A Green Project Challenge

The intent of this project is to see if being more green is viable given the cost of materials vs. the Return On Investment (ROI) for operating my own greenhouse aquaponics/aeroponics system in our backyard. The challenge is whether I can design, build and operate an aquaponics/aeroponics based greenhouse system in a sustainable manner with a small carbon footprint while providing food for the table at a reasonable cost over conventional methods such as purchasing fish/vegetables at the local grocery. Join me on this journey of discovery while I forge a new chapter in my quest for a better tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Solar Hot Water Heater for Fish Tanks

OK...so I got the great idea of building a solar hot water heater out of black poly tubing and having that connected to one of my fish tanks in order to cut the electric bill down on the aquarium heaters I run. I am having mixed results, with a net gain of 4-5 degrees over the ambient temperature of the fish tank water. I was expecting much more.


Initially, I placed 75ft of poly tubing into a 4'x4' box (2x4's) made out of Dow blue board and clear / white poly carbonate panels with the inside painted black as shown in the video.  This is all connected to an Aquatop 496 GPH submersible pump which has been choked down to about 250 GPH to give the water enough transit time through the pipe to heat up. I found that I did not have enough pipe so I added another 100' to the existing pipe, I am in the process of sealing the box, and I will need to use glass on the front to better trap the heat as the poly panels don't do a good job. I have a resource to buy cheap used windows and will be heading down to look for one soon.  I have posted some pics of the unit as well.


 Until next time....
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1 comment:

  1. bloggerJune 26, 2013 at 3:42 AM

    Hi, Great job! This is very much helpful for my research and i hope to run through more of your posts someday! How i wish i can see you in person so i can get to know you more.
    solar Heating Systems

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