Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good morning!

I'm looking to try out aquaponics in the near future but am still in the research-gathering phase. So far, I like the Nelson Pade systems but what brought me here was trying to find info on maintaining water temperature. I'm in SC now but may be moving to FL soon. In either case, I was thinking about solar for heat but the cooling was by bigger concern. I'd like to take advantage of the cooler earth below rather than run a chiller. It seems like this shouldn't be too hard but I haven't found much info from others that have tried this. Any suggestions on this or any general advice for a noob?

Thanks,

Erik

Welcome to the forum Erik

Hi Erik,

cooling does seem to be a more costly problem than heating.

Solutions like storing ice, chilling water and using refridgerators are demanding on energy.
Other passive ideas like shading or housing of FT's, shading of GB surfaces, evap watering of GB's on hot days, water cycle/flow timing can be used to minimise the use of electricity.
One way to eliminate the issue is to use fish suited to the climate. Many people have tried to grow fish outside their temp ranges only to find they've wasted a lot of energy, achieved stunted growth or slowly killed their fish.

Hello Erik, I was wondering the same thing. Found conflicting info ,some say it will not work as the circulating water will take on ambient temp in a hurry. Where I am temperature gets up to 110F for many months off the year. I am in the process of setting up a system and will bury one or two IBC as a heat sink and keep the other above ground .

That's what I'm thinking. Originally, I was thinking of just running some lines in the ground, but adding a tank near flush with the ground may help. I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes, especially since I'll be moving further south in a few months.

In my system I have buried my two tanks in the ground. The one thing I wish I did was insulate. I think having it in the ground keeps the water cooler. It also makes the water colder come winter.

Ah, good point!

Heat could be problematic. I am in Palm Desert, California with average temperature like this:



Luckily, I am not doing IBC type system. I am using water from an ornamental in-ground concrete pond that's almost 5 ft (160cm?) deep. Otherwise, not sure how fish or plants would like 90F+ water in the heat of summer. One thing I did think of doing was bury some copper pipes say 6-7ft under in some zip zap fashion and 12 inches (30cm) or so apart and pump water though them slowly. More less a radiator underground.

Quite sure the follow would have legal issues but what if for folks in hot climate that have a deep water well? Would it be possible to release warm water down the well then replace the released water with cold water pumped from the well? of course all kind of water hardness etc issues ....