Geothermal Aquaponics - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-29T05:07:04Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/geothermal-aquaponics?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A511981&feed=yes&xn_auth=noAnyone tried this in the Nort…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-13:4778851:Comment:5165042013-09-13T02:27:42.014ZIan Cameronhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/IanCameron
<p>Anyone tried this in the North? I live in central BC, where summer weather is not a problem but -20C - 30C in the winter is. I've looked at the sites around geothermal etc. and have come to the conclusion that a 'stable' feed temperature is the best for warming air or water. What I'm trying to say is its easier to lose heat than gain it, and for Northern areas where fuel costs are so high its better to raise the temp from a stable 57deg @ 8ft to 65deg. that way one is not fighting (fuel…</p>
<p>Anyone tried this in the North? I live in central BC, where summer weather is not a problem but -20C - 30C in the winter is. I've looked at the sites around geothermal etc. and have come to the conclusion that a 'stable' feed temperature is the best for warming air or water. What I'm trying to say is its easier to lose heat than gain it, and for Northern areas where fuel costs are so high its better to raise the temp from a stable 57deg @ 8ft to 65deg. that way one is not fighting (fuel wise) large fluctuations in temps. BTW, in my green house at one end I have a home built 3ft dia chimney built in 3 sections 3ft long. The bases are flared to create a venturi effect as they sit over the lower section of straight pipe and slightly above it to allow air movement. On 30C plus days this year, the plastic covering was stressed to the point of tearing if I did not get to open the ends of the greenhouse in time. I wish I had a flow meter for air cause that pipe was vibrating on a good hot day. Now that is convection in motion!</p> Jim Troyer said
Today, you…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-12:4778851:Comment:5164182013-09-12T22:32:47.435ZJon Paulhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JonathanPaulGrenard
<p> <a class="fn url" href="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=0z2ynfkib95b6" rel="nofollow">Jim Troyer</a> <span class="timestamp">said </span></p>
<div class="description" id="desc_4778851Comment515737"><div class="xg_user_generated"><p><span> <em>Today, your cooler only made a one degree temperature split because the air is saturated.</em></span></p>
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<p>The Air blowing into my greenhouse from my swamp cooler was 75-76 degrees. The…</p>
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<p> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=0z2ynfkib95b6" class="fn url">Jim Troyer</a> <span class="timestamp">said </span></p>
<div class="description" id="desc_4778851Comment515737"><div class="xg_user_generated"><p><span> <em>Today, your cooler only made a one degree temperature split because the air is saturated.</em></span></p>
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<p>The Air blowing into my greenhouse from my swamp cooler was 75-76 degrees. The outside temperature was 93 degrees. That means the swamp cooler is cooling the air about 18 degrees. After the cooled air runs into the greenhouse it is heated by the sun to 92 degrees fahrenheit. If i where to turn the water pump off the swamp cooler would blow 93 degree air into the greenhouse and the sun would heat the greenhouse up to 110 Degrees. </p>
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<p>I definitely need my swamp cooler but i worry that one day the water pump or blower motor could fail. This would result in cooked plants. Where i live it commonly is above 100. On a 100 degree day the swamper cools that greenhouse to about 98. If the water pump failed, the greenhouse could get to 120 degrees. If the swamp cooler failed the greenhouse would get very hot. It failed on me one time at the beginning of the year and i got home to a greenhouse that above 150. That failure was a result of a GFI tripping. After investigating the cause of the tripped GFI I found that the problem came from inside the swamp cooler. I found mineral build up where the pump plugged in. I cleaned around the mail and female reciprocal which solved the problem. Since then I have put the swamp cooler on a different circuit that is not GFI protected</p>
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<p>The second swamp cooler would do two things...</p>
<p>1) On a 100 degree day the greenhouse is currently cooled to 98 degrees with the swamp cooler blowing 78 degrees. If I had two swamp coolers I predict that i could get the greenhouse to 90 degrees </p>
<p>2) If one of the swamp coolers failed there would be a second one to cool the greenhouse</p>
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<p>There is also another problem.... What happens if the power goes out during the summer. </p>
<p>I have a neptune controller with 2 power strips. One Power strip is plugged into a dedicated 20A circuit. The other will eventually get plugged into a UPS battery back up. One of the swap coolers and the other vital equipment will be plugged in to the Power Strip that get power from the UPS. It would be nice to have 5 hours of battery runtime during summer days just in case. The problem is finding a battery backup that has big enuff batteries. The best solution that i have come up with is to buy a UPS battery backup and remove the factory batters with a couple of large deep cell batteries. </p>
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</div> Hey Johnathon!
Nice write u…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-11:4778851:Comment:5157372013-09-11T09:06:41.957ZJim Troyerhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JimTroyer
<p>Hey Johnathon! </p>
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<p>Nice write up regarding your greenhouse ideas, they certainly make good sense in some locations.</p>
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<blockquote><p>Today it got to 93 outside and the inside temperature got to 92</p>
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<p>The comments regarding your swamp cooler(s) makes me want to comment. We use coolers here in the Arizona desert, in fact, I have one for my house and it works just great until the dew point gets into the 50s, after that you're just blowing air around…</p>
<p>Hey Johnathon! </p>
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<p>Nice write up regarding your greenhouse ideas, they certainly make good sense in some locations.</p>
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<blockquote><p>Today it got to 93 outside and the inside temperature got to 92</p>
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<p>The comments regarding your swamp cooler(s) makes me want to comment. We use coolers here in the Arizona desert, in fact, I have one for my house and it works just great until the dew point gets into the 50s, after that you're just blowing air around because the water doesn't evaporate off the cooler pads anymore. Adding another cooler will not help cool your green house at all. Today, your cooler only made a one degree temperature split because the air is saturated. Don't get me wrong, it would have been much hotter in the GH without the air flow! The point is: you could have turned off the water pump and only used the fan and had almost the same effect. </p>
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<p>I am running my air conditioner currently because the dew point is in the low 60s. When the dew point is in the 20-30 degree range here; the cooler will make a 20 degree temperature split, 100f degree air in and 80f air out, saves lots of greenbacks... </p>
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<p>We just keep a spare motor, belt and pump on hand since they are so simple to fix, no need to have an extra cooler in the way. I recommend you spend some time cleaning it up real well this fall, toss the pads, repaint the inside and spray it down extra good with spray undercoating or cooler coating everywhere. Be sure to store it where the rain doesn't get inside all winter too, the rust worms get everywhere if you don't.</p>
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<p>As far as keeping your veggies cool, I have mine growing under shade cloth (50%) and they did just fine this summer to 118 degrees. Tomatoes won't take a blossom after 105 degrees in early June, but we are back to perfect growing weather now... ;-)</p>
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<p>All the best,</p>
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<p>Jim</p> Hi Friends,
The old saying, "…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-10:4778851:Comment:5151932013-09-10T16:16:05.715ZPaul Smithhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/PaulSmith
<p>Hi Friends,</p>
<p>The old saying, "Follow the Money," is always true. Just because something is labled, "Organic," doesn't necessarily make it healthy. I guess you could stretch the fact that refined sugar is organic if you keep looking at the loopholes.</p>
<p>I have had great success with growing hybred tomatoes this year. They are great and the whole family is enjoying them.</p>
<p>My Wish for You,, A Fantastic Day!! Paul.</p>
<p>Hi Friends,</p>
<p>The old saying, "Follow the Money," is always true. Just because something is labled, "Organic," doesn't necessarily make it healthy. I guess you could stretch the fact that refined sugar is organic if you keep looking at the loopholes.</p>
<p>I have had great success with growing hybred tomatoes this year. They are great and the whole family is enjoying them.</p>
<p>My Wish for You,, A Fantastic Day!! Paul.</p> RE the email "Your Opinion Co…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-10:4778851:Comment:5153632013-09-10T15:22:45.932ZDon Goddardhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DonGoddard
<p class="_message">RE the email "Your Opinion Counts" This is a request to feed information to MONSANTO: John Hopkins is not trying to help us. Check the connection between Monsanto and John Hopkins University. <a href="http://truenorthreports.com/frightening-food-part-iii-gmo-labeling-monsanto-meddling-or-mission-impossible" target="_blank">http://truenorthreports.com/frightening-food-part-iii-gmo-labeling-monsanto-meddling-or-mission-impossible</a></p>
<p class="_message">RE the email "Your Opinion Counts" This is a request to feed information to MONSANTO: John Hopkins is not trying to help us. Check the connection between Monsanto and John Hopkins University. <a href="http://truenorthreports.com/frightening-food-part-iii-gmo-labeling-monsanto-meddling-or-mission-impossible" target="_blank">http://truenorthreports.com/frightening-food-part-iii-gmo-labeling-monsanto-meddling-or-mission-impossible</a></p> Thanks Jonathan.......very cr…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-10:4778851:Comment:5153032013-09-10T04:21:24.891ZMark Hallhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/MarkHall
<p>Thanks Jonathan.......very creative setup. You've got me thinking about digging a big hole.</p>
<p>Thanks Jonathan.......very creative setup. You've got me thinking about digging a big hole.</p> Geothermal Aquaponics sounds…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-10:4778851:Comment:5151112013-09-10T03:46:31.573ZJon Paulhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JonathanPaulGrenard
<p>Geothermal Aquaponics sounds pretty cool. When i started building my greenhouse i wanted to run pipes into the ground to help regulate the Aquaponics water temp, but instead i decided that it would be easier to dig a crawl space and put the tanks down there. After building the greenhouse and crawling around in the crawl space to work on stuff, i thought why not dig out a walk way in the middle so i could walk down there. It is very nice and cool in the basement. The Basement temp does…</p>
<p>Geothermal Aquaponics sounds pretty cool. When i started building my greenhouse i wanted to run pipes into the ground to help regulate the Aquaponics water temp, but instead i decided that it would be easier to dig a crawl space and put the tanks down there. After building the greenhouse and crawling around in the crawl space to work on stuff, i thought why not dig out a walk way in the middle so i could walk down there. It is very nice and cool in the basement. The Basement temp does not swing in temperature like it does in the greenhouse above. I like the basement of the greenhouse so much that it is the first place that i go when i enter the greenhouse.</p>
<p>Now i am digging out the basement even more. The point in the corner is 10' deep. It's where my new 275 gallon IBC sump tank will go. Of course i will have to poor a pad and a new stim wall so everything does not fall apart. The deeper that i dig the basement the more thermal mass i will have and the more space i will have for tanks. Its realy nice having the fish tanks and sumps down there because the it helps keep the water cool. It also saves much space in the greenhouse above. </p>
<p>If anyone is thinking about building a greenhouse for their aquaponics system there are a couple of good reasons to having a basement</p>
<p>1)The basement is a good place to store things that need to stay cool like fish food or seaweed extract. </p>
<p>2)The basement is a good place for things like sump tanks and fish tanks</p>
<p>3)The basement works like a geothermal system and helps regulate temperatures</p>
<p>4)The basement is a good place for things like controllers, electrical panels, battery banks, boilers, and anything else thats needed </p>
<p>My greenhouse is 200 sq ft and is located in an aria that is dry and frequently gets to 100 in the summer. It has one swamp cooler that blows 76 air into the greenhouse. The swamp cooler does more than one air exchange per minute. Today it got to 93 outside and the inside temperature got to 92 according to my neptune controler. On hot summer days the greenhouse can get above 100. I will be installing a second swamp cooler to help keep up with those hot summer days. The second swamp cooler will also be a back up in case the first one fails. Do not even try to cool your greenhouse using a true geothermal system as the heat gains in a greenhouse are astronomical. </p>
<p>I have decided to keep my tank water between 70 and 72 . The tanks do not overheat in the basement. </p>
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<p>Words of advise for someone putting a basement under there greenhouse</p>
<p>1)Put a sump pump down there</p>
<p> a)sooner of later you will forget to turn of the fill water and the tanks will overflow and you will be taking a sump pump down anyways </p>
<p> b)I use a gravel vacuum to suck debris out of my settling tank and run the water into a bucket with a sump pump in it. </p>
<p> c)Plane and simple, sump pumps just comes in handy. </p>
<p>2)If you have Greenhouse that is small like mine and you don't have room for a staircase, install a permanent ladder down to your personal underground layer. Put the ladderway in the corner so its out of the way. </p>
<p>3)Install a hatch in the middle of the floor. Use a hatch with two doors 24" x 42" for a total opening size of 48" x 42" so you can get IBC totes and anything else you might need down there.</p>
<p>4)Install a hoist above your hatch to lift things in and out. I got my hoist from harbor freight for $170</p>
<p>5)Put you radio in the basement so you can jam out and not make the nabors mad. </p>
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<p></p> they have fans here in Arizon…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-05:4778851:Comment:5126042013-09-05T03:03:22.120ZJim Troyerhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JimTroyer
<p>they have fans here in Arizona with the misters mounted on the front of the fan in the air stream, my local discount tire uses one. They are cool to watch work and do the trick for sure<br></br> <br></br> <cite>Pat James said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/geothermal-aquaponics?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A512191&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4778851Comment512160"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Last year, I had to cool my greenhouse so I…</p>
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<p>they have fans here in Arizona with the misters mounted on the front of the fan in the air stream, my local discount tire uses one. They are cool to watch work and do the trick for sure<br/> <br/> <cite>Pat James said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/geothermal-aquaponics?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A512191&xg_source=msg_com_forum#4778851Comment512160"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Last year, I had to cool my greenhouse so I could even stand to be in there. I found one of those simple misting hoses did wonders. Water does accumulate on the floor. You can buy a misting kit for a few bucks at Lowes. I thought of using some kind of fan to add to the effect but could not figure a good way to protect the fan from water damage.</p>
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</blockquote> I read somewhere about someon…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-04:4778851:Comment:5121912013-09-04T16:59:19.285ZAveranhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/AveranGale
<p>I read somewhere about someone using salt water as the coolant fluid. The added salt increases water's ability to store heat and transport more of it away underground. The saltier the better.</p>
<p>I read somewhere about someone using salt water as the coolant fluid. The added salt increases water's ability to store heat and transport more of it away underground. The saltier the better.</p> Hey Mark,
From my understandi…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-09-04:4778851:Comment:5122512013-09-04T16:33:44.747ZDevoidhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Devoid
Hey Mark,<br />
From my understanding the ground temp is 68 f with + / - 7 degrees at 8 ft deep. My plan was to run water through tubing to help cool the system water. I have no idea how to calculate heat loss and cooling ability on such a thing. All I know is the my water temp is 86 f at 10am this morning, yesterday evening it was at 90 f. I'm not sure what effect that has on the plants as I've not been having any luck growing stuff in the system.<br />
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SunnyJohn was my introduction to shcs couple years…
Hey Mark,<br />
From my understanding the ground temp is 68 f with + / - 7 degrees at 8 ft deep. My plan was to run water through tubing to help cool the system water. I have no idea how to calculate heat loss and cooling ability on such a thing. All I know is the my water temp is 86 f at 10am this morning, yesterday evening it was at 90 f. I'm not sure what effect that has on the plants as I've not been having any luck growing stuff in the system.<br />
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SunnyJohn was my introduction to shcs couple years ago, got me interested in geothermal heating and cooling for my house. Sadly drilling wells is too expensive for me. Then I came across citrus in the snow. He takes the shcs a step further for his house to get rid of the humidity. His greenhouse makes me want to try tropical fruits her in Texas. Things like Dragon fruit and such.<br />
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@ mark of you run a closed system into a well then you can use a smaller pump. If you can loop coils of pex tubing or such into your well with both ends coming up. If you put water into one side, it will equal out between the two sides. If one side is filled all the way up, so is the other side. So I think you'll only have to figure out flow rate to get maximum cooling. Oh and the water would go to a heat exchange and back into the tubing. Always separated from system water