I LOVE it when a plan comes together! I was really worried about keeping the tilapia alive in my aquaponics system during the current cold snap here in southwest Florida, so I threw together another contraption. It's a propane powered, recirculating fish tank heater! My fish are comfy and happy. I'm nipping on a double knock of 94 proof Elijah Craig 12 year old bourbon, and sitting inside monitoring the fish tank temp with a wireless pool thermometer! Life is good and the fish are happy!

I've actually used this concept before, but I used a coil of copper tubing rather than the PEX tubing. I am happy to report, the PEX seems to be working fine. The water in the heater is steady at 106F, the system water is holding steady at 70F, and the ambient temp has dropped to 58F on it's way to 41F tonight. Something similar to this might come in handy for those of you who keep tilapia with only occasional cold conditions. I can run the heater 24 hours on 1/2 tank of propane with the flame set as low as I have it now.

[youtube:1j9bvka9]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQByt74jVQQ[/youtube:1j9bvka9]