me a few mushrooms from the logs he had started in the spring. Will be cooking those up tonight.

Birthday tank? I meant the Christmas present tank. I hate these damn pills.





Remember who it was? I'd like to find out how its going for them. Now that it is wintertime in the US, they should have some kind of data.

Awesome, Shiitakes are great
Tried to grow some but my logs dried out

HI Mr Bill. I would like to tell you about something I learned about just after I poured the slab for my shop. It is 6" thick right on the dirt. Man does it ever get cold too. Have to wear thick soled shoes in the winter time or your feet get cold.

I talked to a guy about the insulation of slabs in buildings. He gave me this info. Start as usual by leveling off the area. Next bury all the needed underground piping and stuff. Then dig and pour the footing for the walls. Put up the forms and pour the starting walls up to the finish floor level with what is needed to go up from there in place also. Remove the forms on the inside.
Here is the important part. Put a layer of foam insulation vertically on the wall. All the way down to the footing and even with the top of the slab. Make the inside area level and put a layer of insulation down over the whole area of the slab. Make sure the top of the insulation gives you the wanted thickness of the slab. Then pour the slab on top of that. That leaves a formed pocket that is the size of your slab. You do not have to do forms to pour the slab now because you already have it formed. He recommended that in Arkansas you would need to have 2" of foam to isolate the slab and not have a cold floor problem.
Then build the rest of your building. The idea is that you will have an isolated slab from the ground so the cold wont suck out the heat from under the slab like mine does. Only extra cost is the insulation and the time it takes to install it. I can not see it taking much time to install it either. He talked about some kind of foam boards when he talked to me.

That would be one of my do overs.

Well, we can forget about putting the RMH vent outlet pipe under the fish tank. Tanks are too low in the ground and when it rains that's where the water will go, right around the vent pipes. Cause and effect - pipe will rust out, cobb will deteriorate, tank will sag and possibly leak. Not taking the chances.

Next thing is to see if I can get enough vent pipe to run under the DWC area. That part at least will be protected by the greenhouse roof.

Used the tractor to dig out some more area at the end of the future GH, then pushed the rectangular tank over to that area to see how it fit in. I either need to dig the tank area out some more or raise the dirt level on the top of the GH floor. The drop from the DWC needs to be enough for airation of the return water. At the mo, the top of the tank is just a couple of inches under the level of the floor. When I build the DWC area, the water won't have a drop.

Think I may build the vent pipes, bury them in cobb with some insulation on top, frame out the DWC, then build up the floor level around the frame with dirt. Have to do some thinking on it.

Blast. Neglected to take pics. Maybe tomorrow.

Messed around with Sketchup again. RMH vent pipes buried under the DWC, will vent outside... somehow.
Like the idea of a passive solar greenhouse, may not need RMH. Be nice to have one though until the barrels can be found to make the back wall.
Again, thanks to all who uploaded their models - barrels, IBC tanks, concrete blocks. Makes it nice to work with properly dimensioned models and not have to build what I need.





Pics of some recent tractor work. Have some metal posts in the ground laying out a 20' X 40' start on the work area. Probably will only make it 20 X 20 to start with, then add on later.

hey MrBill..

I have enjoyed your post..

Are you Think'n of going the Passive Green house..?
I know that at some future time I think I will be doing some thing Like Either Rob's dome or Zsa's Passive system..

I've actually found some great pdf online about Earth shelter's..

The information is out there..

Juergen