Solar powered aquaponics

[the mad german]

I saw there really wasn't a topic for this, with society becoming increasingly aware of their carbon footprint or lessoning their impact on the environment.  Maybe this would be a good place to share info, knowledge, experience, equipment, suppliers, setup etc on solar applications......

In the next few weeks I'll try posting some basic solar info and general rules of thumbs, As and if this progresses, get into the sizing of equipment, types of equipment, pumps, panels, inverters, chargers, lighting and storage systems.

 

Hope to hear from others as well as input or questions.

Thanks

the mad german

 

[Jason Eaton]

We are completely off grid here. As such had no option to use mains power for the aquaponics. We run two 175w panels into two Trojan T105 6v batteries. I have a charge controller running the panels into the battery. I am running a bilge pump in a sump ( CHOP ) system. The draw on the pump is 3 amps at 12v. As such I can run 10 hours with that little pump. I have two issues, one is that panels don't provide enough power to charge those batteries with lower peak sunshine hours. Second issue is the 12v bilge pumps are not reliable. I can buy larger panels, but i wish there was a reliable DC pump!

Still trying to make it all work. I could run 110v off the larger off-grid power system here but rather keep it solar if I can.

[TCLynx]

Hopefully Mad German will pop back in to talk about how to make the 12v bilge pumps reliable.  I think he said it was more to do with browning out tends to burn them up so it is actually the battery bank and lack of charging capacity that is failing and killing the pumps more than the pumps actually being unreliable.

[Jason Eaton]

Thanks TC. Some folks said he has a web site? Maybe more info there. Do you have the link for it?

[TCLynx]

I don't but you might Friend him and see about sending him a message for more info.

[the mad german]

I apologize Jason,

 been off the wall busy, but I will get on here in the next day or 2 to see if I can help you out, TC is correct on browning out as 1 reason . Looks like you might have a couple things going on.

Thanks for the help in my absence TC.

 

Mad
 

 Jason Eaton said:

Thanks TC. Some folks said he has a web site? Maybe more info there. Do you have the link for it?

[Dennis Glover]

Just found this discussion. There seems to be quite a bit of information to go through. I'm planning to setup a raft system, part of which will use solar power, later in the next few months. I'll be coming here to educate myself.

[txdurk]

Keep us informed Dennis of your progress and what you learn along the way. Good luck.

[George]

I installed a 12-volt pump in my tank with spray bar for aeration.  It runs from Solar and my recirculating pump now runs from house current .  In the event of a grid outage, both will run from solar with a reduced pumping and feeding plan.  The Rule 24 came with a flow output chart.  The 24 pumps 360 GPH with no head, 265 at one meter and 190 at 2 meters - 2.5 amps at 13.6 volts and 2.1 amps at 12 volts. 

Rule 800 pumps 800 GPH at no head, 615 at one meter and 425 at two meters (6.7 feet).

We'll see how it goes.

TCLynx said:

The DC pumps you've been using TMG, do you have any links to the pump curves for them?

[Kary Ritter]

Dear Aquaponic Solar Community,

I am a Systems Engineering PhD student with a Mechanical Engineering(M.E.) concentration and am interested in aquaponics research. I am having trouble with nailing down a specific topic for research that will both fulfill the PhD requirements and be of interest to me.

I am interested in creating a system (hybrid or media bed) that could be solar powered and as autonomous as possible taking cost into account. By autonomous the system could have some automatic air/water temperature regulation and auto fish feeders. The system would also have a strong focus on energy efficiency being that it could be solar powered. I would like to build a system and do a 1-2 year study on a specific part of it. Comparing one system to another is also of interest. 

Any advice, suggestions, recommendations, info links, networking with others, etc. would be greatly appreciated. 

cheers,

Kary 
University of Louisiana, USA

[TCLynx]

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) 

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.

[Kary Ritter]

TCLynx,

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.

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. 

One of the constraints I have is that the research has to have a focus on Mechanical Engineering or at least a strong relation. 

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. 

Any suggestions on the types of systems to use and what to compare? 

thanks,

Kary

TCLynx said:

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) 

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.

[TCLynx]

You say it needs to have a strong mechanical engineering focus.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

Good Luck