Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

We had a pretty big drop in temp last night due to the southerly that just blew up the East Coast of Aus. They system http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=21334 is really well insulated so I was shocked to find a 4 C drop overnight. But I do remember the guy at the fish farm mentioned that if the pump was blowing cold air into the tank it would cool down the water and the insulation as exacerbated the problem by not allowing it to heat through the day.

So to the question if I was to make a large cover with a lot of airspace for the pump and attached something like a hair dryer with a thermostat switch to keep the air temp around the 50 c mark say, would this be a reasonable heater to win back a few degrees to keep the Silver Perch growing over winter?

There are a number of sources out there on how to create a robust heat source; here's one: http://community.theaquaponicsource.com ... ter-for-20

There are youtube videos on similar projects.

I am thinking of building one of these. I currently use 4 fluval 300 W heaters in my 275 gallon IBC.

Doesn't seem a hair dryer would be enough. I found ambient temperature is important so I insulated my tanks and grow beds and found a better source of room heating. In my limited experience, you need both a robust air heater and water heater.

Bottom line: I would work on increasing both ambient (air) and water temperature.

Hope this helps!!

Terry Sprague
Akron, OH