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Adam Haycock
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Topic: Greenhouse aquarium Posted: February 12 2005 at 4:38pm |
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Edited by Adam Haycock - February 15 2008 at 11:05pm
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Skyetone
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Posted: February 13 2005 at 1:01pm |
I have concerns with summer heat in the greenhouse. My mom has a large greenhouse we built and it is plexy on the roof and wavy transparent on the sides. We have put in a 10" exaust fan to help with heat control and a vent in the roof. I would say easy in mid summer it gets 90-100+ in there w/o fans. That would make your water temp rise alot. in mid winter (right now) what is the temp inside the greenhouse?
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I will just give my warning that your system will flood, bulbs will burn out, and things will take continuous maintenance... get over it.
Magna
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chrisslc
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Posted: February 13 2005 at 1:13pm |
He has a great idea in mind for using geothermal cooling, running looped pipe underground, run by a thermostatically controlled pump. sounds ingenious to me.
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Murray, Utah just north of the park.
"It's all the same to the clam" -Shel Silverstein
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 13 2005 at 2:53pm |
On a sunny winter day, the heater doesn't turn on at all. I just went out there and the thermostat reading was 82.3. It is not uncommon for it to reach 90+ on a sunny day with temps in the 40s. Winter will be no problem controlling the water temp. If its cold, the heater turns on. If it gets hot, the ventilation fans turn on bringing in cool air.
Keeping the water cool in the summer will be the tricky part. Some options I have...
chiller (expensive to buy and expensive to run)
geothermal cooling loop. (cheap but a PITA to setup)
sunken 55gallon barrels (cheap and fairly effective)
air conditioner (expensive to run)
swamp cooler (fairly cheap to buy and run)
Increase water volume (space consuming but fairly cheap and effective)
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FISHMAN Dan
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Posted: February 14 2005 at 12:44am |
Hi, I cultivate hard to find marine macro algea, sea grasses ect.
prices range from $1-$10 depending on rarity ect
let me know if your interested
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125 reef, grower of hard to find macro algea,(feather giant feather, branching coraline ect...
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 14 2005 at 9:39am |
Dan I will definately be interested. I'll contact you when im ready. Maybe you could PM your phone number. Thanks
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Skyetone
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Posted: February 14 2005 at 6:29pm |
what is the rough temp range in the dirt in summer? 70ish? If you tied the 50G drums into the system then it would act like a radiator. Pulling cold into the water. In theory too, the thinner the cylinder under the ground the better. Surface area is what counts.... Interesting idea...
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I will just give my warning that your system will flood, bulbs will burn out, and things will take continuous maintenance... get over it.
Magna
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 14 2005 at 7:26pm |
sky, the ground level IN the greenhouse is actually 1.5 feet below the outdoor ground level. So I think it would be even cooler, ~60 degrees
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jfinch
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Posted: February 14 2005 at 8:03pm |
Something else you might consider for cooling during the summer...
Bring all the sprinkler water for your lawn through your greenhouse first and use it to help cool your tank. Maybe put a coil of tubing into the dug-out sump that the water going to lawn can flow through? You could set up a controller to start the sprinklers when the tank water gets above a certain temperature.
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chrisslc
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Posted: February 14 2005 at 10:39pm |
Interesting Idea Jon, but personally I believe it is important to water grass during the coolest part of the day for a myriad of reasons, which would be exactly when you wouldn't want to cool the tank  .
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Murray, Utah just north of the park.
"It's all the same to the clam" -Shel Silverstein
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: February 15 2005 at 11:10am |
I think a geothermal cooling loop would be awesome. I wonder how much pipe you would need to keep the tank cool?
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 21 2005 at 7:32pm |
A very special thanks to Chris (chrisslc) again for his help. Heres what we did today.


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Chris
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Posted: February 21 2005 at 7:57pm |
I have had this thought that if I ever really get into this hobby like some of you, and if I have the money. I would like to build a huge tank something in the 300 to 500 gal range maybe bigger. On that tank I would have a refugium pond that would stretch out on the floor in front of the tank. This pond would be a great place for me to keep salt water plants and even Halloween crabs.
You ever think about adding a small pond to your new setup? Something that would allow for crabs to walk onto land.
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Corey Price
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Posted: February 22 2005 at 1:54pm |
Looks like you have a great foundation! Good job, both of you!
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 22 2005 at 2:18pm |
Chris thats an interesting idea. Where could I get holloween crabs? They would do ok in saltwater, right? I still have about 50 square feet of space I can use for whatever.
Thanks Corwando. The foundation was a pain, but its good knowing the tank is on stable ground.
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Skyetone
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Posted: February 22 2005 at 7:50pm |
actuall the crabs are easy to get. that could also work for cooling the main tank... HMMMM a pond refugium.... why not.
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I will just give my warning that your system will flood, bulbs will burn out, and things will take continuous maintenance... get over it.
Magna
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Chris
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Posted: February 22 2005 at 8:18pm |
I have seen the crabs at fish 4 U. I think the crab in Skyetone's picture is of one. They don't do too well in fresh water, since they are salt water crabs.
If you do something like that I will have to come and check it out. I could even help you out if you needed some help.
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 22 2005 at 8:22pm |
I am liking the idea more and more. I think I do want to try it. I'll just need to decide how i'll do it.
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 22 2005 at 8:27pm |
So if I had a pond how would I connect it to the system without the water level changing? I would only want the sump water level to decrease.
Would the easiest way be to add an auto top-off system for both the sump and the pond?
Edited by BananaTropics
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 22 2005 at 11:24pm |
Ok, so ive been trying to find info on the halloween crab and I find very little. The website I found said they are from Costa Rica and live in freshwater rivers. I also found info on halloween hermit crabs which are marine but do not exit the water.
halloween crab
http://easyinsects.co.uk/landcrabs/halloween-crabs/
halloween hermit crab
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=2 3&pCatId=1639&js_enabled=0
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