# Solar powered aquaria



## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

My setup here is going through a few changes - I've gone off-grid and now rely on solar and windpower, although I have a small generator to fill inn the gaps till I get this all 100% on solar.

Driving air pumps is a no brainer, my biggest one uses 5W. Light are more of an issue, LED's are on their way.

I'm one of the few people here that grows Crypts in *water*, bizarre as it may seem.

Now, I have these 4 100 gallon tanks lying around empty becaus I'm not really sure where I can safely put 4 tons of water in my houuse. But, it occured to me whatr I need to do is only fill them 1/3 or so then stuff them full and all that driftwood and rocks I've been collecting in piles outside for years. Then stuff them full of Crypts.

So. I suddenly have 32 square feet of sunlit shallow water moving via solar power, or the potential for that. I need to move a few things around and set these heavy beasts up.

One of the first things that went in the solar conversion is computers. Now this place is filled with laptops instead and I've finally switched to a mac to boot. I'm embarassed to say I haven't figured out how to make it suck pictures out of my camera yet, but I hope to get that today.

Now 4 100 gallon tanks is 32 sqft which turns out to be a lot of space. Probably more than I can use. Maybe I should sublet some of the Crypt Condo.

Now there's a thought.

Maybe you have city plants that have never seen the countryside, or perhaps you live in another country and your plants have never saeen North America or Canada. I can fix that. Just send them to me and they can have a nice vacation here at the Bannockburn Crypt Ranch all summer.

I'd love just to buy them all but I've spent every cent I have on solar cells (and still need more) so I am sorta looking for donations, especially of hardwater species - although - I'm messing around will solar heater catchwater and may have this place plumbed for rain water very soon as well.

I'll propogate the plants then donate runners to anybody else who is growing plants totally off renewable energy.

Air pumps draw 5W these days and can be run off the smallest solar call. Sunlight works better than any light fixture and led's aare now bright and cheap enough and draw so little power they'll run for a week off a dead car battery.

All this stuff was *made* for growing Crypts.

So here we go...

Richard Sexton
[email protected]
Apr 2008


----------

