Heating fish tank in SoCal

[Lonny Harper]

Hi Everyone.  I'm wondering if anyone from Southern California can give me an idea about heating my fish tank.  I'm in San Diego county, about 7 miles from the ocean as the bird flies.  I'm a couple weeks from starting to cycle my new system.  My fish tank is two side by side IBC Totes outside the greenhouse.  My sump will be inside the greenhouse.  Will I need to heat my fish tanks in the winter?  Do I need to insulate them?  On our coldest nights we dip into the 30's in the winter, but I don't think it is very often.  Is 275 gallons of biomass enough to stay warm, especially considering the water is cycling through a warm greenhouse?

 

 

[Andrea]

Hi, Lonny!  I live in SoCal also, though further inland, and I have a 350 gallon tank (insulated fiberglass) and it's all inside a greenhouse.  So I'd say the situations are similar enough.

Yes, you will need to heat in the winter.  And some of the spring and fall. 

I currently have a bucket heater that I manually plug and unplug as needed.  (I bought a thermostat, but the heater has a ground wire and the thermostat doesn't and I am not comfortable messing with it myself.)

I also have built a passive solar heater just outside the greenhouse, and I think (though it's still new and I'm not sure of anything yet) that it is helping.

[Matthew Holzmann]

Lonny, I live in Vista, and I would answer as such:

Will I need to heat my fish tanks in the winter? - Yes

Do I need to insulate them? - Yes

 

I would start by insulating the tank, and then building a 'black house' for your tank.  The black house would be a woodframed & plywood surround that acts as a solar warmer (YEAH free heat!).  Then, you will only need a supplemental tank heater during the coldest portions of the winter.

 

I'm going to be working on a solar thermalsiphon with a arduino regulated valve, to warm water.  The thermosiphon will run through black coiled hose.

 

Hope that helps!

[Andrea]

Matthew: Are you planning on building a thermosiphon like mine? http://aquaponicscommunity.com/profiles/blogs/20110416-pictures-new...

If you've got improvements on it, I'd love to hear about them.

And I want to hear more about this "black house" also, please!

[clint miller]

Lonny

I live in carlsbad and was thinking about the same lines as Matt.  I going to run black abs pipe in line with my pump.  The pipe i was thinking of mounting on the upper wall of my green house.

[Matthew Holzmann]

@Andrea: I was thinking more like this:

Again, there would have to be some sort of regulator, so that you don't get a fish boil on your hands.

[Lonny Harper]

Matthew, that looks like a good way to heat the tanks for little money.  My biggest concern is retaining the heat at night.  Is your plywood surround designed to heat the tanks, or is it big enough to keep the heat around the tanks warm?  I googled the arduino valve.  That looks pretty complex.  Is it?

 

Thanks for all the input.  We should have some sort of SoCal aquaponic gathering!

 

Lonny

[Matthew Holzmann]

Lonny,

For the plywood surround, imagine a 3 walled 'box' with a top.  The idea is really just to help warm the air around your IBC/Tank and then retain as much of that warmth as possible.  The open, or access side, would be situated as the north face.  This is by no means a perfect solution, simply a low cost way to create and maintain a fair amount of heat.  I think the best bet for maintaining the heat that you have captured will come by using an insulative wrap.

 

As for the arduino valve, it's beyond me at this point, but I think it is the best, low-cost, low-energy method for getting to our desired end state.  I imagine using irrigation valves and a submersible thermal probe to round out the solution.  If there are any arduino junkies out there, then I'd love to colloborate and learn.

 

I'd love to have a SoCal gathering before I leave.  I just took a job in Orlando, and will be moving in early July.

 

Be well and I'd love to hear about your results using the thermo siphon,

Holzmann

[clint miller]

Ya lets get together.  We could do a garden tour.

[Matthew Holzmann]

I need to be very honest, my aquaponic garden is being dismantled and given away in pieces.  However, I'd *LOVE* to tour the gardens of other folks in the area.

 

I will be 'out of pocket' from June 18-July 1, then we leave for good on July 10.

 

Since I have nothing to tour, I'll defer to others to organize.

[Andrea]

Matthew: I tried to send you a pm rather than keep using Lonny's thread, but evidently we have to be "friends" for me to contact you that way.  But I was wondering what components you were getting rid of in case there's anything I could use.

[Lonny Harper]

I like the garden tour idea.  Most Fridays and Saturdays are good for me.  Matt, What about July 9?  I don't have much to tour, I'm still setting up my system.  I'd still like to show it off and see what you guys think.  There's also a guy, Richard Fox, in Oceanside.  I think he has one of Murray Hallam's system's in a greenhouse.  I can try to see if he'd be interested.

[clint miller]

Ya I think the 9th would be good for me.  I dont have a lot either but to just get out side views would be cool.