Geothermal Aquaponics

[William J Silverthorn]

I have not seen any discussions about GeoThermal water temperature regulation, and I can think of many reasons why it could be a bad idea in an AP system, but I wonder if anyone has found a way to make this work???

most geothermal water temperature regulation set-ups that I have seen would be a more permanent design, and being buried under a widely dispersed area for ensuring a broad area of exposure, which would make it difficult if even possible to conduct periodic maintenance and cleaning out of whatever might clog a closed loop system rich with nitrates and fish solids.

I imagine that it might be possible to incorporate into an AP design, but difficult to design with accessible maintenance in mind that wont harm the efficiency of the design.

if a water pump pipe is routed from a sump tank down a well and back up before taking its regular course into the top of an AP design, then you could use this to regulate the temperature of your fishtank to that of the well water (without mixing the two), and possibly provide a more stable environment for certain designs that might previously have unstable temperature swings at certain times of the year.

thoughts?

[Carey Ma]

I like the idea of geothermal but I'm not sure what the application is unless you live in a hot environment like the deep south and want to cool your water.

[Aquamaple]

I have spent much time thinking about this topic, and have some ideas. One of the fish I want to be successful with is trout, another is hybrid bluegill. I live in Michigan, and we have crazy temperature fluctuations here, along with very cold winters.
I recently met a fellow with an outdoor wood burner that he used to heat his house and extremely large pole barn. The coolant liquid went from the reservoir over the heat exchanger to the pole barn where there was this little tiny box about 8" square mounted on the wall. The little box was some sort of heat exchanger that kept his coolant material completely seperate from his radiant in floor heating coolant. The box had a large feed inlet, a large feed outlet (with a ball valve), and was then split into an 8 line manifold for each zone of the building's floor, with a ball valve at the head of each line at the manifold. Why couldn't this principal be used for aquaponics? Sump water could be run through the AP side of the heat exchanger to keep fish water up to 55℉ in the dead of winter, keep it cooled to 55℉ in the heat of summer, or drastically reduce heating costs in the winter by having to heat water from 55℉ to 60℉-ish instead of heating from 33℉ to 60℉-ish! (more or less temp depending on required root zone temp.) Rainbow or browns would LOVE 55℉!
Furthermore, why couldn't I use the geothermal side to cool the air in my greenhouse in the summer, reducing exposure to pests by having doors and windows open to regulate greenhouse temperatures? (Completely unresearched by me at this point, just seems like a great idea.)
We're talking a few bucks a month to run a pump, vs all the other heating and cooling efforts. Seems worthy of some additional testing if you ask me. I have a large back yard that I don't mind ripping up for the right reasons, a backhoe and a loader available to me, and I know how to throw pipe down in the dirt below the frost line. Seems like a no-brainer to me, until someone talks me out of it.

I would NEVER send AP water into the underground system. You are right, that is just begging for disaster.
I also think additional securities would be wise. There is a way of measuring a difference between the geothermal coolant and the AP water, whether its PH, EC, or whatever (electrical conductivity might be easiest), so that if there ever was a contamination detected a solenoid would shut off water flow further downstream or redirect it to a safe location. Safety first ;-)

[William J Silverthorn]

ok so you are recommending that coolant is pumped into a deep ground loop instead of using a wellwater dip of AP water.

I'm eager to see how that goes for you. please let us know.

the system I'm working on would be too small to justify a separate coolant system, and perhaps too small to do anything at all remotely related to geothermal. I'm not sure though and dont have the resources to do any geothermal research so I was hoping someone has done this before so I don't pour any concrete that I regret later.

[Jim Troyer]

makes perfect sense William!  Go for it as long as the36 cost to create is reasonable.

I have a friend with 55 degree artisan well water flowing into a pond in the back yard.  You should have seen the look on his face when I said "why don't you put a coil in your furnace, then you would have air conditioning for free?"

They have owned this house for over 50 years and could have used this all along.  He is now using a car radiator in the duct work just off the furnace, the water flows in the bottom hose and out the top before heading to the pond.  It doesn't even require a pump to use...  No more hot humid summers!

[Jon Parr]

I have a buddy who grows catfish in 120 acres of ponds, and the top up water comes from a deep well that flows clear and clean, and 68 F, summer and winter. That is pretty much ideal for sturgeon, and so he's raising them in pre-pond tanks.

[James Alexander]

i've seen it for a green house before. coils buried out side comes inside hooks up to pex pipe that is coiled inside a 55 gallon drum and hooks back up to go outside. he only uses water in it because he flows water from the fish tank into the 55 gallon drum. it keeps his green house and aquaponic system very stable. he has 10 blue 55 gallon drums for each of his 10 different zones.

[Paul Smith]

If You are using Deep Water Culture, the system water will act as a constant heat sink.  Summer cooling and winter warming.

There are many gallons of water in a DWC so they tend not to be effected by short temp swings.

[Ian Cameron]

Here is a link you might find interesting. I plan on doing something similar when the weather cools down some.

http://www.sunnyjohn.com/indexpages/shcs_faq.htm

[Devoid]

Yup that's the link I was going to put for cooling and heating of greenhouse air.

I plan to use a non metallic radiator in my tank and use a separate closed loop system to pump water through the ground to cool the tanks. I personally won't use coolant because if it ever were to leak I don't want coolant in my soil.

I have nearly 4000 gallons of water and my water temperature is up to 86 degrees here in central TX.

[Jim Troyer]

86 degrees is normal here in the low desert of Arizona...

A grower friend had and accident and lost a significant portion of the fish tank water while away for the day. When he returned home in the afternoon he saw the water temp and freaked!  The temperature probe said the water was 100+ f !  The tilapia took it in stride, he didn't lose one fish!

[Devoid]

Good to know. I killed nearly two dozen goldfish when a small tank of mine was up to 110 :(

Still, cooler water is better for the plant roots even if the fish can take it warm

[Mark Hall]

I'm dealing with Central Texas Heat as well. Have you installed your heat exchange system? I'm thinking that above ground would be less installation expense.  This would cool the air and not the water.  Water would drip down the solid north wall of a greenhouse through a evaporative cooing media and air would be introduced low and exit high so that fans could be minimized.

I like the idea of PEX coils under the tanks to heat the water, but can't see how to cool since my well is 700' deep.

Devoid said:

Yup that's the link I was going to put for cooling and heating of greenhouse air.

I plan to use a non metallic radiator in my tank and use a separate closed loop system to pump water through the ground to cool the tanks. I personally won't use coolant because if it ever were to leak I don't want coolant in my soil.

I have nearly 4000 gallons of water and my water temperature is up to 86 degrees here in central TX.