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

"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.

"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.

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

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

"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.

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

"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.

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~

"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....