Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks for the info Scotty! How cold does it get where you are? Do you run all winter?

Any info you have will be great! I was out there today fixing some plastic that came loose, and it looks like I have a lot more frozen then I thought. My drain is frozen and I think that half of my GB is frozen as well.

I think that I am going to have to put a heater out there.

Yes I run both my systems all winter but I don't really try to grow plants, a few hang on though (not enough light). It's normally pretty mild here - between 20 and 55 F roughly. It's a maritime climate, cloudy, rainy and foggy but it will get cold a few times. Last winter it made it down to -14 F once and we had two cold spells about like that, lasting several days, so the heating bill spiked a bit. This winter it's been really mild so far although it's been below freezing especially at night (but not recently). Snow is your friend, leave it on the bed if it's really cold out - it acts to insulate the grow bed (see the pic below)

This is the first year for the RAS but it's so compact and sheltered that I probably could totally ignore it and it would be OK. It's also on the South side of a building which helps. The RAS system is probably around 350 gallons.

For the AP, I don't worry about it till the temperature gets into the teens and even then I just setup the space heater and then don't think about it. Just having a pump running 24/7 will help keep the water from freezing most of the time. I've had the top of the outdoor grow beds freeze but haven't had any pipes totally freeze. I throw mulch over most of them (pine needles and leaves) and some are buried. The water has been down to 33 F but no colder. This happened before I put the heater in the greenhouse last year. The heater actually comes on at the lowest setting of the thermostat which I think is 41 but it might be 45. About half of the grow beds are outside of the greenhouse with the 625 gallon fish tank so some of that heat gets wasted, I live with it for now. All up the AP system is about 1100 gallons of water or there abouts. Six degrees F is about the normal heat loss on a drastically cold night so the system can usually take several of these in a row before it gets near freezing. The DWC beds did freeze solid earlier this winter because I got lazy and didn't put covers on and also because they aren't connected to any system inflow yet (no moving water). I've been using them as auto top up reservoirs for both systems so they do have outflow. One DWC bed may have sprung a leak because of the freeze, I put the standpipe back in to isolate the bed and catch some rain to check it, since I'm not sure.

Both systems run Constant Flood pumping 24/7.

I don't think I'm going to complain about my winter when I can't grow tomatoes anymore...

looks all too familiar scotty...

Lovely snow, wish we have it. Never experienced a snow before

Thanks for the info Scotty. I'm glad I'm not the only one that has to deal with winter. Do you have to re-cycle your water in the spring? What type of heater are you using? I have been looking, but I'm not sure what to get. At this point I don't want to use an electric one, as I'm running extension cords to the GH.

Lol, we all have our own unique set of problems no matter where you live. I do wish that I lived in a warmer climate. One that was warm all year round, say 24°-25°, that would be perfect.

I'm guessing your climate would be pretty close to what mine is. Do you run anything outside? If so do you run it in the winter?

Snow is nice to see, but it looses its appeal, when you have to shovel it or drive in it.

That's true, although, it always melts if I just leave it alone long enough


I don't have to recycle the system in the Spring. I'm using an electric heater since I have a GFCI outlet in the greenhouse. Electricity is relatively cheap here and there is no gas line to the house.

Lol so true! I was thinking about propane, but I suspect that I would go through a lot of it. The other option is Kerosene heater. I was also thinking about some sort of wood burning stove as well. I don't know.

The cold you get in Ontario and the upper mid-western USA is an order of magnitude (or maybe 3 or 4 orders of magnitude) worse than anything we get here. Growing up in the mid-west, I remember some -70 F wind chills with the strait temps in the -20 F range and I wasn't as far north as you are. Then the blizzards and one time 4 days without power. Really beautiful though, with the snow fresh on the ground and the hushed silence that usually comes with it. Neat too, how the snow crunches after it forms a crust. We get some of that out here and I can go to the mountains if I need more so it's enough but sometimes I do miss it.

Not sure what to suggest for the heater. Insulate really well, could use straw bales around the base of the greenhouse on the outside. Bubble wrap on the inside of the greenhouse - there are special clips for this. Even with all that you'll still need to heat and ventilation though . Some have made Rocket mass heaters. Passive solar with some black barrels full of water might help as well.

Yeah I hear what you are saying. I have heard about using bobble wrap in the GH in the winter. I think I will look into that for next year. I'm starting to come to the realization that I'm not going to be able to run in the winter Oh well I will start as early as possible and go as late as I can.

One way some people might set it up is to have the fish and enough filtration inside but with the ability to connect outside beds when it warms up. Lean to greenhouses, warm garages and basements are all likely candidates for this. Makes more sense to do it this way in a really cold climate. The essentials are the filtration and the fish, so really this becomes a winter Recirculating Aquaculture System, that hooks to outside Aquaponics beds when weather permits growing plants.

I think that would be the most cost effective way scotty.