Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So i have been kicking the aquaponics idea around for a little more then four years. This year i am going to at least do the "walmart" version. (plastic totes)

Eventually i am hoping to go to a larger version when i have space. My big concern is what do i do in the winter with a larger system? There is no way a it will survive the Minnesota winter, unless it is brought inside (-20 to -30F nights, can last for 1 or more weeks). Heating a greenhouse will not be cheep. i supose i could heat just the water, somehow. So the question is do i drain everything and salvage some of the growbed media for "seeding" and run a tiny system for the winter; or make the system somewhat mobile and convince the wife it is a good thing to have inside.

I am wondering what some other cold climate people do for winter.

Personally i am thinking it would be best to time the breeding/(ordering of fingerlings) around the winter. raise the babies when they are small indoors in a smaller system and then push them to a larger system when it is not expensive to heat.

oh and wanted to compliment the group you guys have going here. Have not been lurking to long and man i have learned and re-leared a lot.

Welcome NAMF!

I live here in PA, same kind of boat in the Winter but not as extreme as you, you betcha. I'm growing tilapia which means they won't work outside in the Winter (I don't have a greenhouse). Other than the temperature requirements they are the perfect fish.

Anyway what I am doing is keeping them in a system that holds about 250 gallons of water (and 100 gallons of gravel) in my basement. Three 300 watt heaters keep them warm, but our basement is unheated and so I also have an electric oil-filled radiator-style space heater to keep the chill out as well. This increases the humidity in the basement, and a bunch of gnats have bred in the gravel beds, makes it fun to watch movies on TV with the lights out! Some screen would have prevented that. To keep humidity down and to keep heat in I cover the tanks with styrofoam.

Read up on heat exchangers, especially counterflow ones. If designed efficiently enough I believe that they could really extend our growing season, to where the less-sheltered plant side can go ahead and cool down relative to what the (sheltered) fish need. I finally got a hacked together version up and it is helping me lose only 10 degrees of my fish water's heat when outside (plant) water is exchanged for inside fish water.

viewtopic.php?p=43107#p43107


I plan to styrofoam all the walls and the ceiling completely before next Winter, and will be working at making the heat exchanger thing more efficient so I can use the free light outside later into the year. To control the humidity better I plan to make an air to air heat exchanger as well.

The obvious other way to do it is to grow cold-water fish like trout, etc. that can handle the Winter temps without croaking on you.

Welcome NewageMnfarmer!

You can winter a few fish like your brood fish in the house. If you order fish each year then just harvest everything before it dies from cold then wait for spring.

There are koi pond heaters that seem to be able to heat large bodies of water for $10-$20 a month; even in snow, but that adds cost to your fish. If you can keep your outdoor system from freezing and keep the water moving then you may not have to restart the bacteria cycle each year.

Moove to Florida?????

Moove to Australia ,, we welcome good AP er's here.

Seriously , heating is a major issue ,, even for me in my warm Sydney climate. Insulation is a must ,, styrafoam is ok , there are better products but their as cheap.
Not sure if the USA has what we call "off -peak" electricity ..... ahhh it's less than half price if you use power between 9pm and 5 am ?? times vary. This could be usefull , get the tank up toward maximum fish happy temp ,, then let your insulation keep it warm and not use the more costly power.

I would love to move to Australia Chappo. Had the pleasure of visiting for about 4 months several years ago. Loved it. Sadly, they were not interested in fresh out of college peoples to dilute the workforce.

Thanks for the info Dave. Had a chance to read about your cold water issue. It looks like i would be best off building a highly efficiant greenhouse and going with coldwater fish. Or put the fish tub in the garage and keep it warm in there. ahh well, it all depends on what kind of house we get, when we start shopping for one. I would like to get a house that can handle a wood burner. then it is just time and effort to make heat, not the pocket book.

Just want to start some early planning and winter is a bugger of a situation to get around.

Oh and about off peak and peak hours for electricity. They might during the summer, but i have never seen it on my electric bill. We normally shut the house down when we leave for work and only some times around on the weekend. So i never paid much time looking for it.

Well something to chew on while I put togeather my walmart system. Time to put theory to reality. Hopefully i dont drive the Mrs too batty with it.

In your climate, if you want more than the tiny system, you will definitely need a good greenhouse or at least a good sunroom.

Even if you have a great greenhouse or sunroom, you will still probably be better off going with a fish that does well in cooler water. Trying to keep water over 70 F even here in FL can cost some money so doing so in a place where water is thought to be hot if it reaches that temp would be a challenge. Trying to keep tropical fish (which tilapia are) in Minn would only likely work indoors unless you have a great source of waste heat through the winter.

The Koi pond heaters are often just something to keep a hole melted in the ice so that gases can exchange. I know the Koi and goldfish in the pond at my grandmother's house often survive winter just fine with no heaters.

The biggest trick in the really cold climate will be getting your system cycled back up each spring since the bacteria like warm water too. Having a small system that is indoors in winter that you can pull media from to seed into the big system can help as can fishless cycling to get the big system up and running quicker without risking fish. Perhaps also having a worm bin that you can get castings from to help seed your system each spring.

Good luck!