Aquaponics System, Passive Solar Greenhouse build

[pinballlooking]

My natural gas tankless closed loop heater is doing a good job. I get the replacement pump tomorrow. I will test to see if med speed is a little better. I think a little faster flow and heat the water a little faster will work better. Even if I end leaving it the way it is now will be fine.
Next up is getting the power into the greenhouse. I am just going to run conduit under the foundation.

I am going to install my 1,000 watt stainless steel heater and put it to work. I do not think I make enough extra solar power to just run the electric fish tank heater alone. But I am going to install it and experiment with running both at the same time.

My theory is to have it pick up some of the heating load to keep the NG usage down and use some of the extra solar power I have banked but not too much that I will run out of it to heat my house with.

At this point I know I can keep the fish alive all winter and eating good. So now I am going to see how much more efficient I can make it.

I have special ordered some fish food Purina AquaMax Dense 4000 ( My local feed store) this was specially formulated for tilapia and fish that are not in open water. A commercial grower in FL uses this food with good results.

The last fish food I bought from tractor supply was not fresh and when I talked to them they said they were no longer carrying that food.
Good info here.
https://lakewaytilapia.com/Tilapia-Feeding-Guide.php



Now that my fish water is not getting cold I will need to up my feeding and get these fish growing.
That should get the plants growing even more.


I am adding two float sensors in my sump tank one will be maybe 12" off the bottom to let me know there is a very bad leak and needs attention right away. ( I hope to not use this one but it could save my pump )

The other will be about 12" above ½ a tank. This will let me know that I need to add water to the sump.

I only add water every couple weeks but I check it often. I want my monitoring system to watch it for me and to text me when it is time to add water.

I want to post the fish tank temps overnight. This shows the new FT heater performance.

[pinballlooking]

I received my new replacement pump today and installed it. I am running it on the medium speed. This allows me to run the water faster and heat the water a little more. It is going to get real cold over the weekend so I will get test it out good.
I mounted the controller and web monitoring box I need to tidy up the wires.

[Xringer]

I just saw a weather scare-cast on youtube.. Said that SC was going to be hit with some extra-cold weather!
Hope your family, plants and fish stay warm.!.

Rich<>

[pinballlooking]

We had some snow yesterday and last night it got down to 17 degrees F this is could for SC. The high is 35 for today and they are calling for 14 tonight. Wednesday it will be back to 59F.
My new fish tank heater is working very well I did turn it down to shut off at 70F.
Here are the greenhouse temps and fish tank temps.
I got my FT heater done just in time this cold snap would have killed many fish.

Greenhouse




We picked 4 pounds of tomatoes and a head of lettuce this morning. I like it when it is 17 degrees outside and I am picking produce.

[pinballlooking]

The first really cold night my fish tank heater worked well but used more natural gas than I would have liked. I bought a second timer and last night I turned off my pump from 8 pm until 7 am.

This did reduce the amount of natural gas that was used to heat the fish water.
I need to insulate the fish tank some I am thinking about wrapping the FT with fiberglass insulation.

Then cut some foam insulation to loosely cover the top.
It was too cold to finish putting the power into the greenhouse but I hope to do this soon.

The load center is mounted to the outside wall on the greenhouse with the wiring done it is just waiting for the conduit to go under the foundation. The ground was frozen but it will thaw this week.

[jeff5may]

Is it raining in your greenhouse at night? With a 15 degree delta T between the tanks and the air, evaporation becomes a major factor. A floating blanket on the fish pool would do much more than insulating the tank by reducing the evaporation.

[pinballlooking]

The only place I am getting condensation is on the roof where the polycarb starts. It is aluminum profile just after the insulation. It is not a lot but it does drip there when it is very cold outside.

The fish tank is covered with a 1/4 plywood and a piece heavy plastic.

I like the blanket idea. I could put it on a pulley system and lower it down at night.

[creeky]

I would consider roxul or similar over fiberglass. It is hydrophobic so less worry about mold / loss of insulation value from the constant damp.
I suppose you could make a blanket from it as well.

[randen]

Hmm

The first consideration that I would have about covering a fish tank is oxygen absorption unless you have another source. Plants bubbler etc.

I used to have a 150 gal. marine aquarium with some very colourful expensive fish. Water quality was extremely important along with full spectrum light.

Randen

[pinballlooking]

I read up on roxul and I agree that would be a much better choice for the sides.

My fish tank is 500 gallon. I do keep an air bubbler in there.
Whatever I cover it with will not have a air tight seal. It needs to allow some gas flow in and out.
I will only cover it at night. During the day I just keep it covered a little more than ½ the tank. This lets the fish know it is daytime but the catfish likes dark.
I have an old comforter I will try to cover it with tonight and see how that works.