I want my aquarium to be off grid ?

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
Hello I am new to these forums and wanted to ask to see if someone can point me in the right direction here on this topic. I am an avid aquarium guy and love fish tanks to death ! I recently upgraded to a special type of fish keeping and solely as a fun experiment would love to be able to run my aquarium off-grid. THe aquarium itself is not large and I can certainly find out how much power everything requires but I would love to be able to run this thing 24/7 on an independent power supply using solar! I am having some issues with the math though and I guess thats where my question lies. If I just add up the watt hours of each aquarium device and all those watts together which would give me my total watt hour needs ( for 1 hour x 24 hours ) then I would be able to select what type of panel I need and also what apropriate battery size/capacity and what kind of inverter I need...right?
I am looking at give or take between 130 and 150 watts per hour as a total of combining my electrical devices as I say this is a special tank setup but pretty small so if I'm thinking right I'd need a capacity of 150 watts per hour times 24 hours. I would then have to figure out what size panel I'd need with enought juice in the given approximate 5 hours worth of usual daylight we get around here before afternoon shade. THere's got to be a simple way to do this so as to supply enough power to run this aquarium 24/7 but I'm not doing this right I know.
Has anyway for fun ever tried to simply off-grid one item ?
I'd kill for some input here.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Todd

Comments

  • higgins
    higgins Solar Expert Posts: 56 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: I want my aquarium to be off grid ?

    Hi Todd,i too have an aquarium but not set up yet,it's rather large and i'm not sure i have enough of everything to keep it running completely off grid!
    May i offer a suggestion though,if you can incorporate a timer to keep things switched off longer than on you may be able to reduce your power demands,aquariums use a lot of power,careful use of a timer could make the project viable,sorry i can't help with your equipment but still learning myself,good luck with this,i shall keep my eye on this thread with interest:D
    Higgins
  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: I want my aquarium to be off grid ?

    I'm not an aquarium guy,...

    ...but it sounds like your aquarium uses more electric than your refridgerator!!!

    First thing to do is plug everything you need to run your aquarium into a power strip and plug that into a Kil-A-What meter and seehow much power it uses over a 24 hour period (better yet a few days)

    Kill-a-watt meter is avalible here;

    http://store.solar-electric.com/kiacpomome.html

    Something I've found interesting is doing an aquarium with out a temp control or oxigenator(?) Using a tolerant fish, I think gold fish are tolerant of high swings in temp and can deal with lower saturation, place several oxegen producing plants and a filter or two in the form of snails...
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: I want my aquarium to be off grid ?

    the 150 watts per hour is actually 150 watthours or 150wh for short. that is quite a bit of power for just fish imho and i'm sure you could find ways to bring that number down somewhat. it was mentioned about the timer, but the lights themselves could be made to be cfl or led if they aren't already.
    going by 150wh this is 3600wh per day or 3.6kwh/day to be consumed. the entire system you get has to deliver that and then some as there are efficiency factors and losses. some like to add another 50% to the load consumed to arrive at the stc rating of the pv array by multiplying it out and dividing by the average full sun hours you get at your location. now i might add that during the winter is probably the worst case scenario and being dedicated to preserving the life of the fish during the winter it would be wise to size it for the worst season and this will yield an over abundance for the rest of the year. anyway, 150% of 3.6kwh is 5.4kwh and this needs divided by the worst case sun hours and using 3hrs just as an example gives us 1.8kw in pv to feed the system. (jaw dropping here.)
    there is also the batteries to consider as you want plenty of backup to last you at least 3 days without depleting the batteries below 50%. figuring 3x3.6kwh=10.8kwh and then x2 to not go below 50% means 21.6kwh. if the batteries are setup for 12v this means 1800ah capacity. (eyes bulge and jaw still dropped.)
    as said conservation on the needs helps tremendously and can reduce the system needs as well. if your winter figures are better than 3 hrs per day then that will reduce needs too. if one keeps a generator so that 3 days of backup aren't needed this will reduce needs too. (i wouldn't go less than 2 days)
    it will be expensive, but it can be done. still want to do this for fish?:confused:
  • CaptTurbo
    CaptTurbo Solar Expert Posts: 66 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: I want my aquarium to be off grid ?

    I'm one of the newest newbs in the area of solar but I do know a few things about fish tanks.

    I'm a fishing guide of thirty years and also a life long aquarium guy. I've always set my charter boats up with duel systems to meet the needs of different baits and also for the different water temps that are experienced throughout the year and the various seasons.

    In the warm season here in SW Florida I fish a lot of white baits (shiners) which demand huge amounts of oxygen and we all know that warm water contains less oxygen then cold water. In this case I run a three gallon per minute raw water injection to a 30 gallon tank. It keeps them pretty frisky if you keep up with removing the die-off. As fish die in a bait system it becomes a chain reaction kill-off from the toxins produced.. Keep the dead ones down to a few and there is no problem.

    OK, now I will address the kind of situation that is most often found with the home aquarium owner. Temps are not swinging to extremes since we keep the heating and cooling of our homes comfortable for us ... right? Well, if not then you do need a heating element and that will add considerable draw if ambient conditions are very far from what us humans are comfortable living in.

    Now if we keep the house in a comfortable range of temperture we don't need to heat the tank's water much. All we need to do is oxygenate and move the water around bit. This chore is really pretty energy efficient if you chose the right system and I'm here to tell you which system I'm talking about.

    The secret here is using under gravel filtration. With under gravel systems you just run a small diaphram air pump to move air through air stones to make bubbles rise up the stacks (plastic tubes) which creates a vacuum under the gravel pulling dirt downward to be captured by the gravel (filter medium) and the air emerging from the stacks moves the water and turns it over in the tank for good circulation. The best system by far for a fresh water tank. Saltwater tanks take a bit more then this to thrive.

    Pumping water is not so cheap (energy speaking) but pumping air is. I can leave the air system on in the charter boat all day and not see a draw down of the twin 12 volt deep cycle class 24 batteries. It's just not a thought or a worry. Cool water months don't require me to run the raw water pump. Just an air stone and a reliable diaphram pump makes for a perfect bait system for those conditions.

    So, I guess we need to know what kind of tank that you are running to know what kind of power it will need. Saltwater tanks need to have powerful water pumps to create the currents that saltwater fish need. More energy. Freshwater tanks are much less demanding.
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: I want my aquarium to be off grid ?

    Hi Todd here again and thanks for the reply's on this! It's very interesting because you can look at various aquarium supplies which require electric current and some if not most will actually print wattage requirements for that particular item. Some examples of what I'm sitting on are items like diaphram pumps as mentioned and twin outlet fairly decent sized one has a suprising little wattage requirement of 4 watts. As this is a specialty saltwater system although in the case under twenty five gallons it seems the biggest wattage issue would be with the heater rated at 100watts when in use which appears tp be about 33% of the time. The twin power filters require 6.5 watts each as stated by looking at the drive assemblies. Ok so yah this is what I have so far !


    (1)Twin outlet pump supplying O2 and supplimental filtration: 4watts x 24 hours
    (1) Light assembly 48 watts x 8 hours
    (1) Submersible heater rated at 100watts gotta figure about 8 hours per day
    (2) Hang on Back power filters rated at 6.5 watts each and those are 24/7

    Ok so that is the math I guess and I do like the idea of one of those meters so the deal is I get one of those plus in anything and everything that is aquarium related and check the data after 24 hours or has been recommended after 48 hourrs or more to determine the total wattage requirements so I guess those watt meters are like cumulative fuel used gauges then and I think before I get started on this project I'll get something like that if it will cue me in on 24 hours worth of how much I'm using.

    The idea is to get some data on the benefit of using a self contained setup like this to gauge the feasibility of use with a small 15 gallon highly specialised Nano-reef tank which by all comparison with regular aquariums does not require much more power with the exception of the high intensity lighting system rated at 56 watts with a 12 hour cycle on off on...
    I know there is an answer to this and I think one of those watt meters might be the way to tell this.....
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: I want my aquarium to be off grid ?

    In the end, measure your operation, figure out conservation steps you can take (conservation is almost always cheaper than generating solar power), and then define your needs (reduce/stabilize power costs, emergency power, other reasons).

    Your original estimate was would run 1/2 my 4 person suburban home (with natural gas for the usual heating jobs)...

    Realistically, you can probably run the air and water pumps--and possibly even the electric heat (assuming room and tank temperatures are similar). If you have a reef and need a bright lamp of some sort--probably would push your needs way outside the lets see if we can have some fun while making this work.

    Grid tied solar is going to be the most cost effective--but offers no emergency power option. Off Grid solar (purely solar powered) works out to be 4x or more expensive per kWhr vs Grid Tied (extra losses, costs of batteries and replacements, more solar panels to make up losses, etc.).... Hybrid Grid Tied/Off Grid systems are a good compromise (efficiency of Grid Tied for the 98% you have power, off grid capable in an emergency)--falls in between...

    It is the difference between $0.10 per kWhr for Grid power and $1-$2+ per kWhr for off grid (assuming you can spread the costs over 20 years)--it is not a cheap decision...

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • higgins
    higgins Solar Expert Posts: 56 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: I want my aquarium to be off grid ?
    BB. wrote: »
    In the end, measure your operation, figure out conservation steps you can take (conservation is almost always cheaper than generating solar power), and then define your needs (reduce/stabilize power costs, emergency power, other reasons).

    Your original estimate was would run 1/2 my 4 person suburban home (with natural gas for the usual heating jobs)...

    Realistically, you can probably run the air and water pumps--and possibly even the electric heat (assuming room and tank temperatures are similar). If you have a reef and need a bright lamp of some sort--probably would push your needs way outside the lets see if we can have some fun while making this work.

    Grid tied solar is going to be the most cost effective--but offers no emergency power option. Off Grid solar (purely solar powered) works out to be 4x or more expensive per kWhr vs Grid Tied (extra losses, costs of batteries and replacements, more solar panels to make up losses, etc.).... Hybrid Grid Tied/Off Grid systems are a good compromise (efficiency of Grid Tied for the 98% you have power, off grid capable in an emergency)--falls in between...

    It is the difference between $0.10 per kWhr for Grid power and $1-$2+ per KWHr for off grid (assuming you can spread the costs over 20 years)--it is not a cheap decision...

    -Bill
    Was thinking similar myself,i remember how much it cost me before,now i dread to think about going solar just to have fish,if anything i'd have fish in cold water,it all seems to expensive,but to prove a point it could be done for a short while,
    Higgins
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: I want my aquarium to be off grid ?

    Sorry--had a typo I needed to fix... that was per KWHr (in bold).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset