Heating my hoop house

[Brandon nardoianni]

 I am trying to figure out the best way to keep my Hoop House going throughout the winter.  I live in norfolk, va and the winters dont get extremely cold but they can get a little frigid at times.  I have a roughly 650 cubic ft double insulated fan inflated hoophouse that has an insulated north and south wall.  I have roughly 1200 gallons of water in a CHOP PIST type of aquaponic system using IBC's.  The media is 3/4 gravel.  Everything is growing good now but its starting to get cold outside now and I'm trying to figure out the best way to heat it during the winter.  Is it better to heat just the water or the entire greenhouse?  Or both?  I thought maybe some aquapons with some knowledge on the subject could shed some light on this for me.

I added some pictures to maybe help with the process.  This is before I attached everything and covered it but you can see the basic layout of it.  Below that is the growbeds in the covered greenhouse.

[Roger]

Do you have your FTs buried in the ground in your hoop house?  Also, what is the function of the two big IBCs to the left of your GBs in the first picture?

[Rick Stillwagon]

Use a wiseway pellet stove!

[Brandon nardoianni]

The Fish tanks are not burried they are the two IBC's in the top picture.  Will the wiseway pellet stove work?

[Rick Stillwagon]

Of course!  Use the stove to heat the water. it will of course also heat the structure.  But most importantly, if your root zones, and fish tank are warm, and the air temp is above freezing you will have good growth.  The roots, bacteria, and fish are the most important areas that need to be kept around 70 degrees.  Do this, and you will have good results.

[Alex Veidel]

Its definitely better to heat the water than heat the air. Water is going to retain heat longer and will help heat your greenhouse in return. Heating the air will not be as effective at heating your water.

[FnY Farms]

Seeing how heating your greenhouse worked out for you... I use to live in Newport news and had a system in my garage but I am in New Kent now.