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Comment by John Malone on October 9, 2013 at 8:12am

@Matt

See the FB page for the full dissertation, but the short version is that I only ran my pump from 8am to 6pm during the winter last year.   

It DID keep the fish tank warmer.

I use a solar water heater during the day to help warm the water.

I did notice a small ammonia build up overnight, up to the first colour on the test kit, but that would be back to zero at the end of the day.

Is it a delicate balance between water quality and temperature?  Sure

Did I get all my tilapia through the winter, outside?  Yes.

Will I be doing it again this year.  Absolutely!

Comment by sunset on October 9, 2013 at 1:10am

@Sheri.  WOW!!    I was looking over some older posts that I missed and I saw those pics from Sept 9.2013.   Those are some BIG FISH!   I remember seeing some of the bigguns on the tour but those pics serve as a reminder for how big they are.  

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on October 8, 2013 at 9:53pm

Hey everyone, I posted this on the facebook site, so sorry about the double post, but I think this site with the people here still have the most to educate me with.  This is what I posted:   got a question regarding the lowering temps and keeping the pumps on.  Last year I kept the pumps going 24/7 and didn't seem to have an issue, but then again I didn't have that much water in the system as I do now 400+ gallons.  I do have heaters in the fish tanks right now and it has brought my fish to want to eat again which is a plus.  I guess my question is how many of you cut off your pumps at night?  I hear from different sources that stopping the pumps at night will keep the heat in more than running them.  Let me know what your thoughts are - thanks!

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on October 7, 2013 at 2:23pm

I had a great time at the VPA Saturday. I taught aquaponics, worms, and gardening. The aquaponics class was very dynamic, and the worm class was as much a party as a class!

It was a long day on the feet, but I met a great bunch of people. Hopefully we'll meet some of them here in the forum!

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on October 7, 2013 at 2:20pm

Sunset, we keep our duckweed in a separate tray/bed (it only needs a couple inches of water). We have constant flow into the bed, and it has a standpipe that determines the height of the water. We have a strainer-type cap on the pipe, purchased at the hydro stores. But they clog up, so I cut the bottom out of a cup that is taller than the standpipe, and put it over the standpipe, so it keeps the duckweed from getting to the pipe/strainer, nothing gets clogged, & the DW stays in the tray.

The duckweed shouldn't survive in your growbeds if you have a dry layer of media...except right where the water enters.

Comment by Jim Troyer on October 7, 2013 at 1:57am

duckweed everywhere, cool you're not wasting any unused growing space then!  If you want to keep it without spreading, make your water drains come up from below the surface

Comment by sunset on October 7, 2013 at 1:37am

Jim,

Thanks for the info.  I did a little experiment with a bucket in the sun during the hottest days in the summer with full sun exposure most of the day and got about 1 inch loss per day also.  I guessed surface area was the most likely factor but that required more math, so I was being lazy.  

Another benefit of the duckweed is it seems to get first dibs on the sun since it is at the surface and seems to make algae less of a problem.

The downside is that I have duckweed in all of my growbeds now and it is a pain in the arse to try and get it out.  I finally put some filter stuff where the water drains into the growbeds to try and prevent even more...but it is already everywhere!

Comment by Jim Troyer on October 7, 2013 at 1:30am

Hey Sunset: 

You'll be putting that insulation back on your FT in a month to save heat overnight.  It's time to add your solar heater by then.  Best case it have your FT on south exposure of your GH, that way it's shaded in summer and catches warming rays in winter.

Evaporation depends on surface area not volume.  The swimming pool guy said it is an 1" per day in the summer, I would imagine the figure Dr. Brooks stated below is pretty close to what I experience.  I know my auto top up seeps out water all the time during the summer.  I would not worry about the algae blooms in your FT, the fish will graze on it between feedings.

later

Jim

Comment by sunset on October 6, 2013 at 11:13pm

Matt...yeah. I took the sunshade that I had overtop of the tanks away but I have not removed the insulated yet.   I do not have my tanks painted either and I had that problem with algae earlier this summer so I am a bit gunshy.   

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on October 6, 2013 at 10:03pm

Hey Sunset, can only tell you what I have been experiencing,   My fish weren't eating so I took off all the insulation that was wrapped around my system, so it would naturally warm up they containers.  I also added two 400 watt tank heaters to my fish tank.  I keep the fish tank lid open for the sun as well.  In the past couple days I have noticed my fish coming up to the surface and getting their appetite back.  I still need to take the insulation off my Fish Tank and have it get heated by the sun, but I need to paint it first so i don't algae going crazy.  hope that helps as it seems are systems were similar

 

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