Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My water temp was sitting at a cosy 21C this morning, so not much would be needed to heat the water at this time of year right through to about April/May - like the figures you are getting Rope

Mine was at 22.5 this morning, after having had an overcast day yesterday. Heaters were turned off altogether from last weekend - so it's onwards and upwards with the Barra from here till an Autumn feast :-)

yeah with temps of 28 I would be cancelling the order of silvers and going straight to barra

If things pan out in the next week or so.... I just might have enough tanks to do both...

Mind you.... then I'd have to plumb the things in....

And I still haven't got my filtration for the mega system sorted out yet....

Right now I am dealing with 2nd degree burn on the top of my foor from working on a solar hot water system for my FT. I had a leak and shut off pump for 30 to 40 min while I dealt with that. Water in collector got boiling hot sitting still in the sun. When I valved on the sytem the same fitting popped and burned me. use caution.
My system has a 50 gal H.W. storage tank in the green house and the 3ft.x7ft. collector lives in the green house under the glass propped against the G.B. I originally set it up to thermosyphon but could not get enough heat in the tank. I was adding a circulating pump to boost flow and increase heat gain thru collector. I use automotive heater hose to connect tank to heater.
Because copper in collector I was planning to use aluminum coil in F.T. to heat fish. This will have its own pump and thermostat, with a cut out when HW tank fals below 80 deg. F. (27C) by keeping the collector in green house I eleminate need for freeze protection. Power for pump to collector is by a 45 watt PV panel so it will run when sun is on it.
While I admire the glass tube system it is way our of my budget. So far I have spent less than $100 on hose, fittings, and pump using on hand collector and HW tank.
The PV panel was boxed and sold in set of two and was a spare. I spent my whole budget buying all six 45 watt panels to run AP but my charger will ohly accept 250 watts (5 panels) so this one was spare.

Ouch

I thought I wasn't doing so good with all the cuts and scrapes I've been getting from the cut bits of metal I've been working with.

Solar array... has been holding the tank comfortably around 20 degrees overnight and will sit nicely at 27 degrees... with the addition of a shade cloth cover...

New Silver Perch are doing laps with smiles on their faces... and eating really well ....

I hobbled to the hardware store then out to the green house and fixed the solar heater, Got it back on line at 1:30 pm at which time the output was 70 deg F (21C).
After three hours I went back to feed the fish and found that the outlet temp was up to 81 F (27C) at the top of the hot water tank. I found that the coil to the fish tank which was sitting out was also warm. Apparently the coil thermosypons thru the diaphram pump. I do not have the FT thermostat to controll that pump yet so was not running it.
Should be sunny today so will see what we get with the coil in the water.

Don't know how I missed this thread ..
Any updates on the array Rupert.

The array is being used as a "passive" heat source through summer Lungy...

Controller has been dis-engaged... (was pushing the fish tank past the 30 degree mark).... the tubes covered by shade cloth... (unless a cool/cold cloudy day).... and water pumped through when the fish tank pump kicks in for 15min/hr... 45/off.... now switched to operate on a timer, rather than the controller...

This keeps the fish tank between 24-29 degrees most days (air 25-35 degrees)... unless we get a sudden drop like the other day...

Even then, although the day temp never got past 21... and the fish tank dropped to 19 overnight... the passive heat generated today pushed the tank to 24 degrees, while the air temp hardly nudged 21....

P.S... the system is also passed through a trickle tower... which tends to cool the water ... and no pumping takes place between 23:30 - 07:00 ....

Heat loss overnight is not a problem through summer... but an issue that needs to be addressed for next winter... and the controllers secondary temp probe and electric heater "trigger" function will be tested as soon as the temps drop back a bit...

Rupe

From memory that was a good price for that unit, have you any thoughts of a way of storing the heat for cooler days ie passing it through a heat sink when it produces too much and returning it when you have a drop off? Sort of evening out the bumps.
Its getting close to barra all year round if it could be sorted

Yep Sleepe.... looking at latent heat fusion and phase change properties of waxs...

Neat, Tony of west OZ has done some work on that (reverse reason has to put heat exchangers in his car to allow it to run on veg oil)

The hot water collector in the greenhouse has not worked very well. My water temps have fallen to below 50 deg. F with outside air temp below freezing. Even adding a pump to circulate instead of thermosyspon did not help.
The next thing to do is move it outside and install a second panel to double collecting area. The concept of running a DC circulating pump direct off a solar panel and using a hot water storage tank works fine. Phase change is to complicated for me.
I go out and feed fish and other animals mornings and evenings. So for freeze protection I will simply open a valve to supply the collectors and close the drain in mornings and open the drain at night closing the collectors. With an air vent at the top of the collectors and correct pitch antifreeze solution wont be required.
To date am only running feeder gold fish. They have no problem with 50 deg. F water. Because of permits required to ship in or keep any food fish and inspection involved I wont go there. I intend to purchase gourami at local pet store for $2.50 each. That is cheaper than can ship in talapia, and they are more tolerant of cold. They breed, are omnivourse, and grow to plate size in nine months or so. In Asia they are cultured for food.

In the spring you can get Paco or Oscars, while I under stand the meat may not be as good as tilapia they are food fish you can purchase at Wal-mart pet section. I was going to try the Oscars because they grow fast but it would be hard to keep my daughters from naming them, then they become pets.