Aquaponic Gardening

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have you ever built a tank heater?, what is the correct temp for fish? can water temp get to high?

I have been working on a tank heater for a long time , i made it out of a hot water heater element, and it works great, check it out on youtube aquaponics/hydroponics (fish tank heater) made simple. I have been keeping my fish tank at 75 is that the best temp i have catfish and bream.

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Just make sure there is no copper or galvanized pipe involved as those will build up in the system and can become toxic to the fish.

 

Catfish and bream do well in a wide variety of temperatures and if they are eating, it is a fine temperature.  My outdoor systems this timer of year swing between the mid/upper 60 up to about 75.  Come summer here they get warmer.  I think the optimum growth/feeding temperature for many of the warm water fish (of which catfish and bream are) would be around the mid 80's provided there is plenty of dissolved oxygen/aeration and filtration for them.  As the temperature climbs beyond that dissolved oxygen falls off and feeding needs to be restricted to avoid oxygen depletion.

TC, what about a stainless steel pass through spa heater?  Would that pose a problem?
I think stainless steel is ok if it is food grade stainless.
Hot water elements are the best, because if something happens they are quick to change out. I have a heater that is easy to build and now have a food grade head assembly. I have been using these same heaters for 2 years with no trouble and after you build a heater You can change an element out for 10 to $15. Nothing can top that feel free to call me at 662-871-5788.

Other option is to choose fish that will survive cool water.

This is my heater. It uses two 1500W elements in series to drop the current down below 8A which is the max amperage my Honeywell 675 thermostat will handle.  In this picture I am using only one element without the thermostat in order to deliver more heat.

It's an inline flow through heater. It works very well and should last for many years. As long as water flows through the heater it will not over heat.  I would like to add a relay that will only allow the heater to be on when the pump is on and water is flowing.

The elements are rated at 1500W, but measurements indicate only 1300 W are actually being used when only one element is used, and when placed in series 750 W is drawn.  I attribute the difference to line loss even though the building is wired with 12 gauge.

The elements screw into 1" female adapters.  The housing is made of 2" PVC.  When I put my hand on the heater, I can just barely feel the heat, but over time it will maintain my 1000 gallon system which is well insulated.

ChicoAquaponic.Blogspot.Com

I refuse your logic.  The answer is always more electricity.

TCLynx said:

Other option is to choose fish that will survive cool water.

Has anybody considered using a compost pile to heat.  Google Jean Pain.  I don't have that much room, but I'm going to try something like this.  I know Halemart has a video on youtube with his attempt at it.  I'm having a hard time finding information.  I recently talking to a compost guru at a local recycling facility, and she gave me several concerns to ponder that hasn't been mentioned in anything I've seen online.

There have been people who have tried to heat their aquaponic water with compost.  They found it too a heck of a lot of work.  They used a coil of poly tubing burried into the compost pile.  The trick is, most compost piles will heat up at first but then if left alone they will cool and you have to turn them and add more ingredients if you want them to heat up again and this can be a pain if you have a coil of tubing carefully placed in the pile.  I believe it was Aquamad that did this and posted about it years ago over on BYAP.

Yes compost can provide some heat though it usually works out to low grade heat over a long time if inside a greenhouse or you can get high heat for a short period by coiling the tube in the pile but it requires huge amounts of compost material and quite a lot of labor.  I suppose if you have the space and material, you cancel your gym membership and get your work out turning compost 3 times a week.

Randy I'm just getting started in aquaponics and am wondering if I can call you regarding getting some info on how you constructed your water heater?

Any chance there is a plan for this? Looks fantastic!

Bob Campbell said:

This is my heater. It uses two 1500W elements in series to drop the current down below 8A which is the max amperage my Honeywell 675 thermostat will handle.  In this picture I am using only one element without the thermostat in order to deliver more heat.

It's an inline flow through heater. It works very well and should last for many years. As long as water flows through the heater it will not over heat.  I would like to add a relay that will only allow the heater to be on when the pump is on and water is flowing.

The elements are rated at 1500W, but measurements indicate only 1300 W are actually being used when only one element is used, and when placed in series 750 W is drawn.  I attribute the difference to line loss even though the building is wired with 12 gauge.

The elements screw into 1" female adapters.  The housing is made of 2" PVC.  When I put my hand on the heater, I can just barely feel the heat, but over time it will maintain my 1000 gallon system which is well insulated.

ChicoAquaponic.Blogspot.Com

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