Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good substances for pipe (I know you already scored the storm water but I'm enjoying this now) would include: Glass, any metal, stone, High density Polyethylene, plaster and concrete.

Of course, metal, glass and HDPE would be the most practical.

mmmm, starting to get to it now!

I can feel another draft coming on! so we can keep the brain storming hapenning

Give me an hour or so and I will set you another challenge!

I'm not saying stormwater pipe wont work... just that there are better substances, if you have it, build it, try it, then change if you don't like it, or just want to improve it.

What, not up to a challenge then

I shall agree to read any challenge put before me cheeky bugger

Working on it!

Hint: itll sound very familiar to you

Build one of each so you can compare the two
Whatever Plan B is its likely to be better as the heat will be lost to the cold air long before it reaches the water inside the heavy pvc pipe.
You could double glaze and insulate the whole thing in a box so any heat will favour the water in the pipe rather than the zero distance to cold surrounding air.

G'Day Gang,
Interesting thread :-)
I have not set a system up yet but I am thinking I will solar heat the tank for the winter months. I have a solar hot water collector that I will set up so it will thermo siphon. All I need then is a temp controlled shut off valve that will turn off when tank temp is correct and turn on when temp is low. I will set the panel at a angle so the top is level with the top of the tank and the bottom is level with the bottom of tank. Very simple with few moving parts. I see no reason why it will not work but any comments are welcome.

Cheers,
Dennis

Hiya Dennis and first up, welcome to the site.
You have certainly joined theit place for both information as well as a lot of verandy tips and tricks from the knowledgable follks here.

I was thinking maybe an old second hand solar system modified would make it possible for me to keep the Barra and Cichlids in the FTs all year round.

Will be watching with interest. What species of fish were you thinking of?

I am making inquiries for yabbies at the moment. I think they will be a bit more hardy for my first system. I like the idea of a heated tank so I can perhaps try some red claw as well. At the moment I am trawling through Jessy's 5 squillion posts. The more I read the more I get enthused.

Cheers,
Dennis

Be aware guys that standing water and ap don't really mix. A slow continuous flow through the pipes may be less efficient (actually it should be more efficient so long as it's not too fast) will create a healthier environ for your fish. To stop heating simply turn off the pump. This should be designed so that all water can drain back through the pump.

The heating side will be separate from the main ap system so the only water not moving will be in the solar collector itself. In the summer I would drain the collector so there won't be any stagnant water laying around. I think this will work ok.

Cheers,
Dennis

I did a thread about a passive drain heater which by the way does work if you have a handy bit of ground that gets good sun and the right elevation near a system. This is what I would probably recommend doing with the storm pipe since trying to pump water through such might not be a very efficient way of doing things.

On the active side of things. I've currently got a couple solar pool heater panels up on the roof heating some water in a half barrel in an old freezer chest. In turn I have a coiled pipe that runs in that half barrel to help warm up my system water. Unfortunately that half barrel is really not enough water to store up enough heat to really make much effect on a system the size of mine.

If your solar collector has a copper heat exchanger... and/or copper insert connections...

Don't use it... particularly with crustacea... you'll kill them in a blink...

And the acidicy of the AP water will corrode the unit pronto... and add even more toxic copper into your system....

Now that is what I call good advice!! The wealth of knowledge on this forum never ceases to amaze me.
I will still work on the solar heater but re-think the collector material.

Cheers,
Dennis