×
Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Solar powered Equipment?

More
22 Jun 2016 20:17 #1 by ChelseaSplendon95 (Chelsea Ward)
I'm allowed to make a bunny habitat in the old pig field and as my mom has told me no more tanks, I'm going to include a bit of an aquaponics system where I'll be using plants in one 'tank' as filtration (with mesh wrapped around so the rabbit doesn't over eat them) and the filtered water will go to the 'pond'. Because there's such a small selection of cold water fish, I'm planning on using sub tropical.

Has anybody used a solar powered heater?

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
22 Jun 2016 20:26 #2 by helix8008 (Tomas Novak)
I would be concerned with temperature fluctuation during nights, unless you can use some battery?

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
22 Jun 2016 20:33 #3 by ChelseaSplendon95 (Chelsea Ward)
That's why I was thinking too. I know some solar paneled things like lights build up charge during the day. Maybe I could solar paneled lights and put them around the heaters panel

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
22 Jun 2016 20:47 #4 by robert (robert carter)
Hi , i tried a bit of experiment a while back with solar panels , i brought a 4ft by 2 ft panel in from the states and put a 12volt reg on it to charge a 12volt car battery however could never get any real amount of power output even on a bright sunny day . I did get it to run a few led lights in the garden , but found that during the winter output was very poor . Now this was at least 10 years ago and there has been massive advances in this techknowledgey so it might be worth a try . You have me thinking i might research this again

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
22 Jun 2016 20:50 #5 by ChelseaSplendon95 (Chelsea Ward)

Hi , i tried a bit of experiment a while back with solar panels , i brought a 4ft by 2 ft panel in from the states and put a 12volt reg on it to charge a 12volt car battery however could never get any real amount of power output even on a bright sunny day . I did get it to run a few led lights in the garden , but found that during the winter output was very poor . Now this was at least 10 years ago and there has been massive advances in this techknowledgey so it might be worth a try . You have me thinking i might research this again


I definitely think it's worth researching for everybody with ponds........ power cuts wreak havoc on fish keepers and I'm surprised that there isn't more info on it.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
22 Jun 2016 22:56 #6 by Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
My dad is currently looking into a wind turbine to power his pong, better in my opinion in ireland as we always have wind, not much chance of sun :) I will find out how things are shaping up with it and see if its worth doing.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
22 Jun 2016 23:28 #7 by ChelseaSplendon95 (Chelsea Ward)
I think a wind turbine might be a bit for a sneaky, low cost project. :(
But let us know how it goes anyway. :)

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Jun 2016 08:54 #8 by robert (robert carter)
my brother in the uk built a wind turbine using a car alternator to charge batteries ,cant remember what he used it for, long time ago . What about the ones you see on live aboard house boats and mobile homes ,might be worth looking at

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Jun 2016 19:24 #9 by ChelseaSplendon95 (Chelsea Ward)

my brother in the uk built a wind turbine using a car alternator to charge batteries ,cant remember what he used it for, long time ago . What about the ones you see on live aboard house boats and mobile homes ,might be worth looking at


I'll look into it :)

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
More
23 Jun 2016 20:27 #11 by robert (robert carter)
Thats got me thinking :crazy: :crazy:

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Jun 2016 22:16 #12 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
A Savonius windmill (these are a vertical axis windmill) would be the best option for a DIY..........although not particularly efficient, they are quite cheap to build and are very reliable and do not need to be mounted high.

You could also think of installing a heat-exchange engine that extracts heat from your lawn (say) or a nearby stream.

Or whatabout a black matrix water heater with suitable control electronics and as a buffer tank..................if the pond is big enough then the specific capacity of water could be sufficient to keep the temperature up quite well.

The reason I suggest these is from my past experience of working on the design of such things, and their controllers, in view of them being feasible to build DIY.
A solar photovoltic panel is not something you can make at home, but the others above are.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Jun 2016 22:27 #13 by ChelseaSplendon95 (Chelsea Ward)

A Savonius windmill (these are a vertical axis windmill) would be the best option for a DIY..........although not particularly efficient, they are quite cheap to build and are very reliable and do not need to be mounted high.

You could also think of installing a heat-exchange engine that extracts heat from your lawn (say) or a nearby stream.

Or whatabout a black matrix water heater with suitable control electronics and as a buffer tank..................if the pond is big enough then the specific capacity of water could be sufficient to keep the temperature up quite well.

Couldn't find information. what's a black matrix water heater? I have no electricity there
The reason I suggest these is from my past experience of working on the design of such things, and their controllers, in view of them being feasible to build DIY.
A solar photovoltic panel is not something you can make at home, but the others above are.

ian

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
More
23 Jun 2016 22:47 #15 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Using the sun to heat water as the water runs through a pipe matrix over a black panel..........solar panel.

Now, a solar panel does need an electricity supply to pump water....................but that is where a small electrical generator (such a Savonius wind turbine) can come into use to power the water pump and control system.

Obviously, non of this comes out of a box from shopping in Lidl (well..........knowing Lidl and Aldi, one never knows :D )..................... but it is just food for thought.

Photovoltaic cells (solar cells) that can generate enough energy to power a heater are going to be pretty expensive. I don't however know the present cost of these things............and you really cannot make them at home.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
24 Jun 2016 05:55 #16 by Sukahn (Shane Doorley)
Well from what I can tell so far even a wind turbine to produce enough power to power my 5ft would cost on the region of 1000 dollars in the states. And you would need 6m per sec of wind to power it constantly which happens about 70 per cent of the time here in the West.

Haven't even looked at battery storage yet for holding charge for what is not being used all the time.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.065 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum