Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello!

My name is Pat and I live on a 5.25 acre lot in the state of Utah. My husband and I have been working at turning what had previously been neglected grazing land [at one time dry-farmed in wheat or oats] into a self-sustainable Hobby Farm. Your article about aquaponics has intrigued me.

Here in Utah [we live about 45-minutes south-west of Salt Lake City] our need for water conservation is quite critical. Our altitude [about 350 feet shy of 1-mile high] will make our endeavor a bit trickier. However... I do believe that it is possible. Because of current "water wars" up here we have only 2.75 acre-feet that we can pump from our well annually. I believe that with aquaponic techniques I can "stretch" that water use. We are also installing a 5.6Kwh photovoltaic system on the back barn. With this electricity I would like to use dehumidifiers to recapture as much water vapor that will be thrown-off by the fish tanks as I can. Does this sound like it is a possibility in our region to you? [The tanks will have to be inside to prevent them from freezing solid during our winter months. So recapturing the evaporated water vapors should not be a problem.]

Any suggestion will be very much appreciated. While I have some newly acquired expertise with flora & fauna my educational/work background is one a theatrical set designer from New York City.

Thank you,

Pat

Hi Pat, welcome to the forum

How much rain do you average each year? I recently heard of a new invention (still in development stages I think) that uses the wind to condense water out of the atmosphere. It seems like that would be a great idea.

Aquaponics can definitely help with reduced water-use food production. How much land are you willing to allocate to the project? What size tanks would you look at?

We love questions and answers and of course pictures!

Have fun with your journey

Welcome Pat,

we definitely love pics, and we would also be very interested in seeing how you fare, esp with the water saving ideas

Welcome pat.

i'm not sure of the condensing the vapor from the fish tanks for a few reasons.

assuming they are inclosed in a shed, the humidity will reach equilibrium in the air, it will be humid yes, but the more you condense out the dryer the air will become and the more readily the water will evaporate from the tanks. in the end you will be using your 5Kw of power for not much gain if you balance the equation. I'm no scientist ( we upset them all here ) so i may be wrong.

Did i say welcome?

Welcome, Pat.

Steve's comments make some sense, but maybe if you could vapor-proof the fish tank area you could keep the evaporation to a minimum. The air will saturate, but then evaporation from the tank would decrease?

Best way I have found to reduce evaporation is to cover the tank with a lid.

Yep, thats along the lines of what i was saying. When some of us went to wilsons setup he had a HUGE tin shed that was insulated with siver foil and i think polystyrene. Would have been relatively air tight. It was quite a chilly morning, and when you walked in there the temp and humidity smacked you in the face!

I'm being theoretical again, but if you're running a BIG setup i think that having the fish in with the plants is a great idea. The fish will be raising the atmospheres they're in CO2 which would beg SOME type of air induction, so kill two birds (fish?) with one stone and let the plants swap out the CO2 as well as the nutes!

That would be my recommendation too. You can build it as a greenhouse on end, and enclose it as a regular shed on the other.

I found an article on the web about solar heating that might be of interest to you. The author said his set up was in Montana.

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Sp ... arshed.htm

I am also going to put it under the alternative/sustainable energy topics forum.

Kevin

For starters, Welcome aboard Pat!

I agree that a solar shed design would be the best option in your climate. Then you could pretty much grow whatever you want, almost year round!

You may consider a system that allows the condensation to gather on the surfaces and return to the system rather than a dehumidifier. As well, insulated covers over the water, will help greatly, not only in water retention, but also heat. I'm currently building a very, VERY, crude version. But I'm short on cash and time and need to get set up.

I'm located in the high desert between LA and Palm Springs, not as high as you, so I'm interested in your progress! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Good luck and again, welcome!

you still here pat? or have we scared you off?