Jebao pump running from solar???
- Thread starter Robbbor
- Start date
Which is one thing that might make it simpler, if finding a 36v converter is a problem then just run it off an inverter. It's a bit less efficient, but inverters to run off solar are everywhere with about any capacity you could think of.
I'm following along this thread with interest; I've played with a relatively inxpensive very rudimentary solar-powered pump for an outdoor pond and it didn't last long. If you get the bugs worked out, I might try again. 
Just one cautionary comment I will add here. I'm located in Manitoba, about an hour north of Winnipeg, so my typical worry here is temperatures that are too cold rather than too warm. However, the first year I started playing with fish in outdoor stock tanks, I had run some airlines out to a couple of the tanks from my fishroom central air pump. Seemed like a no-brainer, cost me almost nothing and on paper appeared to have many benefits and no downside.
However...even up here in the frozen north, with an outdoor fish season usually 4 months long at maximum, I found that stock tanks exposed to full sun would heat up to very high levels in midsummer. Admittedly, we have a somewhat longer daylight period up here than you would in Nevada, but I've visited Nevada in summertime and you are generally much hotter than we are.
My stocktanks were in the 300-600 gallon range, with a water depth of less than 24 inches. After a long hot summer day the water temp at the surface was often in the upper 90F range, but fortunately the bottom would be 10-15 degrees cooler, especially if shaded by floating/emergent vegetation. However, once I got the water circulating with a couple of energetic airstones running sponge filters, the temperature stratification disappeared and the entire water body would end up very warm, too warm for many fish species.
Long story short: I think you would need to provide considerable shade for your outdoor stock tanks to work. Sitting exposed in the hot sun, even with a shorter daylight period, and circulating the water and thus preventing stratification...you may find your stock tanks are becoming soup tureens.
Just something to think about; looking forward to watching your progress with this project. Good luck!
Just one cautionary comment I will add here. I'm located in Manitoba, about an hour north of Winnipeg, so my typical worry here is temperatures that are too cold rather than too warm. However, the first year I started playing with fish in outdoor stock tanks, I had run some airlines out to a couple of the tanks from my fishroom central air pump. Seemed like a no-brainer, cost me almost nothing and on paper appeared to have many benefits and no downside.
However...even up here in the frozen north, with an outdoor fish season usually 4 months long at maximum, I found that stock tanks exposed to full sun would heat up to very high levels in midsummer. Admittedly, we have a somewhat longer daylight period up here than you would in Nevada, but I've visited Nevada in summertime and you are generally much hotter than we are.
My stocktanks were in the 300-600 gallon range, with a water depth of less than 24 inches. After a long hot summer day the water temp at the surface was often in the upper 90F range, but fortunately the bottom would be 10-15 degrees cooler, especially if shaded by floating/emergent vegetation. However, once I got the water circulating with a couple of energetic airstones running sponge filters, the temperature stratification disappeared and the entire water body would end up very warm, too warm for many fish species.
Long story short: I think you would need to provide considerable shade for your outdoor stock tanks to work. Sitting exposed in the hot sun, even with a shorter daylight period, and circulating the water and thus preventing stratification...you may find your stock tanks are becoming soup tureens.
Just something to think about; looking forward to watching your progress with this project. Good luck!
