Water cooling using aquaponics tank
- Thread starter Ken Beck
- Start date
The fish are not affected and the plants arent affected as far as i can tell. It'll take double the nitrates to kill the tilapia and im sure the plants would be the first to show signs of stress from too much nitrates. Other types of fish however would have died at this point. Tilapia will show signs such as being lethargic, slowing of growth, etc. Im teetering very close to maximum nitrates before things start getting very bad. i am short on water a bit on the tank as i have room to add 30gallons of water. I'll be doing another grow bed this weekend i guess. the tomato and cucumber plants must have been eating quite a bit of nutrients. I'll get the system back in check this week though. 5000k citi gen 6 1212's? Im thinking an all veggie grow bed, maybe even a raft system this time since its veggies.
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
It will warm the water, but that will increase evap rate. Evaporation is actually a VERY efficient cooling mechanism. The BTU's are still in the room, though - that is true. Only way to get the heat out of the space would be to pipe water outside and evap cool it, then run it back into the tank
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
Wait... That's not weed?So i adjusted the voltage and now i have them sitting at 35.8v with an even 300w from the power supply. these cobs definitely cant take anymore and im already only 50w from the maximum the power supply can do. I think i need to leave that 50w as headroom so it wont die prematurely. Watts from wall is 342 on my outlet meter. I wonder if the lens on the cobs holds heat in. Would the led system run cooler without a lens and just using a reflector to keep light in the grow bed? Btw i know its a weed forum but apparently no other forum has ppl using led cobs for the purpose of growing things. Its a sad world we live in lol.
No, and im ashamed lol. Cucumber plant, 2 tomato plants, banana pepper plant,jalapeno pepper plant, and the left side was the start of rhubarb, strawberries, and romaine lettuce. Much different setup now.
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
That's ok, I've got some (whispers)*basil* and some *serrano's* and some *jalapeno's* growing with weed.
You'll probably think of this every time you see fish anywhere now.
First thought would be "i can grow that" lol.
So i have added about 30gallons to the system and have dropped the nitrates down. Also to note i have hit 82°f for the first time since i had 600w of tank heaters running to keep the tank warm. The fish are super active at that temperature. Its no wonder they grow faster as the temp hits 80+.
Oh before i forget, i decided to see how well a clone would do in the grow bed so i took a piece of the tomato plant that was snapped off while transferring it outside and stuck it in the grow bed just deep enough to hit the water when it fills up before the bell syphon empties. Not only did i not cut it at an angle, but i didnt dip it into any root growth solution nor did i cut off any of the leaves or flowers that were growing on it. And this is crazy but it already has roots forming. Definitely will take pics of it later today to show.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
How often does it fill?
It continually fills and drains. I timed it before but cannot remember the exact numbers. Something like 2minute fill and 4minute drain. I'll time it sometime today and post exact numbers later.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Wow, so constantly? I like!
Yea, the pump runs 24/7 pushing water through the grow bed. The flood and drain uses a bell syphon which whoever invented the design for the bell syphon was a genius. I built mine using pvc 1" inner and 2" outer. Drilled a 1-1/4" hole in the bottom of the grow bed, stuck a rubber grommet in, and pushed the 1" tube through till it was about 2" below the clay rocks then cut 1" gaps in the bottom of the 2" tube for the breakpoint when it stops draining, placed it over the 1" tube and put a cap on the 2" tube to seal it. As the bed fills, it hits the top of the 1" tube and starts draining while sucking air out of the top, once all the air is gone the syphon it creates a vacuum on the water in the grow bed as the water in the bottom of the tube going into the tank underneath pulls the water out of the grow bed until the water level hits the 1" gaps on the outer tube allowing air into the syphon breaking the vacuum and letting the bed fill again. It drains fairly quick but my pump still puts water in while draining so it makes the drain take longer than the fill cycle.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Great stuff, and this actually is a lot different than most commercially available flood and drain systems, which encourage the user to cycle them only once or twice a day.
I think the constant cycling is what encouraged your tomato sprig to root so quickly, as it's getting both plenty of water and a regular dose of fresh air pulled down as the water drains each cycle.
How often do you clean your rocks?
This is suddenly moving from 'I want to try that someday' to 'I'm doing this soon!'
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No cleaning of rocks needed. They stay fairly clean other than the occasional flower falling off a fruit.sometimes i get algae growing where the water comes in at but i think the easy solution is to cover that area from light getting to it. Pretty easy fix to completely prevent that. I am more surprised at how quickly it took root. I think the right height made it work so well as it got a bit of water at the top of the fill and drain cycle. How long does it normally take for a clone of a plant to take root? Ive heard aeroponics with the on/off spray systems work great but could never find average timeframes. Each plant is probably different but itd be nice to know information like that.
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ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Clones usually take a week or two to root. It's possible that sprig was already partially broken off or in contact with the rocks and was throwing roots even before you stuck it in. Then again, maybe you've just stumbled onto an ideal cloner, lol