HendoLuvsIt's 5 link IBC System

kthignight24

HendoLuvsIt wrote:

I have recently wrapped all the tanks in Aircell. I was getting temperature fluctuations between day and night. The Aircell has helped keep the temps more stable. I am looking for some sheets of styrofoam or similar that I can float on top of the water to help insulate better.
I have found that the fish eat more when the temps are more consistant.

Attachment:

IMG_0953 (800x598).jpg

Love the system, so nice and neat.

If you float styrofoam on the fish tanks I believe you'll be losing much of the benefit of your air pumps. From what I've ready 80% of the aeration from airstones/airlifts come from circulating the water (not the air bubbles through the water)... giving all of the water an equal share of direct contact w/ the air above the tank. If you put styrofoam on top you will drastically limit the exposure of the water to the air.

HendoLuvsIt

SnowT wrote:

Nice system. One Issue if you have a Look at your photo's.. When the Pump is running does the tank with the pump in Go Dry...?

- I would take a Guess that you are running Flood and Drain on the Tank.. I can't see you running constant flow @ 550w you are doing over 12kwh per day and I'm not sure what your power cost is But at say 25c/kwh that's a heap of power for just the 1 day.. $3.00 per day for water flow..

Plus the air pump's say another $1 per day.. so at a guess.. $4/day.. x 90 = $360 just to run the system...Full time.. so with 15/45 you are costing yourself $90.00 per month..

- Me with your system Run a smaller pump...
- Put the Pump in the Middle Tank so the water flows from the Ends to the Middle..
- You have no Ability to siphon the crude off the bottom.. [Add a "T" to the interlink pipe. 1 end going to the bottom.. The Other end open/screened so it does not siphon the tank out]

Sorry just found the spec's on your Pump.. 15000lt/hr... Sorry are you Kidding me.. Nice Pump but WAY WAY over powered for what you have.. you could get away with 2-3000lt/hr.. to do what you need..

It is a Nice system.. over all.. But I could not keep my hand's off it to give it a few tweak's..

Juergen

Alright, I think I have it sussed. The air pump is 55L/m 30W. So 30Watts x 24hours x 7days x 4weeks / 1000 x 25cents = $5.04/Month

Which means, Water pump @ 550W on for 15mins/hour = $23.10

Are these figures right?

The T-section is a good idea. I've been having issues with solids on the bottom of the tanks. I think I'll have a crack at that this weekend.

The Tank doesn't run dry as the pump recirculates into the tank it draws from.

edd024

Nice setup :thumbright:

, One kWh is the equivalent of using 1,000 watts for one hour. For example, if you use a 100 watt light bulb for 720 hours (i.e, for30 days straight), you used 72kWh. Now my bill for my power & light company (on your bill) you will see kWh rate for fuel (my is 1 kWh $0.048) & non-fuel (my is 1 kWh $0.056) charges i around it off at $0.052 a kWh. So the 100 watt light bulb 72 kWh is around $3.74 for 30 days. Hope this help

HendoLuvsIt

Thanks edd, It sounds like I'm on the right track.

HendoLuvsIt

kthignight24 wrote:

Love the system, so nice and neat.

If you float styrofoam on the fish tanks I believe you'll be losing much of the benefit of your air pumps. From what I've ready 80% of the aeration from airstones/airlifts come from circulating the water (not the air bubbles through the water)... giving all of the water an equal share of direct contact w/ the air above the tank. If you put styrofoam on top you will drastically limit the exposure of the water to the air.

If that is the case, I could still have the styrofoam sheets on top of the water, but have my GB drain pipes shorter so they could drain onto the sheet. That way the water would be spread across the sheet increasing its surface area before it re-enters the FT.
If I can find some sheet, I might give it a go in just one FT first and see how it goes.

SnowT

your figure are close But you need to work on a 30day month... Not 28day's..

The Power company's bill on a 88-90day cycle on average...

Juergen

HendoLuvsIt

SnowT wrote:

- You have no Ability to siphon the crude off the bottom.. [Add a "T" to the interlink pipe. 1 end going to the bottom.. The Other end open/screened so it does not siphon the tank out]

I changed the position of the inlet side of the tank connections today. I added an elbow and a length of pipe, so it draws water from the bottom of the tank. It works very well. All the crud moves from one tank to the next. At the moment, I haven't done the connection to the last tank. I'm hoping the yabbies in tank 4 will deal with most of the crud, as the bottom of their tank is always quite clean.

Thanks for the advice. :thumbright:

Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

HendoLuvsIt's 5 link IBC System

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics