Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

I would like to firstly thank all you for providing such a great site for everyone to interact and also the information contained here, I have been lurking around the forums passively just learning new things and have finally come out of the cave to say hello

I live in a busy city in Asia and it is very hard to get fresh produce and even harder to get fresh air.
I love the idea of Aquaponics and have been doing some reading/planning on building a system from scratch using Fibreglass/Acrylic. My initial goal is to grow some herbs/flowers and small plants to have fresher air in the apartment. Once I'm capable of moving to a larger house, I could start to consider growing produce. At the moment I'm looking at a tank that takes up roughly 30" x 20" x XX" height. Height can be up to the ceiling if need be.(10-12 feet)

But much more recently I have had an idea that I would like to share and and all suggestions and advice are greatly appreciated.

I'm somewhat of what you guys might call a 'computer nerd' and love building new computers or modifying/repairing existing ones.
One of the biggest problems with computer hardware is the heat generated from the CPU "Chip"
Many people have experimented with different ways to solve this (including submerging the entire computer into mineral oil http://www.geekologie.com/2008/01/mineral_oil_computer_cooling_s.php

I would like to ask if there would be a way to integrate an aquaponics fishtank to accomodate the cooling of a computer.

Watercooling systems have been done and discussed but none use a fish tank due to several reasons.
Water cooling generally has a device that runs water through a pipe that connectsto a heat sink. The heat sink comes directly in contact with the computer CPU chip.
Heat passes through the heat sink and is carried away by the water.

The water itself does not touch the computer components but only the heatsink.

The heat sink that touches the computer chip is made out of copper or alluminium. I understand that if these elements were in direct touch to the fish tank water, it is poisonous to the fish.
Would there be a way around this?

Secondly, Algae build up in the tubes have also been a problem. However, in an aquaponics system, would the algae build up be greatly reduced?

Third, Would temperature levels affect the fish,(kill the fish)

This picture is taken from another thread on another forum that illustrates exactly what I mean:


Hope I don't sound confusing, I'm writing with the best English I can.
Thanks!

If its going to be in contact with metal it might not work. Also the water will be on the acidic side so it will be a problem.

Hey! Another computer nerd! This sounds like a cool idea. I honestly don't think a cpu would make too big of a difference heating a fish tank that's big enought to house edible fish. I've got a quad-core 3.2 Ghz machine running in our small bedroom and the air coming out of the case fan is warm, but there's never been a noticable difference in roomtemperature. It would definitely help some though. One idea is you could disconnect the tubes from the heat sink and get some food-safe epxoy paint and paint the portion of the heat sink that would come in contact w/ the water. I'm sure this would reduce the transfer of heat to the water somewhat, but I don't know how much. Then would could do the same w/ the tubes. As for the algae, it needs light to grow. If you paint the clear tubes, use opaue materials for plumbing in your system, keep the grow bed water line below the gravel and cover your fish tank, algae should not grow much (at all?). You could also stock fish that like to eat algae (Tilapia). Just some ideas from a fellow nerd and AP newbie. Also a I don't see an fish that's of edible size being comfortable swimming in a 30"x20" tank... even if it is 12' tall. Welcome!

Thanks for the input.
At the moment, I'm not really looking at growing edible fish yet, space is very limited, perhaps just some goldfish to keep things in balance.

Welcome to the forum endgame