# Solar powered tank



## erthlng (Feb 8, 2008)

Greetings,

I've been lurking on these boards for a while and decided it was time to post.

My son and I have been playing around with solar powered filtration in a 2 gallon tank. You can see our first experiment on YouTube here http://youtube.com/watch?v=HnuIfaJYIy4
It works nicely and it is fascinating to watch. The plants and the fish are thriving. We've actually upgraded to a new pump design this week, so what you see in the video is just our first attempt. Other than that little experimental tank, we have 3 other freshwater tanks and a marine tank the largest being 29 gallons all are conventionally powered. :smile:

Much to my delight yesterday, a very reasonably priced, used, 125 gallon tank became available and I'm picking it up this weekend. I'm seriously thinking about building a planted tank with a sump filtration system designed around a 12volt 250-400gph pump powered by a solar panel.

Unlike the little tank, the 125 would obviously need a much more consistent power source for the filtration. The pump would actually be driven off of a high capacity 12volt battery charged by the solar panel. I'm considering a hybrid system that would run the pump off the battery until it was nearly discharged, then automatically switch over to either stepped down house current or activate a 120v pump of similar capacity. 

I'm probably nuts, but building a large planted tank that is at least partially solar powered is strangely appealing to me.

I've been shopping around looking for reliable 12v water pumps (8 Amps or less) in the 300gph range. If anyone has suggestions, comments or see major flaws in the concept, I'd love to hear them.

Phil


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## JimmyYahoo (Aug 14, 2005)

If you want a large tank thats partially solar powered maybe consider a pond.


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## ganjero (Aug 4, 2005)

JimmyYahoo said:


> If you want a large tank thats partially solar powered maybe consider a pond.


a pond? c'mon

BTW Cool idea. With the electricity that I use for my reef tank, I always wonder if I can install a few solar panels just to power my tank. Im sure many are doing something like this.


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## Ladykatze (Jan 13, 2008)

:bounce: Wow, what a wonderful idea! Takes "going green" to a slightly different level, doesn't it, and an aquarium siounds like the perfect place to do it.

Seriously, a pond is great, but I don't think it would work well in NY this time of year. Someday I'll put one in my yard here in MN, but then I'd have to be able to move the fish indoors in October, and back out in June, or get one deep enough that it won't freeze solid. 

So keep us posted on your solar powered tanks. I'm not mechanical enough to make a tank like that, but I certainly enjoy looking at pictures from those of you who are!


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

Sounds like a great plan, and another great reason to justify wanting yet another aquarium...lol


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## kasslloyd (May 28, 2007)

wouldn't the lack of circulation/filtering during the night, specifically during the winter with longer nights pose a serious problem to the health of the fish? (presuming that the fish don't need heated water?)

To overcome that you'd need a fair bit bigger solar cell and storage batteries.. heh


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## erthlng (Feb 8, 2008)

kasslloyd,

Because of the size of this tank, I'm probably going to make my first attempt at this as a hybrid system. So that it will be able to switch from running off the battery charged by the solar panel or an AC outlet source stepped down to 12volts DC.

Ideally, I'd like the system to be able to sense the battery charge and when it runs low, have it automatically switch over to back-up AC power. Then when the battery is charged back up, it would switch back to the "off the grid" solar power. I think I've seen some off the shelf controls that might do this, so even if it is overcast for a week, the tank should not suffer in any way.

With our experimental 2 gallon solar tank, we don't have a battery back-up. The pump only runs when the sun hits the solar panel. It also works on overcast days as long as the sky is bright. This is not a huge problem because we only have 4 fry (fancy guppies) and quite a bit of Cabomba, which are all doing very well. The pump/filter is immersed in the tank and with full sunlight it is moving about 180 liters an hour. It's almost like an artificial tide that relies on the sun, rather than the moon. The tank also gets excellent window light for most of the day.

The solar filter system for the 125 tank will be an interesting challenge. I'm fairly handy, but this is entirely new ground for me. So if folks have suggestions on 12 volt DC high volume pumps or could suggest a DIY sump that will keep a 125 planted tank happy, I'd love to hear from you.

Phil


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Before I'd get to far into the project buying pumps and such, I'd get a working auto switch control and battery setup going. A big tank like that is obviously going to need the pump working 24x7, so I would do the hardest part first to make sure you can do it. Shouldnt be to hard to do if you good with electronics. However if you know nothing of electronics and are trying to get something off the shelf to do this I am not sure if such parts exist or not. Sounds like a good project though, I am sure eventually most houses will incorporate some sort of off-grid solar power.


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## erthlng (Feb 8, 2008)

Tristan,

Thanks for the insight. What I will probably do if first build it out with an AC pump, get it up and running and while that is going on, work on resolving the issues with the 12volt DC solar system. The plumbing is going to be the same, it's just the pump that is going to present a challenge.

I've sincerely enjoyed following your 240g build project. If I can scrape together even a portion of your skills, I'd be very happy. I was thinking of incorporating some of your DIY sump ideas into this tank. Keep up the excellent work and thank you again for your comments.

Phil


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## doug105 (Feb 16, 2006)

*solar powered lighting*

Here's a great way to solar power your tank.......


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56125&perpage=25&highlight=skylight&pagenumber=31


Just scroll down a bit for some awesome solar powered lighting.


Doug N


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

doug105 said:


> Here's a great way to solar power your tank.......
> 
> 
> http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56125&perpage=25&highlight=skylight&pagenumber=31
> ...


That set up is unbelievable! Im speechless.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Solar tubes, great idea. After all, this is where you spend most of the watts. A pump might draw maybe 30 Watts, while the lighting could take ten times as much.

I wonder if anyone has ever done that for freshwater planted tanks. Not supplemental sunlight (like MM), but those particular tubes/skylights in an otherwise normally lit room.


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## NeverEndingNinja (Jan 4, 2008)

Too bad my tanks are on the 1st floor of a 2 story building.:thumbsdow


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## erthlng (Feb 8, 2008)

I found 2 components...

Since I'm eventually going to be running this system off of a 12 volt solar panel with battery storage. My pump and filter need to be 12 volts as well. I've changed my mind on going with sump filtration and I'm going to go with a canister. 

I looked around and did not see any 12 volt canister filters that could handle a 125 gallon tank, so after a bit of research, I found a 12volt, 2Amp water pump used for cooling high end computers, that has amazing specs. It's called a Swiftech MCP655 12v DC Pump. It is variable speed with a max of 317 gph. It's a centrifugal pump rated at 50,000 hours of continuous use. Cost is about $80. I'm going to hook this up to Pontec PF 1600, canister filter, which runs about 50$ 

So for about $130, we've got a 12 volt filtration system that I hope can handle the needs of a 125 gallon planted tank.

Initially to test the concept, I'm going to use house current and run it through a step down transformer to get my target voltage. One bonus is that if the power goes out, I can jump start my fish tank from my car battery 

Any thoughts/feedback on this filter setup?


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## erthlng (Feb 8, 2008)

I was looking into possible rebates from the local power company (LIPA) for the solar panel that I will use on the tank. Even though I'm not going to be powering my entire house, it looks like they might give me a onetime rebate of $3.50 per Watt installed. Most panels cost $4 -$5 per watt, so this rebate program might end up paying for most of the Panel.


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