Cold protecting your aquaponics

[Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr.]

For the next 3 to 4 nights freezing temperatures down to perhaps the 20's are projected for Phoenix Arizona. Our proof of concept aquaponics is now protected by:

A. Replacing all 1,300 hundred gallons of water tonight raising the water temperature to 65 F thus creating a great deal of latent heat. Thought the water seems cold it is hot compared to the air so should keep the plants from freezing. There will be a great loss of nutrients and some bacteria but from past experience the growth setback is only 1 week. There are only maintenance fish in the system so go great harm is expected to them.

B. The tarp will prevent heat loss from evaporation and radiative (general heat loss to empty space).

C. The tarp will minimize cold water input from rain.

D. The tarp will promote solar heating of water if the sun comes out. 

So, we shall see how this works. What are you doing for your projects this weekend?

P.S. Total cost $11.00 for the materials, $6.50 for the water.

Link to photo: http://bit.ly/10iXxn7

[Jim Fisk]

Another cheap source of insulation is 4' wide rolls of floating floor underlayment foam insulation especially if you can find it on sale or in our case at a flea market. I also use the again 4' wide rigid foam used under vinyl siding around the IBC FTs. It comes folded every 2' and does an even better job but is a bit more pricey. I use that to insulate my GBs as well as seen here: (the blue stuff)

Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. said:

Lowes. Two,  9 ft by 20 foot 2mil paint tarps and some cheep but effective duct tape to stitch them together into one big tarp. The idea depends on their being little or no wind as is normally the case in very cold nights here in the valley. A tarp that thin would never last in even a medium breeze and a great deal of latent heat in that 1,300 gallons of water  So far so good.

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Thanks Jim, Yeah I'm really liking the stove. Other than the wonderful amount of heat that it outputs, it has done a good job at keeping the GH much drier. So much less condensation now with wood burning in there. (Burning propane just adds to the condensation problem a bit, but I do like the extra boost of CO2 gas it gives the plants). And I really need solutions that are reliable and will work...and work well....consistently. So far this stove rocks! 

With 18,000 litres of water, honestly my single coil water heater element it seems like a drop in the bucket (in my head at least), but hey a couple drops in the bucket is really all I need anyways. (No tilapia for me...Carp, my fish of choice, are fine at my water current temps (5 to 8C)...and I'm getting waaaay better nitrification happening than all the books/charts/papers said I would at those temperatures. Can't wait to see how everything does next winter with the water heater element installed. 

Jim there are more pics of the stove build on the "photos" portion of my profile here on the forum...

[Jim Fisk]

That is a lot of volume you're running. Don't think one loop, think as many loops as you can squeeze in there. OR a plate water collector, etc. I leave the top barrel screwed down so I can remove it and even add coils up there. You can run the pipes right thru and out the front, 90s and right back thru again if bending won't do it. As long as they miss the front damper mech, etc. You could end up with more "boiler" than "hot air" stove with a minimal effort.

I plan on at least 3 more coils, one of which will heat by thermal siphon, the hot tub seen in my plan. As long as the water is at atmospheric pressure the sky's the limit with no danger of steam explosion. Been there done that with a home made steam jenny. Should have been killed. When you enjoy learning things the hard way life is on the edge. Back in those days there were no forums to run ideas by.

BTW, with nights in the teens, my water temp stays 50F and above running 1500 gals. with one 6 ft coil. I run it thru slow enough to PU about 10F. If you run the coil too cold you will have creosote running out the bottom of the stove. Here is the in (bottom) and the out. You can see it keeps the coil full before going over the top. BTW you can't see it but that upper pipe is an open vent with the thermometer bulb dropped down inside"

And here is where it runs into the far end of the GB drain headed back to sump:

Hope this helps others with their heating problems. I am sure we are in for temperature swings in the next few years that have not been seen in decades.

Vlad Jovanovic said:

Thanks Jim, Yeah I'm really liking the stove. Other than the wonderful amount of heat that it outputs, it has done a good job at keeping the GH much drier. So much less condensation now with wood burning in there. (Burning propane just adds to the condensation problem a bit, but I do like the extra boost of CO2 gas it gives the plants). And I really need solutions that are reliable and will work...and work well....consistently. So far this stove rocks! 

With 18,000 litres of water, honestly my single coil water heater element it seems like a drop in the bucket (in my head at least), but hey a couple drops in the bucket is really all I need anyways. (No tilapia for me...Carp, my fish of choice, are fine at my water current temps (5 to 8C)...and I'm getting waaaay better nitrification happening than all the books/charts/papers said I would at those temperatures. Can't wait to see how everything does next winter with the water heater element installed. 

Jim there are more pics of the stove build on the "photos" portion of my profile here on the forum...

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Yeah, creosite was the reason I was loathe to use more coil...(that and bending this piece of 304L without kinking it was pretty tough...and the prospect of leaky sweeps and elbows kinda scared me, but I just may reconsider...).

Since my barrels were ridiculously thick (2.5mm) I was able to weld them together so removing the top one is outta the question hehe...I do have that access panel for the fire brick heat sheild/shelf though... hmm...

[Jim Fisk]

Just throttle the water to where the pipes stay at least warm rather than ice cold and you should be all set. I only got creosote when I had no valve in the feed line and it ran very cold. None since.

Vlad Jovanovic said:

Yeah, creosite was the reason I was loathe to use more coil...(that and bending this piece of 304L without kinking it was pretty tough...and the prospect of leaky sweeps and elbows kinda scared me, but I just may reconsider...).

Since my barrels were ridiculously thick (2.5mm) I was able to weld them together so removing the top one is outta the question hehe...I do have that access panel for the fire brick heat sheild/shelf though... hmm...

[Vlad Jovanovic]

That's real good to know. Thanks Jim.

[Robert Rowe]

Please see attachment

[Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr.]

I'm sorry but can't open the file. What does it say?

[Jim Fisk]

I would guess it is a Word file and you can download free programs (OpenOffice) that will open it on a PC or Mac. (Just Google "Free Word")

It is a chart of  Robert's temperature recordings.

Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. said:

I'm sorry but can't open the file. What does it say?