Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am starting an aquaponic system in my garage, which is located in Eastern Pennsylvania, and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how best to heat the water in my 275 gallon IBC tote? An aquarium water heater would suffice, but I am looking for a more innovative solution that doesn't require much electricity. The reason I am concerned about the electricity is because this system will already be consuming power to run the water pump, as well as, the LED lighting system.

I would prefer this system to be off-grid, but the weather in Pennsylvania has forced me to bring the system indoors. The IBC tote will not fit through my house doors and I do not have much yard space to build a greenhouse. I will like to grow tilapia in this system which is why I need the water to be heated.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I've been wanting to build an IBC tote aquaponic for a long time now and am excited to begin building the system.

Try growing something instead of tilapia, or attach a big wood stove to the IBC, it's going to be an uphill battle. Are you getting the snow we're getting today too? Insulate the heck out of the IBC as a start.

haha, yes it is snowing here too. I thought about this issue some more and have come up with two options.

Option 1. I can run a tube from the aquaponic into my house and wrap it around the radiator a few times and then run the heated water back to the aquaponic.

Option 2. If I cut the IBC tote just right, I might be able to fit it sideways through my house door. My house is normally at 70F which I think will suffice for the tilapia.

What do you think about these options?

Second option sounds better

Honestly you are going to have a hard time keeping them alive and the slightest power failure will give you fish deaths or fish stress in the original plan

f you can't get the system inside consider other fish that will di better in the cold

I think 2 would be great if possible. Then tilapia would definitely be a go. I'm not sure but is the issue with the IBC the frame, and I don't know if those can be unbolted. Once out of the frame the bladder itself could be pliable somewhat.

Where are the plants going to be?

Also from what I know (I don't have any IBCs yet) if you were to just use the cage part but not the bottom palette thingo the bladder could be sitting directly on the floor with the cage just to support the sides of the bladder and not the bottom of it. I know I've seen a member here with that set up. Blue board styrofoam is great for thermally insulating the bottoms of tanks from the cold floor if you need it.

If you have hot water radiators, then you have the possibility of running a stainless steel hydronic heating coil in the tank. It would be the equivalent of adding another zone to your heating system and you could set the tank temperature easily. Would probably be cheaper to run, but the up-front plumbing cost would be more. If you had a buddy in the heating trade, $200ish + pipe would probably cover it.

I would cut the IBC tote 3/4's of the way up and use the 1/4 section as the grow bed and the 3/4's section as the fish section. I've seen many of these systems online. It seems like they work very well.

The plastic tote can be removed from the cage. I would remove the plastic tote, cut it so that it would fit through the door. Cut the cage so that it would fit through the door and reassemble the IBC tote inside of the house.

Should I place this system in the basement? I would prefer to have it on the first floor, but I am worried that it would be too heavy and could damage the flooring/structural support of the house.

I am still interested if the first option would work though.

There is little value in insulating or heating tanks and GBs. What you need to do is insulate the space that contain the tanks and GBs.

For example putting a pool cover on a pool does make a difference but not much and that is for a tank that is completely in ground and covered on top. A tank or GB that is not covered on top is going to freely exchange heat with the space where it is located.

If I were to keep the ibc tote in the garage, it would cost roughly $80 a month to heat the tote. Therefore, the tote will be placed in the house. It will weigh over 1000lbs when full, which means that the tote must be moved to the basement. Unfortunately, the door to the basement is very small. My plan is to cut the grow bed and then cut the fish tank in half. I will also completely disassemble the cage. The system will then be reassbled in the basement. I will place a pond liner in the tote. By doing this, I will have a regular sized ibc tote aquaponic system in my basement and not have to worry about heating it. Raising Tilapia in PA! (Hopefully).

my basement door is smaller than a standard door, i was able to cut my tote tanks in half, and disassemble the frames to bring it indoors

A fully filled 275 gallon IBC will weigh in just under 2,300 pounds. I would definately not put it anywhere other than on solid ground or concrete.

If you pull the bladder out of the cage it should flex enough to push through the door. You could always build a 2x4 frame for it if you can't disassemble and reassemble the cage it comes with.

After much trial and error, I was able to move my ibc tote to my basement. It is cut and assembled. I am going to run a flood and drain system on a timer. My question is, what size pump is suggested for a flood and drain ibc tote system? I have a 220 g/h pump, a 300 g/h pump, and a 900 g/h pump.

Why are you putting a pond liner in the tote?