What am I doing here?

[Shadow]

So...I found a used but in very good condition rain collection barrel at a yard sale last year end of summer. Bought it for like 15 bucks(retails for over 150) with the intention of using it in my garden at the old home I just moved from. Now at my new home, there is in yard irrigation and very good gutters installed, so I have decided I will test myself at using this for a new project....care to guess what it is? 

[Tanked]

fountain

[Shadow]

On 4/23/2023 at 10:53 AM, Tanked said:

fountain

Close and a good idea, but not what I am working on. 🙂 

 

[ColBud]

Extra large canister filter or water conditioner tank that you can pump from for water changes 🤷‍♂️

[Shadow]

On 4/23/2023 at 11:56 AM, ColBud said:

Extra large canister filter or water conditioner tank that you can pump from for water changes 🤷‍♂️

Yep, one of those two is def the project I have in mind. 

[Tanked]

On 4/23/2023 at 1:27 PM, Shadow said:

Yep, one of those two is def the project I have in mind. 

I have long wanted to do that, but the extra water tank in the family room would receive a definite Not a Chance in H**l!

[nabokovfan87]

It's a water butt! 😂 I assume that's local dialect or something for the EU?
 

 

[Shadow]

On 4/23/2023 at 2:05 PM, Tanked said:

I have long wanted to do that, but the extra water tank in the family room would receive a definite Not a Chance in H**l!

LOLOL!!! Well, good thing is that right outside my fish room window is a perfect spot with no runoff from the roof and a rock area to sit on...plus an outdoor outlet. So I plan on putting it there(I sealed the holes already with silicone/plugs so no outside water would affect it). I'll just run the hose in and out of the window to the hookup inside whenever I use it to refill the tanks. Will be a nice way to have a great baseline water that I know is good and proper, then I can refill and recondition as needed. 

On 4/23/2023 at 4:05 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

It's a water butt! 😂 I assume that's local dialect or something for the EU?
 

 

They call it that in Scotland and several other places in the UK...my grandad was Scottish. LOL! 

BTW, was it you I saw commenting a while back on setting water parameters in 5 gal buckets with air stones to get true numbers and tinker from there? I am asking as I want to start on a small level conditioning water before doing so in much larger fashion with this large barrel. 

[jwcarlson]

You can age your water in a quart jar and it will be a good representative sample.  I have a roughly 65 gallon barrel that I have been using for about a year and then a big submersible pump to pump it from the barrel to the tanks.  Actually have two barrels, the other is a 32 gallon trash can.  I need to go pickup another old pickle barrel as 32 gallons isn't quite enough RO capacity for me. 

Get an air pump, air stone, and some sort of heater/controller and you will be good to go. 

 

This has evolved quite a bit as there's two brine shrimp hatchers and two 10 gallon tanks in this room as well now.  And an RO unit.  But here's my setup.  Semi automated with the Kasa strip.  It works really well for me.  Very happy I did it. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/24/2023 at 6:42 PM, Shadow said:

plus an outdoor outlet.

Just a heads up, kasa has the wifi outdoor adapters. If you ever need a switch on it to avoid emergency climbing through the window.

You could even use that to run a schedule and do water changes!

On 4/24/2023 at 7:14 PM, jwcarlson said:

Semi automated with the Kasa strip.  It works really well for me.  Very happy I did it. 

That's awesome! Looks great.

[tolstoy21]

I use a 40 gallon Brute trash can for staging water with a pump on a wifi outlet to move water out of it. I also make RO water in a 20 gallon Brute can on one of those little round dollies.

[Shadow]

On 4/24/2023 at 9:14 PM, jwcarlson said:

You can age your water in a quart jar and it will be a good representative sample.  I have a roughly 65 gallon barrel that I have been using for about a year and then a big submersible pump to pump it from the barrel to the tanks.  Actually have two barrels, the other is a 32 gallon trash can.  I need to go pickup another old pickle barrel as 32 gallons isn't quite enough RO capacity for me. 

Get an air pump, air stone, and some sort of heater/controller and you will be good to go. 

 

This has evolved quite a bit as there's two brine shrimp hatchers and two 10 gallon tanks in this room as well now.  And an RO unit.  But here's my setup.  Semi automated with the Kasa strip.  It works really well for me.  Very happy I did it. 

Very cool! Yea my barrel must be a bit larger than tat as it seems wider maybe, dunno. Curious how many gallons mine is lol. Do you or @nabokovfan87 have a link to the kasa wifi one? Found a heater/controller on Amazon by Inkbird. Def need something to cool the water as being on the Gulf Coast, the outdoor heat basically starts water at near 80 F. 🙄

On 4/25/2023 at 5:30 PM, tolstoy21 said:

I use a 40 gallon Brute trash can for staging water with a pump on a wifi outlet to move water out of it. I also make RO water in a 20 gallon Brute can on one of those little round dollies.

Yea I am not allowed to bring it inside...lol! Luckily the window to my fish room is literally perfectly located. 😁

[jwcarlson]

@Shadow There's the regular Kasa plugs, I think ACO sells those.  Or if you search Kasa Smart Strip, you can find what I've got.  I also use the plugs, though.  They're really great products.  Even when changing my router or adding/removing plugs... it's pretty seamless.  Surprisingly so, actually.  Regarding cooling it down, make sure your Inkbird is dual control (heat/cool).  The aquarium ones that I have are just for heating.  The little rectangle ones like I use for my barrels (mounted above the outlets in the picture) have heat/cool capability.  As do some of the other Inkbirds, but they're usually the kind with a temp probe not made for water.

I don't have the cooling problem, but I think a fan across the water can help cool it off evaporatively.  But not sure how well that would work in a barrel vs something with more surface area.  Could you partially bury the barrel? 

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:14 PM, Shadow said:

Do you or @nabokovfan87 have a link to the kasa wifi one? Found a heater/controller on Amazon by Inkbird. Def need something to cool the water as being on the Gulf Coast, the outdoor heat basically starts water at near 80 F. 🙄

They are available on Amazon. The outdoor one is a black color with a pigtail.

[Shadow]

On 4/26/2023 at 11:28 PM, jwcarlson said:

@Shadow There's the regular Kasa plugs, I think ACO sells those.  Or if you search Kasa Smart Strip, you can find what I've got.  I also use the plugs, though.  They're really great products.  Even when changing my router or adding/removing plugs... it's pretty seamless.  Surprisingly so, actually.  Regarding cooling it down, make sure your Inkbird is dual control (heat/cool).  The aquarium ones that I have are just for heating.  The little rectangle ones like I use for my barrels (mounted above the outlets in the picture) have heat/cool capability.  As do some of the other Inkbirds, but they're usually the kind with a temp probe not made for water.

I don't have the cooling problem, but I think a fan across the water can help cool it off evaporatively.  But not sure how well that would work in a barrel vs something with more surface area.  Could you partially bury the barrel? 

Dont think I can bury it unfortunately, even partially. I bought the dual controller Inkbird and a smaller aquarium water cooler. What I will do is at nighttime before water changes, run the water through the cooler so I can get it down to a proper regulated temp before doing changes. I also might just hook it to the water I replace the shrimp tanks with and let it cool that. Its all a long form project, but one I am eager to tackle to see how it works out. Thanks to you and, as usual, @nabokovfan87, for the help!! Cheers!