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Comment by John Malone on December 11, 2013 at 9:19am

Water Temperature

I'm quite happy with my setup and this is the second winter that these fish are going through so I can speak with a certain level of confidence. 

The 400 gallon in-ground tank has insulation on the side, but not the top.  There are two 24 square foot gravel grow beds and a 24 square foot DWC bed.

Supplemental heat is added via a DIY solar water panel powered by a small water pump that uses < 20W for about 9 hours a day.  This is affordable and long term I'm considering running that via a DIY solar electric panel.

The water temperature is at or above 50F, which the tilapia certainly don't like, but they seem to survive.  In February 2013 the water temperature dropped to 45F overnight and I still didn't lose any fish.  I wouldn't recommend this though.  It's very hard on the fish.  And me!   At these temperatures the fish stop eating completely and are fed about once a week, or less. 

Last winter I used a timer to turn the main water pump off at night.  I haven't done that so far this year because the data I was collecting regarding water temperature indicated that it mightn't be of much benefit.  This is still being evaluated.

It's a balancing act, and I think I'm right on the edge, but, unlike last year, I am more comfortable that the fish will make it through OK.  If they don't, they are now big enough to be filleted and put in the freezer.

There's room for improvement regarding heat retention, insulation, solar panel efficiency and capacity, and I will implement them as the inclination arises, but it's no longer an urgent matter.

I hope this helps others.

Comment by Robert Rowe on December 11, 2013 at 8:04am

@Kim Roman - My  tank is not in the ground. I wish it was. My water was 70 Degrees in the tank this AM. For the last 3 days I have been running about 850 Watts on my heaters for 24 hours a day.(This is nuts).

The only water circulating through the main FT is for 15 min every 3 hours at 9AM 12 PM 3 PM & 6 PM. I haven't check my chemicals.

I have lots of aeration but dissolved solids are very high. I have a supplemental 168 gallon swirl filter for the main FT but the water in the swirl filter which gravity feeds back to the tank is at 46 degrees this AM so I don't want to chill the FT.

I wish there were more people sharing their solutions. Maybe we could all save a lot of work.

Comment by Kim Romen on December 11, 2013 at 7:12am

while going out to add boiling water to the sump this morning (i do it every morn-i have to go out there anyway so now it's part of my routine.  i looked inside and there's only maybe a foot of water in there!  i used up my two barrels of off-gassed water yesterday and while refilling it I noticed how much warmer the water coming out of the house is..  The fellow that sold me the system said he used to add tap water to top off his system always.  does anyone here do this?  I thought it might be an ok thing to do for this time of year to supply a tad bit more heat while topping off.  off to get a larger barrel if I can find a black one I'm hoping that will help, too.  water staying in the high 50s at a minimum with one heater and the heat lamp.  I have a feeling the heat lamp snuggled in between the sump and the tank, under the garden bed and planket creates a good amount of heat to keep the fish in the sump and tank alive-maybe even more than the heater.  I haven't tested it but it surprisingly seems that way.  

p.s. catfish-i'm in if someone finds a supplier!

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on December 11, 2013 at 5:26am

Agreed, channel catfish. So far hard to get at a reasonable price locally. Does anyone have a source?

Comment by Jim Troyer on December 11, 2013 at 12:53am

catfish

Comment by Kim Romen on December 10, 2013 at 7:51pm

@Bob Wohl: glad to hear the other fish are doing better! 

Comment by Kim Romen on December 10, 2013 at 7:50pm

1st winter doing AP.  I've never noticed the weather so much nor felt so cold!  I haven't gotten so far looking back into the summer mths.  I'm wondering how that's gonna be!  anyone know of any edible fish that can take a wider range of temps? 

Also, anyone here not using a heater finding success with their system?

@ Robert; is your tank in the ground?

Comment by Bob Wohl on December 8, 2013 at 10:26am

I picked up a 450w heater from Ocean Floor yesterday with a 180g threshold. Added more warm water last night. Had 2 more dead this morning. I'm sure it is just fallout from when they were all swimming upside down. The rest of these guys look a bit more healthy. 

Question on temporary food. I haven't been able to get over to Jim's for more food due to work schedule and I've been feeding them Koi Choice pellets that I picked up at a feed store a while back. The fish haven't been eating all that much for the past few weeks and I'm guessing this is because of the cold water. Is this food ok to eat? I read that it was ok but I don't want to be killing off the fish with the food thinking its the cold. 

Comment by John Malone on December 8, 2013 at 9:31am

Too cold

Well, the frost did a number on my tomato plants.  Pretty much wiped out 80% of them.   I picked a bucket of ripe fruit which the good lady is going to make pasta sauce from, but there are pounds and pounds of green tomatoes that aren't going to make it.   Next time I won't be so stubborn and will cover them.   Silly, silly man.

I've been meaning to raise my solar panel off the ground some so that it can catch more sunlight.  I build a couple of saw-horses and now it's heating for an extra 90 minutes a day.  This is a great thing because not only will it be heating for the extra time, it's also 90 minutes less per day that the water is cooling, so there's a double benefit.

My pump blocked up last night, so I thought I'd leave it 'till this morning to fix.  All last winter I had the pump on a timer, turning it off at night, with no adverse affects.  This morning, when I went out to fix the pump, there was a dead fish.   Nothing like filleting a fish before breakfast on a Sunday morning. Unfortunately the air pump stopped working during the last rain, so I think a combination of 50F water, no air and no water pump was the demise of this chap.

Comment by Robert Rowe on December 7, 2013 at 12:32pm

@Bob Wohl & Kim The aquarium heaters(in my case 300 Watt) will only provide a small margin of protection. the 300 watt supposedly will raise 100 gallons as much as 15 degrees.

Using my system as an example, I have 3-300 watt heaters to protect my 700 gallon FT. Disregarding other factors, it would seem that 900 watts heating 7 x 100 gallons would result in a heating capacity of (3 x 15) / 7 or 6.42 degrees.

But you must take into account 1. is the surface insulated? 1. is the tank pump running during the night? 3. how many degrees of OAT drop are you experiencing during the night? 4. are you measuring the water temp. at the fish level (the bottom 3-4 inches).

I have (so far) been keeping the water at or above 60 deg F expecting die off at 55 degrees using 2 - 300 watt heaters. I added the third heater this AM.

I have no great expertise on this subject, I am starting my 2nd year with the fish and try to keep my eyes on others comments. 

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