Phil Grady

Happy new year Tom
the on demand water heater is using 1 20lb propane tank . (the BBQ size)
during the November and early December when we were constantly below freezing, it was using 1 tank per week.
with the weather being slightly warmer at the moment the tanks are lasting a few days longer.
the water temp is between 75 - 80 deg.
I also have a home built hot water solar panel that i run during sunny days. cant remember last time we had one of those though.
I get the water to about 80 deg before i switch off the  water heater for the night. usually the water temp has dropped to between 70 - 75 in the morning depending on outside temps.
It takes about 2 hours to bring the tank back up to 80 ish and then i'll switch it on in the evening for an hour or two to bring the heat back up to 80 if it has dropped too much during the day.

Regards Phil

Thank you for the reply Anne.
Yes it is an Aquaponics system. It has 2 tanks. an 800 for Trout  and a 1,000 for the Tilapia.
the Tilapia tank feeds into the pipe system and the Trout tank has floating plant trays.
the system is in its 1st year but i'm happy with it so far. though as with any project there have been issues.
The main issue at the moment due to the weather is Keeping the Tilapia warm enough.
I have an on demand propane water heater that I'm heating their tank with, the issue has been making sure the water supply is clean enough to run through the heater.
though i think i have that figured out at the moment. The water supply is from a sump pump in the tank but it would pick up any sediment and particles and clog the heater.
to get over this I wrapped the pump  with insect screen mesh and then in a fine mesh material. I do have an inline pond filter on order but it wont be here for a few days.
this filter also has a backwash for easy maintenance.

oh and have a great new year.

Phil

Hi Anne. no it didn't. apparently it a subject people have very little to talk about.

South, South-east has the more hilly terrain in Ohio and a little in the East side. North and West is flat.
i dont know about the house prices that side of Columbus but i know New Albany can be a little expensive.
East of Columbus the prices are much cheaper except for Dublin area.

I've had some chickens that would roost with the goats. they got along without any issue.
but don't let the goats eat chicken feed, its too high in calcium and will cause urinary issues in your goats.
the other issue would be things like Coon's. they have no fear of the goats and will kill off your chickens.

sometimes they will reuse the old nests, but if you remove it they will rebuild.
i have several nests in my barn. i placed a couple of boards that i attached to several of the roof beams, this helps them with a ledge that they can build their nest off of.
I love watching them in the spring. one will pick up a feather fly up about 20ft and drop it, the other will swoop in and snag it just before it hits the ground, then fly up and drop it.
they play like this for hours.

so i have another post under the fish page but the number of people that actually visit there seam to be pretty low.
I have a greenhouse with 2 fish tank - ponds in there. 1 is 800 gallon with trout, and the other is about 1000 for tilapia.
the Trout are fin with this cooler weather their tank is staying in the 60s without ant additional heating.
the Tilapia water temps had been getting low so i bought a cheap OnDemand portable water heater.
This was bought from Ebay for about $130. quite a nice little system for the cost.
the water heater is plumbed into a small propane tank and powered by 2 batteries.
I have a pond pump with a connecting hose feeding into the heater and an output hose that feeds into another hose weighted down with an old plant pot so it sits on the bottom of the tank / pond.
the outside temps here in Ohio have been getting into the high teens low 20's for the last few weeks.
I also have a home built solar heater that i use when the  sun comes out. (not too often at the moment)
well i,ve been managing to keep the Tilapia water between 70 -80 degrees, and the greenhouse temp has not dropped below 50 degrees.
I do also have another heater that is not installed yet just incase i need the additional help. this is a small heater that is designed to be used for campers, boats and semi trucks.
Its a diesel fueled Webasto type heater, I have one already installed in the wife's greenhouse and it works really well.

but I would like to know what other people are doing and what temps your maintaining  

The vine you see growing across the back there is Water Spinach. i planted around 100 in there for my wife's garden in the summer. i left a couple in the floating trays once she had replanted everything she wanted and they took off around the pond.
I have several floating seed start trays that I'll be using to plant tomatoes and different peppers starting around February (each tray has over 200 plants), the plan is to get them started in the fish tanks, once large enough they can be potted and put on the shelves in the green house. then sold at the front of the house for a couple of $ each. I'm not trying to retire on this endeavor, just hoping it can cover its own running costs.

Regards Phil

Hi William.
I have 2 tanks in the green house 1 is about 1000 gallons and the other aprox 800.
the larger tank has Tilapia which needs the heat in this weather, and the smaller tank has trout which like the cooler water.
i keep the Tilapia between 70 - 80 degrees and the green house temp when i check in the mornings is 50+ this is with the outside temps in the low 20F
I only run the Propane for a few hours each morning as the temp drops over night to either high 60's or low 70's.
I run the propane until i get it to the mid 70's and when if the sun comes out i use the Solar to raise the temp as high as I can get.
so far the fish look to be happy..

Regards Phil

I was wondering how you guys keep your fish tanks warm during the winter months.

i have a 1,000 gallon tank for my tilapia in the small green house. the weather here in Ohio has started to be in the 20's most nights.

I have a recirculating solar system that works reasonably well during sunny periods, but could use some improvement.

i also have a portable hot water heater that runs off a portable propane tank.  in the current weather conditions. (no sun for over a week) it's using a 20lb tank in about a week.

what are other people using .

regards Phil