Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey TC

sorry to hear...... this weather on the east coast has been crazy......

I have an exhaust fan and a circulating fan both on thermostats... so when the temp gets to high, the exhaust fan comes on and if it gets to cold, the circulating fans and heater come on....

they are very adjustable.......

here is one like mine.... only difference is I dont have a remote sensor, its mounted on the stat.

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft1_thermostats_controllers-ft1_thermostats_durostat;pgcr2147.html

hope it helps

JT

Thanks JT.

Sigh, I guess disasters must happen occasionally, at least it was just the 300 system. big system is still in good shape.

Now to choose which sort of temp control will work best for the situation.

Bummer.

Might be simpler and easier to simply stop feeding while away as long as it is less than three weeks. The fish will get hungry and plants will slow, but it is far safer than any other feeding plan.

That is probably what will happen if I haven't found a good plan otherwise. At least for winter when the water isn't all that warm anyway.

I'm not sure I could leave the fish that hungry during the warm season though. I'll make a point to reduce feeding while away in any case though.

Sorry for your loss TC, that really sucks.

Lessons learned. I really need to get some monitoring and control going if I'm gonna be doing aquaponics while traveling so much. (I would rather quit traveling but not sure I can afford to give up 3/4 of my income at this point in time.)

I find it almost impossible to overfeed with the floating pellets. Anything uneaten ends up in the growbeds before it has a chance to sink. If there is not much in the bed, i leave it for the worms....anything that I can get my hand around goes into the flower bed. I have not been feeding much lately though.

Anyway - sorry for the loss! I have found it to be a really crappy feeling...like I failed the fish.

Yea, sucks, but I'm taking it as a learning opportunity. I draw the water from near the bottom of the tank though so as not to loose all the food to the grow beds. I'm starting to look into temp sensors and perhaps web control or something since I travel too much.

Any good tips for those sort of electronics projects would be appreciated. I expect a picaxe chips could easily be used with a temp sensor to control a relay that would stop the feeder from running if it is too cold or too hot. I just need to learn a bit about temp sensors.

I wonder if a thermostatically controlled heater/ac socket controller could work. The PSP300 aka Win100 looks like the ticket http://www.luxproproducts.com/pdfs/PSP300_WebMan_ENG.pdf. These only cost a bit over $30 - designed more for indoors I think but if you gave it some protection from rain this should work. Just plug your feeder into the socket. You could set it to cooling cycle and only have it come on when the temp gets above your desired limit. The other thing of importance is that it's measuring air temp and not water temp but you should be ok if you're thoughtful about the settings.

There is a guy that uses it to turn on a pond aerator at this thread http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=220075

Here it is on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/WIN100-Heating-Cooling-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B000E7NYY8

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that how your feeder reacts to power outages is critical to whether this will work.

I might just need to have it control a relay. Now if it has a remote sensor I could encase it and drop it into the tank seeing as water temp varies more slowly than air temp around here, I would rather have it react to the water temp and not the air temp. (I could have a 75-80 F day with the water temp still being below 40 F and fish not eating.)

I was thinking that if your fish feeder timer has batteries it could hold it's program when the power was cut then resume when the power returns. I don't know whether you could extend the sensor cord and use it in water without risk of shock (especially since this is hooked up to 120V 15A circuit). Sounds like you want more of a hardwired solution with a remote sensor for water temperature? I've seen sensors like this for remote temp readings but not that control the outlet. I'll admit having everything integrated would be nice.

I've never dealt with web-integrated devices, but it seems as though it might be nice to have the ultimate in intelligent controllers (your brain) adjust the feeding remotely. Let's see: webcam (for a glance at fish and leftover food), water temp sensor, controller for feeder....

I'm torn between perfect control & wonderful technology on one hand and the whole "simplify, simplify" thing on the other. Hmmm.

yea, I prefer simple but can't expect just any neighbor to handle getting a "feel" for the fish and I'm still making my living mostly traveling so....

If I do come up with really user friendly means of control systems for AP that are not gonna break the bank, I know there are plenty of people out there interested. However, I think the best I could do would be electronics kits and instruction and they will only do for a select few.

Anyway, I should probably get off my but for a bit as I've spent most of the day searching for controller options online today.

Yep, that's why I said "your brain" instead of "a brain": remote monitoring and control of your fish from anywhere would be really sweet.