Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Sam

Here's a contact if you want any info on solar power:

Colin Lord
colin@apolloenergy.com.au
there's also a phone number as the SA contact on the website: http://apolloenergy.com.au/a/index.php

Colin is a friend of mine and came to our recent BYAP get-together, he's got an interest in AP but doesn't have a system yet. If you send him an email with a few details about what size system you have/plan and how much water you want to pump, he will give you a few ideas about what you might be able to use.

I'd get a proper charger solar panel to charge as many batteries I could afford/find, I'm betting you can get away with no sun for weeks provided the pump(s) don't use too much power..

Thanks Erik ... so you would be my local expert on aquaponics then?

I know its a long time since my original post but the idea has been percolating around in my head and now I'm thinking the system could go near the house under a big ash tree where I could get power to it fairly cheaply I think.

From what I've seen everyone seems to have their systems under shade in this country. Is that to keep the gravel cool or the tank or both?
Apart from scooping out lots of leaves in Autumn is there any down side to having it under a tree?

I was thinking about an alternative to batteries using a solar pump. If you were to pump the water continuously to a header tank, which would release it at timed intervals.

Similarly water could be stored and released at intervals through the night.

Slane I looked at a solar pump at a trade show that had plenty of back up battery power, pumps started at about 1000lph which is good, but the bad part was a price tag starting at $5000, maybe cheaper to run the power I know. I got a small 180lt per hour solar pump from online auction has a battery also sounded good run all day in wifes bathtub setup and then set to turn on at night for 3 hours, that's what I read, but the pump remembers to switch on at the same time everyday but only runs for 3 hours or til battery goes flat, so not what I need at all, so for me stay away from those online Chinese ones.

Not sure what your power situation is, if your hooked to the grid, i would just get a normal AC set up. Then tie in as many solar pannels you can buy/desire and tie that all in to your house the grid and every thing. (At least here the power companies will frequently buy back your excess energy.) This way you dont have to worry about spotty power supply, and you can still reduce your over all energy costs. I dont know what batteries are like in AU but a battery bank in the US aint cheep.

Not a solar expert, just having to deal with setting up a solar array for a water quality project. It was a bigger headache then I expected.