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#1
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solar powered ponds?
Hi,
I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm going to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements. Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter. One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. Thanks, Brian |
#2
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solar powered ponds?
"Brian" wrote in message
... snip One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. snip In short, yes. Solar power is still very expensive. To get the needed juice for a typical pump, you would need a roof full of solar panels. Check out a solar landscaping light sometime. I have two, and by morning, the lights are out. Small panels just don't make enough juice. BV. P.S. I hope my explanation was over everyone's head. I know I used a bunch of technical lingo. |
#3
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solar powered ponds?
Solor power is way too expensive. I researched it a while back. If you're
down south and get 10-15 hours of good sun a day it's about $600-700 for a 100 watt panel. If you're up north like me you get only 4-5 hours of good sunlight in the summer so it'd be $600-700 for 30-40 watts of power. And the panel is big, like 4'X2' or something like that. "Brian" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm going to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements. Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter. One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. Thanks, Brian |
#4
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solar powered ponds?
I never got as far as these guys did... The light that I wanted
to use at the pond ... (sort of a mushroom light) didn't put out enough light. It never charged enough during the day. I'm just south of St. Louis... In Missouri. Nedra http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836 http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118 "Sam Hopkins" wrote in message .. . Solor power is way too expensive. I researched it a while back. If you're down south and get 10-15 hours of good sun a day it's about $600-700 for a 100 watt panel. If you're up north like me you get only 4-5 hours of good sunlight in the summer so it'd be $600-700 for 30-40 watts of power. And the panel is big, like 4'X2' or something like that. "Brian" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm going to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements. Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter. One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. Thanks, Brian |
#5
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solar powered ponds?
"Brian" wrote:
use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. My pond, being under the canopy of a maple tree, doesn't get enough light but to charge one solar led at one corner. Good idea, it would be expensive. You'd need a battery setup to keep it going at night, cloudy days, weeks, etc. You can spend, er build, a big enough solar setup to do pretty much anything you want. |
#6
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solar powered ponds?
jj has a solar powered pump on her lily pond. Any cloud that passes the sun slooooooows the pump down. But we have tons of sunshine here. Rain is greeted with awe and suspicion. Most ponders run their pumps 24/7. They use them for their bio-filter and the constant water movement keeps the benefical bacteria alive. They also use them to add oxygen into the water at night when the plants consume oxygen instead of make it like they do during the day. That all said. I run one pond without a pump. It is a still pond. It is full of plants, in full sun and can support a couple of fish (no fish in there right now). It gets hit by the sprinkler every night so stagnant water isn't a problem. It has stayed crystal clear for about four years now. I treat it with Mosquito Bits when I don't have fish in it. k30a |
#7
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solar powered ponds?
"Brian" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm going to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements. Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter. One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. The biggest issue would be how to store enough power during the day to run your pumps overnight. Bio filters need a constant supply of oxygen rich water or the the bacteria die off - worse still something like a sealed filter can go Anaerobic (nasty!) in only two or three hours. I would guess that if you went the veggie-filter route this wouldn't be such a problem. Also, if your filters did go off overnight then you'd need to be careful about stocking levels to make sure you avoided ammonia/nitrite spikes. These would only become a problem if your stocking levels were "stretching the envelope" though (I think!). I. |
#8
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solar powered ponds?
Brian wrote in message ... Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm going to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements. Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter. One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. Thanks, Brian I am by no means an electrical whiz Brian....in fact the first time I installed and interrupt outlet(not sure of the technical name...see!) was about 2 weeks ago. Here is what I did: Hit the hardware store and purchased the interrupt outlet(16.00) and bought a junction box with an attached door(10.00) and a tube of quick drying glue/sealer, took out the old outlet that wasn't even grounded....installed the outlet (3 wires....black, white and green....wow hard! I bought the junction box because I knew the outlet was going to be bigger than the original hole they had cut out....attached the outlet to it, zipped it up with 4 screws over the old hole and finished it off with the sealer. I then ran the heavy duty outdoor extension cord down to the patio floor and from there used small diameter PVC pipe to run it across the patio floor against the house(also painted the pipe so it looks nice) to approx. 3 feet from my waterfall. I then bought an outdoor (power strip?) that sits upright that you can purchase from Wal-Mart for $20 and plugged it all up. As long as you are slightly handy you shouldn't have any problems at all doing it yourself. Don't set any water feature up without the interrupt though...no matter how small. ~Wilson~ |
#9
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solar powered ponds?
"K30a" wrote in message
... snip I run one pond without a pump. It is a still pond. It is full of plants, in full sun and can support a couple of fish (no fish in there right now). It gets hit by the sprinkler every night so stagnant water isn't a problem. It has stayed crystal clear for about four years now. I treat it with Mosquito Bits when I don't have fish in it. Hmm...My pond is so heavily planted...I again wonder if I could get away with not running my pump 24/7. BV. |
#10
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solar powered ponds?
"BenignVanilla" wrote in message ... "K30a" wrote in message ... snip I run one pond without a pump. It is a still pond. It is full of plants, in full sun and can support a couple of fish (no fish in there right now). It gets hit by the sprinkler every night so stagnant water isn't a problem. It has stayed crystal clear for about four years now. I treat it with Mosquito Bits when I don't have fish in it. Hmm...My pond is so heavily planted...I again wonder if I could get away with not running my pump 24/7. Not adviseable because as has been siad earlier in the thread, firstly your bio filter may die back very very quickly and secondly if your pond is heavily planted the plants actually go into reverse and pull oxygen out of the water at night.... |
#11
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solar powered ponds?
"Iain Miller" wrote in message
... snip Not adviseable because as has been siad earlier in the thread, firstly your bio filter may die back very very quickly and secondly if your pond is heavily planted the plants actually go into reverse and pull oxygen out of the water at night.... I don't use a mechanical/biofilter. I am a purebred VF guy, and my pond is heavily planted much like my pond is. I wondered about this months ago, and was talked out of power cycling the pump, just wondering again. BV. |
#12
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solar powered ponds?
The still frog bog has no fish in it at the moment. Only aquatic insects, tadpoles, worms and other slimey things. When it had a bunch of goldfish in it I could see them gasping at the surface before the sun came up. Removed most of them right away and the problem was gone. Removed the rest of them so I could raise tadpoles in there. The pond is so crowded with plants, they are planted in rocks, that I can't see anything in there anymore. I use a net to test for mosquito larvae. Haven't spotted any tadpoles since they went in as eggs. k30a |
#13
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solar powered ponds?
Ok how's this sound.
WIND POWER. A couple of deepcycle 12 volt batteries. and a alternator off a old car or tractor. As well u could also get the wiring and regulator off the same vehicle. Should be able to buy 12 volt pumps and lights. Just a though. Any comments. "Brian" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm going to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements. Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter. One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. Thanks, Brian |
#14
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solar powered ponds?
Thanks for all of your responses! I guess I'll stick with my barrel
planters this summer and see if I can learn enough (and save enough money) to think about a pond for next summer. I'm in Maine USA, so solar power seems really iffy and the pond-installing season is short as well. Brian "Brian" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm going to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements. Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter. One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. Thanks, Brian |
#15
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solar powered ponds?
Are you using your barrels as soil planters or as water gardens? I started
a water garden in mine a bit over a week ago. I'd be interested in hearing your progress, etc... Good luck! "Brian" wrote in message ... Thanks for all of your responses! I guess I'll stick with my barrel planters this summer and see if I can learn enough (and save enough money) to think about a pond for next summer. I'm in Maine USA, so solar power seems really iffy and the pond-installing season is short as well. Brian "Brian" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup, just doing research to see whether I'm going to put a pond in. I already bought some whiskey barrel planters to start off my yard with a water feature to see how it goes. To me, the most intimidating thing about doing a full pond is the electrical requirements. Based on my research, even a small pond would require me to hire an electrician to run a line out into my yard. The whiskey barrel option is appealing because it seems small enough not to require a pump or filter. One thing that I would love to do, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen others doing it, is to power a pond solely with solar power. It seems like that solution is the most in touch with improving our environment. Yet I haven't seen any of the pond supply people selling solar powered items, with the exception of very small fountains and the like. Why don't more people use solar power? Is it prohibitively expensive, or simply inadequate for the power demands of most pond systems? I would love to hear if anyone is using solar power and how they have things set up. Thanks, Brian |
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