Solar powered aquaponics - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-29T11:25:40Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/solar-powered-aquaponics?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A207413&feed=yes&xn_auth=noHow are you able to buy used…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-08-19:4778851:Comment:5061832013-08-19T17:01:28.686ZDan Bartletthttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/DanBartlett
<p>How are you able to buy used batteries for $5? Is there a source like a junk yard or something? </p>
<p>Thanks for the info.<br></br> <br></br> <cite>the mad german said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/solar-powered-aquaponics#4778851Comment179511"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Great looking forward to seeing your setup Sam.</p>
<p>I've been seeing a lot of people talk about their utility bills and what its costing them monthly. If…</p>
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<p>How are you able to buy used batteries for $5? Is there a source like a junk yard or something? </p>
<p>Thanks for the info.<br/> <br/> <cite>the mad german said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/solar-powered-aquaponics#4778851Comment179511"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Great looking forward to seeing your setup Sam.</p>
<p>I've been seeing a lot of people talk about their utility bills and what its costing them monthly. If one does it right they can set up a system on their own without having to pay an outside source. I just hate to see anybody spend a lot of money and buy the wrong items or setup. So getting to know their power consumption, loss of power if they use an inverter and sizing is important if sticking with the existing AC equipment. If they go with DC on a new application sizing is equally important.After buying the intitial equipment their savings is for the next 20-40 years.</p>
<p>I paid about $3.00 a watt for my system 6 months ago which you can get now for $2.50 a watt, I just recently read in a report that by 2013 it'll be down to $1-1.50 a watt being that China has committed 50 Billion for solar production plants and are basically going to corner the world market.</p>
<p>The only other cost is batteries if staying with DC, fortunately for me I can pick them up all day long for $5 a piece, they are slightly used but test out perfectly or I wouldn't get them and work perfect for solar apps and me. Trying to keep the cost down is what holds up a lot of people from going solar. So I'm willing to help others like they have with me and others on here.</p>
<p>Any data I do post, I want to keep simple and in laymens terms for those considering it. Feel free to jump in anytime, post info or even correct me.</p>
<p>I feel if a person can lower their carbon footprint even more by going solar the better, Afterall we're not only just eating healthy with AP but trying to minimize our impact on the environment.</p>
<p> The mad german</p>
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</blockquote> Stainless could be very expen…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-08-19:4778851:Comment:5061602013-08-19T11:46:17.005ZMark Hallhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/MarkHall
<p>Stainless could be very expensive. If you already have panels with copper tubing you could probably use them as a closed loop system and do a heat exchange into another vessel that has no copper in it. <br></br> <br></br> <cite>Steve (from England) said:</cite></p>
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<p>Good point…</p>
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<p>Stainless could be very expensive. If you already have panels with copper tubing you could probably use them as a closed loop system and do a heat exchange into another vessel that has no copper in it. <br/> <br/> <cite>Steve (from England) said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/solar-powered-aquaponics?xg_source=activity&id=4778851%3ATopic%3A178911&page=6#4778851Comment506071"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p></p>
<p>Good point about the copper pipes, and hopefully easily solved by replacing with stainless?</p>
<p>To be honest, I've not thought about the effects of condensation in the polytunnel that I will be using. I have watched many YouTube clips involving greenhouses and polytunnels in freezing conditions, and as yet not seen any reference to condensation issues, so I think it will have to be a case of learning by trial and error.</p>
<p>Something that I would have to consider, is what would grow well enough over winter to keep a reasonable balance between fish and vegetation.</p>
<p>In an ideal world, I would love to have a small wind turbine to run any pumps, lights at night etc.</p>
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</blockquote> Keep in mind that if you don'…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-08-19:4778851:Comment:5062722013-08-19T09:10:45.082ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Keep in mind that if you don't have enough light during winter, growing much of anything even if it does like the temperatures, might be rather slow and poor. Some greens will take up even toxic levels of nitrate during such low light conditions and that would be bad.</p>
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<p>Lots of places that use single layer polytunnels are not heating water inside them, they are really just using them as cold frames or season extension but not necessarily to keep growing at tilapia temperatures…</p>
<p>Keep in mind that if you don't have enough light during winter, growing much of anything even if it does like the temperatures, might be rather slow and poor. Some greens will take up even toxic levels of nitrate during such low light conditions and that would be bad.</p>
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<p>Lots of places that use single layer polytunnels are not heating water inside them, they are really just using them as cold frames or season extension but not necessarily to keep growing at tilapia temperatures year round.</p> Good point about the copper…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-08-19:4778851:Comment:5060712013-08-19T05:34:25.362ZSteve (from England)https://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Steve171
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<p>Good point about the copper pipes, and hopefully easily solved by replacing with stainless?</p>
<p>To be honest, I've not thought about the effects of condensation in the polytunnel that I will be using. I have watched many YouTube clips involving greenhouses and polytunnels in freezing conditions, and as yet not seen any reference to condensation issues, so I think it will have to be a case of learning by trial and error.</p>
<p>Something that I would have to consider, is what would…</p>
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<p>Good point about the copper pipes, and hopefully easily solved by replacing with stainless?</p>
<p>To be honest, I've not thought about the effects of condensation in the polytunnel that I will be using. I have watched many YouTube clips involving greenhouses and polytunnels in freezing conditions, and as yet not seen any reference to condensation issues, so I think it will have to be a case of learning by trial and error.</p>
<p>Something that I would have to consider, is what would grow well enough over winter to keep a reasonable balance between fish and vegetation.</p>
<p>In an ideal world, I would love to have a small wind turbine to run any pumps, lights at night etc.</p> There is an issue with using…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-08-18:4778851:Comment:5059782013-08-18T19:41:19.405ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>There is an issue with using most solar water heaters directly on AP water and that is, copper pipes and recirculating water for fish are a bad combination. The acidic AP water will cause some of the copper to leach into the water which can easily build up to toxic levels for fish. To do solar water heating for AP, you really need to work out some form of heat exchange that will isolate the solar heater loop from the system water.</p>
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<p>Also, if you go heating the water in a…</p>
<p>There is an issue with using most solar water heaters directly on AP water and that is, copper pipes and recirculating water for fish are a bad combination. The acidic AP water will cause some of the copper to leach into the water which can easily build up to toxic levels for fish. To do solar water heating for AP, you really need to work out some form of heat exchange that will isolate the solar heater loop from the system water.</p>
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<p>Also, if you go heating the water in a minimally insulated and otherwise unheated greenhouse in a climate that gets true freezing snowy weather, you will have evaporation and condensation issues that could block most of the minimal available light during the dark part of winter and perhaps even freeze your greenhouse shut on you. Be sure to make some provisions to heat the air a bit to avoid a greenhouse turning into ice castle on you.</p> Hi.
I just wanted to say tha…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-08-18:4778851:Comment:5060152013-08-18T12:39:44.484ZSteve (from England)https://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Steve171
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<p>Hi.</p>
<p>I just wanted to say that this week I purchased two solar water heating panels, to install as part of my system. I think most people think about electrical generation when they hear the words 'solar panel'. Perhaps being in a cooler climate in England, we use solar water heating panels more than in the US? The panels I've bought are sold for the purpose of heating domestic water, mainly for private housing. I hope that the panels will give me adequate temperature during…</p>
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<p>Hi.</p>
<p>I just wanted to say that this week I purchased two solar water heating panels, to install as part of my system. I think most people think about electrical generation when they hear the words 'solar panel'. Perhaps being in a cooler climate in England, we use solar water heating panels more than in the US? The panels I've bought are sold for the purpose of heating domestic water, mainly for private housing. I hope that the panels will give me adequate temperature during the day, but also hope that they might generate enough temperature so that heat could be stored for overnight too? I could, of course, just grow other native fish that will not require heat, but I would like to try tilapia initially.</p>
<p>As this is a sustainability and solar discussion, I just wondered what others thought about solar heating, or maybe you are using it already, or maybe you've tried it and were unimpressed?</p>
<p>Looking forward to your views and comments.</p>
<p>Cheers,</p>
<p>Steve</p> For Pumps you might want to c…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-07-02:4778851:Comment:4899232013-07-02T05:36:47.131ZR.K. Castillohttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/RKCastillo
<p>For Pumps you might want to consider using Glenn Martinez's air pumps. He can run pumps off of 24 watt air compressors that move quite a bit of water. That's less than what a light bulb uses. </p>
<p>For Pumps you might want to consider using Glenn Martinez's air pumps. He can run pumps off of 24 watt air compressors that move quite a bit of water. That's less than what a light bulb uses. </p> You say it needs to have a st…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-06-28:4778851:Comment:4887892013-06-28T15:37:13.364ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>You say it needs to have a strong mechanical engineering focus.</p>
<p>That tells me you should focus on things to do with efficiency related to mechanical things. Like either water pumping or aeration efficiency. Be sure to ONLY change ONE VARIABLE for the trials and keep everything else as close to identical in the different systems as possible so that you can be sure that the variations in results are due to the ONE VARIABLE your are testing in the trial.</p>
<p>For instance if you are…</p>
<p>You say it needs to have a strong mechanical engineering focus.</p>
<p>That tells me you should focus on things to do with efficiency related to mechanical things. Like either water pumping or aeration efficiency. Be sure to ONLY change ONE VARIABLE for the trials and keep everything else as close to identical in the different systems as possible so that you can be sure that the variations in results are due to the ONE VARIABLE your are testing in the trial.</p>
<p>For instance if you are trying to test out which method of aeration is most effective, you would need at least two if not several more systems set up identically and only change the aeration method and then you should not only track the dissolved oxygen levels over your trial period but also note how the fish and plants respond in each set up. You need to do your best to make sure ALL other variables remain constant between the systems as in the same fish loads same amount of feed same amount of water pumping same amount of top up water and supplements and lighting and temperature. If you are feeding at a different rate in one system than another, then the different DO readings could be due to one system having a higher BOD rather than any difference in the aeration method efficiency so you really have to work hard to make sure all the other variables are as stable and alike as possible.</p>
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<p>If you were say comparing an air pump with air stone to a venturi aerator, both systems should still have the same model water pump running the same schedule. Then one system would need an air pump with air stone and the other system would need a water pump with the same wattage as the air pump to pump the water for the venturi aerator to be able to figure out which aeration method provides better dissolved oxygen for the wattage.</p>
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<p>Or you might look into pumping efficiency trying different pumps or even compare same wattage airlift to water pumps to see what sort of system design in which an airlift might actually be comparable to a water pump of same wattage for circulating.</p>
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<p>Other options would be research into mechanical filtration methods, like figuring out what sort of swirl, radial or vortex filter would be most appropriate to some particular size/flow rate aquaponics system. (this might be a good one since you say you have lots of materials and tanks to play with.)</p>
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<p>Good Luck <a style="cursor: pointer;"><img src="http://www.bkserv.net/images/Grin.gif"/></a></p> TCLynx,
Thanks, I agree that…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-06-28:4778851:Comment:4888442013-06-28T14:58:38.760ZKary Ritterhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KaryRitter
<p>TCLynx,</p>
<p>Thanks, I agree that simple is better. I am looking into a system optimization problem that would have two systems to four stand alone systems and compare them to each other.</p>
<p>Variables such as lighting, feed, fish stocking densities, aeration, pump circulation, etc.. could be changed in each system. The energy consumption, cost, water quality, fish and vegetable outputs could then be compared. </p>
<p>One of the constraints I have is that the research has to have a…</p>
<p>TCLynx,</p>
<p>Thanks, I agree that simple is better. I am looking into a system optimization problem that would have two systems to four stand alone systems and compare them to each other.</p>
<p>Variables such as lighting, feed, fish stocking densities, aeration, pump circulation, etc.. could be changed in each system. The energy consumption, cost, water quality, fish and vegetable outputs could then be compared. </p>
<p>One of the constraints I have is that the research has to have a focus on Mechanical Engineering or at least a strong relation. </p>
<p>I have a lot of resources, including twenty-three 300 gallon cylindrical tanks and grow bed construction materials. Have a large outdoor greenhouse and indoor growing facility. </p>
<p>Any suggestions on the types of systems to use and what to compare? </p>
<p>thanks,</p>
<p>Kary</p>
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<p><br/> <cite>TCLynx said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/forum/topics/solar-powered-aquaponics?id=4778851%3ATopic%3A178911&page=5#4778851Comment486053"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Sounds like a pretty broad range there. Try to narrow your study down so that you can actually afford to run some side by side trials of something. Don't be trying to develop too many things at once (ie hybrid plus solar power plus energy efficiency plus cost plus air temp regulation plus water temp regulating plus automatic fish feeding plus comparing one system to another) </p>
<p>Nope, pick one of those to concentrate on. Combining them ALL will be the work of your career or what you put your future students to developing if you decide you really want to go that way.</p>
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</blockquote> Sounds like a pretty broad ra…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2013-06-16:4778851:Comment:4860532013-06-16T19:17:48.928ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Sounds like a pretty broad range there. Try to narrow your study down so that you can actually afford to run some side by side trials of something. Don't be trying to develop too many things at once (ie hybrid plus solar power plus energy efficiency plus cost plus air temp regulation plus water temp regulating plus automatic fish feeding plus comparing one system to another) </p>
<p>Nope, pick one of those to concentrate on. Combining them ALL will be the work of your career or what you…</p>
<p>Sounds like a pretty broad range there. Try to narrow your study down so that you can actually afford to run some side by side trials of something. Don't be trying to develop too many things at once (ie hybrid plus solar power plus energy efficiency plus cost plus air temp regulation plus water temp regulating plus automatic fish feeding plus comparing one system to another) </p>
<p>Nope, pick one of those to concentrate on. Combining them ALL will be the work of your career or what you put your future students to developing if you decide you really want to go that way.</p>