Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

nah, like AA said, its already all burnt out........now heaven..........lots of burnable stuff there

Dear god what impression have i given you all...........

the true and real one I am afraid....

Months ago you were discussing burying tanks for insulation. Murray mentioned coating them with foam as well.

Did anyone bring up using old carpet underlay to wrap the tank?

Our place is one big recycling facility. I've got a pile of old carpet and underlay and I was going to put some of the underlay under the tank as padding, but I may as well use some for insulation before the soil goes back around the tank.

yeah, why not... it will both insulate it and protect it too... yet another great idea there
hmmmm.... perhaps we should do 2 sticky's, one for keeping the tank/system temp up (for winter) and one for keeping the tank/system cool (for summer)

I would think that the principles of insulation would work both ways, winter and summer. the only thing is, in northern Oz you need to provide more cooling, probably for longer

yep, cairns get real hot... damn hot!

Guys are we forgetting something-
The ground temp is constant and varies little between summer and winter.
The ground temp here in margies is a beautiful 15c at 500mm.
Insulating to protect rather than keep warm.
Just my thoughts and the testing of soil conditions from western australian gov.
What is your soil temp?
C1

The soil temps for today at the Tsv airport are 25 - 26o depending on depth.

others can check out their closest BOM site from here
http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/ag_bulletins.shtml

Jaymie thanks for the link...
Got a bit caught up before I could.
What temp is the water that your running thru your system?
I know your air temp is much greater than mine here(lucky you).
We will have a max of 16 today.

There aer a few things to consider with insulation and burying.

Buring your tank will help maintain a MINIMUM temperature close to what the soil temp is in your area. Insulation goes further........it will minimise the heat lost to the earth.

Insulating AND buryin your tank would be great, as you minimise the temperature GRADIENT (higher gradient more heat loss) to the difference between the soil temp and your water temp buy burying, and decrease the thermal conductance by insulating.

An important word on insulation. Certain materials are USELESS if the become we or moist. Fibreglass batts (pink bats aka fat bats) is one of these. There are many coolrooms insulated with these that have horrendous insulation becasue some smart cookie drilled screws in with out sealing them over. Over a period of years the side walls get full of water due to the gap "breathing" from the constant expansion and contraction of the air space. humidity from the ir condenses out into the insulation. Water hasd a comparativly good conductance and hence renders the insulation useless. Polystyrene does not suffer from this as it does not absorb water. If carpet underlay can abosrb water it too woulld be a bad choice. Bubble wrap however would be a good choice.

Does every one follow the logic?

Seems like good logic to me steve.....

Steve do you know what temp the ground is at 5oomm where you are?
C1

sorry C1, i'll try and get around to measuring it.

remind me in a week if i haven't poste it yet.

Will need to make up a 500mm type "K" probe

Jaymie posted a link bom bureau of meterology(?).
They have worked out a formula to calculate ground temp and I think they have current temps to.
No need to dig.Unless you 'dig it'.
Heaps of talk about geothermal heating about of late but that is a bit deaper.
C1