Robert Rowe

Male

Phoenix, AZ

United States

Profile Information:

How did you find us?
a friend
Are you an aquaponic gardener already?
Yes
If so, what type of system? (pick all that apply)
flood and drain media, raft
How old is your system?
Less than 6 months
What type of fish do you grow with? (select all that apply)
Goldfish
How big is your fish tank?
220 Gallon w/ 200 Galllon Sump, addition of 700 Gallon Geodesic Dome enclosed tank under construction.
Please tell us something else about yourself.
I am a retired Methods Analyst (Industrial Enginering).
I have been container gardening for several years.

I presently follow Mel Bartholomew's square foot gardening paradigm. I modified it to what I call Round Foot Gardening, using 10 ft lengths of 12 in. schedual 40 PVC pipe with 4 in diameter holes every 12 in. Loaded with the equivalent of "Mel's mix". This was done to reduce water usage.
I already have a 220 gal fish pond reservoir and am anxious to add some aquaponic planting beds.
I am not a seasoned gardener but am about 90 percent successful on my round foot set up.

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  • Phil Slaton

    Hello Robert and thanks for the contact.  Tomorrow I am building heaters, similar to this idea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSdKO9Yowng&feature=youtu.be and installing them with controllers in my tanks.

    I'm told that these should do the trick and raise my Koi and Catfish water temps to the 75 degree temperature that I am looking for.

    Nov 11, 2012

  • Phil Slaton

    Thanks for the invite!

    Nov 11, 2012

  • Jim Troyer

    HI Bob:

    Not sure but I think I owe you a phone call...

    The the look of your posts your system dealt with the cold effectively, good job with your diligence and hard hard work!  Did you create your glass inclosed solar panel yet?  I didn't read anything about it recently but then I'm not trying to keep up very well either.

    I brought my 7" tilapia in from the cold before I lost them.  The 5 adults I got died on the first cold snap in December with a 49f water temp, j st before I got the solar collector hooked up for the season.  I thought I caught all the little guys but there were 3 - 7" fish dead in the bottom of the pond 2 days later.  I saw another one hiding under the bridge with the gold fish and after several hours I caught and brought her in the house too.  She was unable to handle the switch in temps even after I tried to bring her up slowly, but she died 36 hours later.  The lowest pond temp reading I saw was about 46 degrees.  The turtle has been sunning himself the last 2 days so it must be warming up nicely in there but I haven't checked lately.

    I saw your post regarding the heater and watched the you tube vid of the guy piecing it together, did you ever build this electric heater? below 11/11/12

    I have been thinking I will create an electric backup heater for next year's cold snap.  Since the pond has a kink of neck in it where the water fall water comes in I thought I cold make a barrier mounted on the bridge that hangs into the water leaving about 3-4" of clearance for fish and normal water flow during the day.  In the evening, the barrier would trap and hold warmer water under the bridge where the fish like to hang out anyway.  In one face of the barrier I would mount a similar electric heating element and run it through a timer and thermometer set around 55 degrees. 

    I also think all that PVC he used is over kill.  I plan to just use a capped single length of 1.5" PVC to hold the element, then create a series of slots in the pipe on the table saw to allow the water to pass through via convection while keeping the fish safely away from the hot element.  I'm also planning to float a sheet of foam under the bridge to reduce vertical heat loss.

    Hope all is well with you.

    Jim

    Jan 19, 2013