The "Breeding Barn Build"

Here is the model that I am going to go with. 

http://www.tractorsupply....b-hopper-large-1098925

WOW!  That was fast!

Jim,  I do need to move rather quickly on this.  The longer that I wait the more that I wait the more expensive the electric bills become.

Glad all that work isnt going to be wasted!
 
Hopefully the stove will keep everything nice and warm!

-Adam

I got the stove up and running today.   It has been going for about 1/2 hr and everything is looking good.  The 2 electric heaters are unplugged and the room feels like it is warming up.   I have set on 3 right now and we will see what adjustments that I have to make to the settings.  I will try to get some pics today or tomorrow.

Nice!  I'm looking forward to that beer or two at the next workshop! 
 

   Yep, I owe a couple for sure.  The barn is warming nicely now.   The water temp went up 4F in last 2 hours

Updated on the stove.  Went out to the barn the morning and the water temp was 81F.  Also last night I unplugged 4200 W of electricity out of the barn including water heaters and the 2 room heaters that I had.

4200 watts... wow, no wonder your electric bill was insane!
 
 

Yep, it was 3 - 400W heaters for the water and 2 1500 heaters for the room.

Awesome! We need pics. After the weekend you will need to give us a pellet consumption.

Nice Mike! Glad to hear it is working out!

-Adam

I assume you'll still keep some electric heat at the ready and perhaps on a controller just in case there is a pellet stove failure of some sort, yes?  Not sure what could go wrong, aside from running out of pellets, but still, you'll probably want a backup system of some sort.

I left a couple of heaters in the water as a backup.  I am still working on regulating the heat.  It was 85F this afternoon in there.  I have set it down to 2.  I will let you guys know once I get things settled

who did you order your lighting they. I've been looking for the same types of bulbs

How is the furnace going Mike? Curious to see how many pellets you are consuming.

The pellet furnace is going pretty well.  The first couple weeks I had some bugs to work out and some learning on how to use it so that it runs effectively.  You have to vacuum the ashes out every so often, I had to learn that without letting my fire go out, which gave me a little trouble at first.  Once I got it running effectively I have it set on the lowest setting and am using about a bag a day.  Before I got things figured out, I was at 2-3 a day.   Right now, my water temp has been consistently running between 79-80 degrees. Give me a couple more months and I will give you better update.
 
Also since it takes air from the room, it also is a good dehumidifier.  The room's humidity is running around 30%.  When I had the electric heat it was running about 40-50%.
 
I am kind looking forward to summer when nature heats it for free.  LOL

looks good possible man cave up stairs haha

Don't know yet what I will do with the upstairs.  Maybe add more fish.  There some things I have to do to it if I want to add fish up there.

Have you insulated your ceiling yet?  It seems that styrofoam or fiberglass batt insulation there would be a lot less work than all the headaches of heating and cooling.

Yes the barn is fully insulated.  both upstairs and downstairs.  Since it is outside, I still need to provide a heat source
 
 

Oops, sorry i missed the insulation part.  I recall reading some time back that the ceiling wasn't insulated, and thought I could give some input to lessen the energy bill. 

No problem.  I do get it cleaned up in there and update pictures.

I finally got things cleaned up in there (ok somewhat clean) and some pics of some of the broodstock and the pellet stove.  Sorry that they are not of the best quality.
 
Broodstock pics
 
Banggai Pair #1

 
Banggai Pair #2

 
Tomato Female (male was camera shy)

 
Platinum Pair

 
Percula Pair (male not in pic)

 
Blacker Ice Pair

 
I have some other fish in the system but either the glass was too dirty or they weren't very photogenic.
 
Now for some system pics
 
20G High Tank Rack

 
10 Gal Tank Rack

 
Sump

 
Simple K1 Media Reactor (Home Depot bucket)

 
Now to the pellet stove
 
Pic of the stove itself

 
Hopper on the pellet stove hold 120 lbs of pellets

 
I have another rack of 20G longs that I am using right now and also some 29G.  I also have an area that I need to decide what to do with.   I don't have a real time table right now since I have enough other empty tanks to fill for awhile.

Do you also have an airstone in the bucket?  I am thinking of switching to a bucket as well, as the perforated PVC partitions I am using in my sump are
not circulating the media well.

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

No, I don't have an airstone in the bucket.

those are some good looking pics.  keep up the good work.

Unfortunately for now, this story does not have a very good ending.  Last night my pellet heater jammed and failed.  Trying everything that I could, I could not get it unjammed.  I did have some losses but I was able to save the vast majority of my broodstock.  Right now they are in a large (30ish gal) breeder box in my display tank.  I am working to get a small 10G broodstock system set up integrated into my display tank
 
Some day I might set it back out there but only if I can run a natural gas line out there and probably a water line.  We will see what the future holds on that front.

Sorry to hear the bad news. Good to hear you saved most of broodstock. Could have been lots worse waking up to a broken heater I guess.

It started last night.  I was up till about midnight trying to fix it and then got up a 5 am this morning.  I was able to leave early from work to get the fish moved.  Most of broodstock didn't have much longer out there.

I guess that could be one downside of an air driven system. As soon as your room temperature drops you start driving that temperature drop into the water.

I guess I shouldn't be counting on the beer then, should I? 
 
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time....

I know it is terribly late to be saying this, but all of us should try a "belt and suspenders" approach to whatever extent our budget allows.  I really admire your work on the breeding barn and I am sad to hear of your setback.  But I'm sure you will come back when the weather warms up, hopefully much sooner.

After a couple of days of thought and regrouping,  I am going to use the barn for something aquatic.  I am thinking more of a growout/larval culture room.  I have a couple days off next week and I am going to have someone come out and take a look at the pellet stove and see if they can get it fixed and go from there.     

You haven't had the stove very long...I should hope that it is repairable.  Nothing like that should break in such a short period of time.

That is such a bummer about the pellet stove.  I think this is my favorite thread on the MBI, so I'm stoked that you're going to keep it going, even if it's in a slightly different format. 
 
It's not easy to have a backup heat source for a reasonable price.  But it sounds like it's an important thing with such cold winters.

Is there a warrantee on the stove?

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

Here is a quick update.  I finally did have someone come out and look at the stove.  He said that the auger assy was defective and the iginitor was inconsistent.  I called the stove company and they are covering the cost of the parts under warranty + $30/hr in labor.  I was pretty happy with the customer service from the stove company.  

Wow... that is impressive!  Spring is just around the corner!

-Adam

It's good to know that it's something that can be fixed and won't happen again.  And it wasn't something you did that caused it.