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Comment by Kim Romen on July 4, 2014 at 3:42pm

DJ, many people insulate their tanks with white board insulation.  I have some cushions from an old couch on the outside of the tank covered with some shade cloth (mostly for looks).  I have my system under an arbor.  Live shade is supposed to be more effective than a typical structure.  on super hot days u could put a gallon of frozen water in the tank

Comment by DJ Wambach on June 30, 2014 at 9:13pm

Today in Southern UT it got up to 109*F and my new insulated tank hit 90*F. I know most of you on this site deal with much higher heat. What do you recommend to keep the temp down? I have an IBC system with 4 GBs one full IBC sump tank and a full IBC fish tank. I only have about 40 gold fish 2 inch or smaller right now.

Comment by Timothy Borg on June 30, 2014 at 2:04pm

@Arlene Boyle, I would be happy to give you some red wrigglers, I am over at 20th St and Bethany Home.  I will trade you them if you will show me your AP system.  I am starting to gather materials for mine but it will be at least a few months before I am ready to start.

Comment by Jeff S on June 25, 2014 at 7:26am

Time for me to stop talking and start doing. Came home last night to no power lol. I'd only been gone for a couple of hours but the survival mode kicked in. Went to the garage, got the generator (which hadn't been started in years) put in gas and pulled once.... my prayers were answered. Strung out extension cords in all directions got everything going and the power came back on. No more putting off an auto backup of some type.

Comment by Azwildbill on June 24, 2014 at 9:30pm

It will take about 10 years to break even with solar but there's the pride feature of DYI and the (why does he have power) during  transformer outages. Like that never happens in Phoenix. lol  

Batteries are a can of worms. Gel cells are expensive and have a low reserve amp ratings but there do last the longest maybe 15-20 years.  There can be dropped to below 11.5 volts and survive.  Car batteries can not be dropped below 11.5 volts or you loss cells. Car batteries are the cheapest money wise but not the best long term maybe 5 yrs.. Deep cycle are slightly better than car batteries but they last about 5 years. I like tractor ( farm) batteries 6v  which have the largest reserve They last a little longer before replacement but you have to wire them in series to get 12 volt. They will give a longer up time before they get to the critical  11.5 volt stage and they cost about the same as car batteries with a high reserve.

Caution batteries can cause quite an arc. lol be careful.  Never store in the sun or inside a house (lead). They will last longer in a cool  shaded bin.

Comment by Jeff S on June 24, 2014 at 1:41pm

While solar is a good an off grid solution you won't beat cost per watt from the grid. If you're looking for a power backup then a couple of batteries and an inverter would be a good economical solution. You cold even throw in a small solar charger. For longer term outages I would rely on a generator. Again I'm no expert.

Comment by Bob Wohl on June 24, 2014 at 1:04pm

Cool. Thanks for the feed back on the Solar. I haven't started my research fully yet. And I do agree, that harbor freight solar set up they have is crap. :) I wonder what the life of a deep cycle battery would be with this heat. I know car batteries do not last as long as they do elsewhere. I have a couple of cooked ones that I can get recycled/refurbished. 

The cost per watt: Thanks for the insight there! 

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on June 22, 2014 at 11:24pm

Aquaculture America 2015, the US meeting of the World Aquaculture Society. Aquaponics is the fastest growing session and second largest last year in Seattle. Hope to see you there!!

http://bit.ly/1pCfSpA

Comment by Scott Bloom on June 20, 2014 at 11:44pm

I watched a youtube vid, where they used 2 12v pumps to get the height and volume they needed.  Basically by using 2 small pumps in series they got the volume and height using less wattage than one larger 12v pump.  This was an off grid system.

Comment by David Schwinghamer on June 20, 2014 at 10:40pm

I bought a 100 watt solar panel from Amazon to run my lights and its been working great for about 160.00. I run everything 12v and bought a deep cycle battery at Costco for under a hundred. I recommend you do this that Harbor Freight stuff is BS. Once you have this system going you can slowly add more panels and batteries.

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