Solar hot water - Aquaponics - a day in the hot house graph

This graph really speaks for itself, but I like the sound of my own typing, so I'll be adding a bit as usual.

This graph represents my attempt to do something every hour, on the hour. If you click on it, it should open up to slightly bigger version that might be a bit more readable.

If you read all the times off the top line, you'll see I'm not so good at doing stuff to a schedule.

There was also a big chunk that should have extended out to the right for another 8 hours or so, but I went to sleep. Not a lot would have happened overnight. There have been some times where I have taken readings in the middle of the night, and the readings fit within a gradual decline over night to a point where they would roughly meet up with the 8am start data. I would expect the changes to be quite straight forward and gradual as the system radiated heat.

The cells with the yellow background represent daylight. Actual daylight at this time of year is from roughly 6:30am to 6:00pm. Roughly.

The solar heater output (graphed in yellow) comes about, as a result of a 10 metre length of 4mm black poly pipe, that I have coiled, and parked near the roof. It siphons a small trickle of water from the tap input to the glass house, up through the coil, then down to the fish tank. As far as I can see, I could just add a few more to shift any amount of heat I desire down into the fish tank, or storage, to be released slowly at night. Obviously there is a limit, but that limit comes down to how hot I want the air to be. I don't really know how hot a hot house should be, so I guess that's the next thing I need to study. It's one thing to decide to work on temperature stability, but I have a feeling I might be better off knowing the temperature I'm seeking to stay stable at.

It's interesting to note how wobbly the temperatures are outside, as compared to inside. Its also interesting to note that they seem to be getting even more stable over time.

Given I'm aiming for temperature stability, that's a good thing. I might not have to do as much as I thought. I might just have to sit down for a bit and wait.

I'm not very good at waiting, but I consider myself an expert at sitting down.

On this day, the hot house didn't see full sun until 3 hours before sunset, but when it has seen sun as soon as It could, it behaved by just being a bit hotter all round.

Sitting in a hot house is very, very nice.

Aquaponics - Hot house

A few days ago, I bought a little hothouse.

It's actually surprisingly well made, as far as the frame goes.

I have no idea how long the cover is going to last, but I'm assured it's made of UV stabilised plastic.

If the plastic gives out on me I'll recover it with a thicker, more rigid poly carbonate sheeting.

It works. It's hot in there.

It's my new office.


The shelving will come in handy, as I'm planning to add some NFT channels or something similar, to expand my growing space.

NFT or nutrient film technique usually has 1 or 2 millimetres of nutrient rich water flowing through  pipes with a series of holes cut in the top. Small pots sit in the holes. If you've ever bought a lettuce from a supermarket with roots still on, there is a fair chance it was grown hydroponically, in NFT channels.

I think I might go a little deeper, and have a little more flow to keep everything cool.




I also just discovered these tie down things in my shed that I didn't know I had. They work like luggage tags or those single use handcuffs, and I cant help thinking the way they ratchet will be extremely useful for something down the track.

They're also very useful as tie downs.

[Edit from the future - there is some additional material on NFT ]

Aquaponics - Hot house

I did a backyard version of an autopsy on the fish that died in the (almost hopeless) hope that the fishy's gizzard would be full of staples, bolts, or something easily identified as the culprit, but it turns out dead fish aren't filled with industrial fasteners, but are in fact just filled with fish guts.

I covered the grow bed in some plastic in the hope that it really is rain that's causing my problems, and also to make an aquaponics hot house. I started with three bent piece of poly pipe (I new all those 5 ft lengths of poly pipe with holes in them would come in handy eventually).

In traditional Australian fashion, I attached everything with wire.

Then covered the entire thing in plastic. I made it so there was no wire on any section that may get condensation running off it. The last thing I need to do Is introduce too much metal into my system. I also made it so that the condensation would run onto the ground rather than back into the grow bed just to be safe.

I got it up just before the rain started. It looks very stormy so I think it was just in time.

The sad thing is, even if this solves the problem, I may have already damaged the gills of my fish. From what I've read, these issues can show up many days down the track.

Even if this doesn't solve the problem with the fish, the plants will love it, and it should keep the system a bit warmer in this stormy chilly weather.