Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I think I could use a hottub as a redclaw tank. I know the interior could become a pondish thing. Could I heat the water with the hottub heater? Is the pump salvageable?

Here is the Ad-

15 yr old jucuzzi hot tub/ needs some work (free)

suction line broke at fitting ,needs exterior sides repaired ,top is in good shape .a few blisters in the acrylic .pumps work ,heater works . no parts you must take the whole tub

There are a few people using spas as fish tanks, Twintragics (I think) is one of the recent ones.
You would have to put a cover of some sort on it to stop the redclaw escaping (maybe a lip that extends over the the rim of the tank, but doesn't cover the whole tank )
If it's free, you might as well give it a try

sounds like a go'er!

is the heater electric or gas?

It sound really good.

Could you inject air through the bubbler's of the spa?

I think that would blast the fish out of the water, CC. Unless they can be run at a reeeeeally low rate.

problem is with the air venturi is that it requires high flow through the venturi. catch 22

might want to cover up some of the jets too if your redclaw are small enough they might go on a sewer crawl

The spa that I got freebie all the pipes were in bad condition- just crumbled. I closed all the jets off on one side because the fittings through the wall were leaking. The other side terminates above the pools high water level then has a line going from that mark to a nearby tree. Should probably put some screen over those jets. The jets on that side are used as the overflow. I will use a submersible pump rather than the spa pump. Don't want to use that much electricity. Never even checked to see if it still worked. The heater is electric but no longer has a housing. Might still use it but will have to build a cage to surround it.

remove all the pipes and jets, seal the jests and re-fit them. Use a sub. pump like you suggested. might be best leaving the heater or selling it as it probably requires high throughput of water (via spa pump) to operate at spec, and not worth the heart ache of doing it wrong

good point steve

on spas my wifes cousin bought a spa $10k all up and they only used it for a month

cause when they got the power bill it was $ 300 for a month they took out a loan to get the thing as well

we were all laughing at them for ages

was it straight electrical or heat pump?

yup sure was,, they were lucky the meter didnt spin out the box and down the street it would have been goin so fast

heat pump would have shaved that bill in half

well the didnt realy think about it before they looked into it he works for tradelink and got a cheap unit but it cost em a bucket load to get it set up in the end

theve spit up now so its all a moot point