My Homemade IBC Aquaponics Heater

Due to several requests, I am posting some information on my homemade aquaponics heater that I use in my IBC fish tank...
These photos are of the heater that I have been using for the past three years... It is similar to several that others have posted on YouTube... I use this heater to just maintain a minimum temperature to prevent fish loss... Here in Central Florida, we do not see that many really cold days, so it does not operate very often and I do not see much of an increase in my electric bill due to its use...
Later this summer, I will be building another heater and incorporating some minor improvements, such as a protective cage around the heating element to protect my fish... Even though I have not seen any signs of injuries to my fish over the last three years, I still feel that it would be a good idea to add a shield of some type... I will also be upgrading my thermostat to more easily set the water temperature... This has not really been much of a problem with my current thermostat, but it did take a long time to adjust the current thermostat to stabilize at a certain temperature because it is not calibrated... However, once you find the proper setting, it was a set and forget adjustment... The new thermostat will be a calibrated Dayton unit...
I am sorry that I don't have any construction photos of my current heater... As I build the new heater I will document it better...
Here are some photos of what the current heater looks like...
 
 

 
The only PVC joints that are glued are the ones on the drop pipe...
 

 
The heating element is a 120 volt water heater element... This element is a 1000 watt unit and is screwed into the back side of a 1" x 2" black iron pipe reducer... I have seen others that used a PVC reducer without any problems, but I wanted to insure that the element had some amount of heat sink between it and the PVC... Also, these heating elements MUST be submerged when powered on...
 

 
Be sure to use a large enough wire to carry the required current to the element... This is 10 gauge (AWG) cord that I had laying around...
 
If anyone wants to know, these are links to similar items:
 
Thermostat that I used:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/Invensys-Thermostat-5-16-dia-48-25A-SPST-275-3183-0-GTLU0026-/230418147226?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35a5fde79a
 
I can't find a link to a 120v - 1000 watt water heater element, however I did see one in my local Ace hardware...
This is a similar one for reference, but is a higher wattage: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1500-Watt-120-Volt-High-Watt-Density-Screw-In-Water-Heater-Element-15024/204834407
A higher wattage element would require larger wire to carry the extra current...
 
This is the model thermostat that i will be using on my new heater: Dayton 6EDY7 Line Voltage Thermostat...
 
If you have any questions, feel free to ask...
 
More information to come soon.......
 

What fish are you running in it? Tilapia? I use carp indoors so either way I don't worry about it lol. Nice heater though, I've seen one that uses "solar" by running the water through a dark pipe in a box that slow drips into the tank. I think it was the guy that does HD Aquaponics

All the big fish farms in our area just cover the ponds with plastic on a frosty night. I wonder if that's all you would need to do?

Helvete said:

What fish are you running in it? Tilapia? I use carp indoors so either way I don't worry about it lol. Nice heater though, I've seen one that uses "solar" by running the water through a dark pipe in a box that slow drips into the tank. I think it was the guy that does HD Aquaponics

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Hi Rich!
I am using Koi and Goldfish in my system... They were free and they can survive down to around 45 degrees F if I recall correctly... I think it was about 5 to 10 degrees lower that Tilapia... I will be using Tilapia in the next system that I setup, but that fish tank will be buried to help maintain a constant temperature all year...
I once built a solar water heater from some black poly pipe strapped to a 4x8 sheet of plywood as a test and it would raise the temperature of 10 gallons of water by about 10 degrees on a real sunny day... I also have some used solar pool heater panels that I had planned on trying... However they are very large and would require some form of support structure, as well as a pumping system since they use 2" pipe...
I am just a little afraid to depend on solar for my only source of heat in the winter... Many days in the winter are too overcast, so I built this heater first and just haven't gotten around to adding the solar heater yet... (It has been over three years and still no solar heater... )
On a little different note, I also have a solar power setup that I hope to connect to my new system... I bought the solar system from HFT while it was on sale... It will supply 45 watts at 12VDC and I got it for $140.00... I will also need several 12V deep cycle batteries, a 12VDC boat bilge pump to move the water to the grow beds and a timer for the pump so that it doesn't run 24/7... I have all of this except the batteries and have done a test run to prove proper operation... It would be a flood and drain system with a drain restriction, instead of a bell siphon...
 
 

sicman said:

All the big fish farms in our area just cover the ponds with plastic on a frosty night. I wonder if that's all you would need to do?

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Hi Jason!
My tank is covered all the time to keep the birds and critters from stealing fish... LOL  But my IBC tank is so tall that it exposes a lot of surface area around the tank's sides...

 
On really cold nights, I wrap the tank in old blankets and turn off the circulation system to help conserve as much heat in the fish tank as possible... Plus my new system is going to be about 2/3rds buried to help maintain a constant temperature year around... That will also lower the grow bed so that my wife can more easily reach the veggies in the grow bed... That system will have Tilapia and probably two grow beds... However, I may move the Koi/goldfish to the new system so that I can disassemble my existing system and bury it also... If I don't bury my current system, then one of my future posts will be about insulating my existing fish tank with fiberglass batting and plywood sides...
(BTW, I can't wait until Sunday the 26th... Pepper Fest!!!   I hope many members show up...)

Good luck with the Talapia.  Hopefully you can pull it off.  They really need the water above 70 and preferably above 80.  They can survive in 65 for a while but don't grow or eat and get stressed.  I see so many give up due to high elec. bills even in FL.  It seems most Aussies start with larger fish and just go for a summer grow out.  I personally don't care for the taste of them compared to crappie and bluegill.  They are just too bland.  I was going to try them just to have something different.  Tclynx in FL gave me a good education and she gave up on them outside. 
 
I would get rid of that black pipe in the heater.  It is never good to have the metal in FT.  It is preached about but I don't know if there is really any studies that show it is harmful in small amounts.  Just stuff you read about on the forums.
 
I know a lot of others that tried DC bilge pumps.  They are not made to run continuously and fail fairly quick.  Keep us posted on the solar build.  I keep waiting for the price to get right.  I don't mean to sound negative...just passing on stuff I have already researched. 

I'll be interested to see how that HFT solar setup works for you.  The reviews are all over the place.
 

Rairdog said:

I personally don't care for the taste of them compared to crappie and bluegill.

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Bluegill is my favorite fish for flavor and crappie for eating (because you get more to eat).  I've been meaning to look into the legalities and details of farming them, but I never hear of anyone doing it, so there must be some issues.