Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was looking to upgrade my fish tank water pump to a better quality/quantity and more efficient pump than the cheap home despot fountain pump I have right now. I was all ready to buy a danner mag 7 pump when I was reading the manufacture descriptions and it mentioned that the pump was designed for continous pumping. I'm using a 15/30 minute fill/drain cycle for my 3 grow beds. Will the contant turning on and off shorten the life of the danner pump?
I am looking for a 600-900 gallon pump that handle a 4' vertical head, then push the water horizontally for 6' to fill my individual grow beds. I would like to eventually add in 2 or 3 more GB so the horizontal push will need to go out to 10-12'.
If the danner isn't my pump for switching on and off, what is a good quality pump that will fit my needs. The pumps need to be available over the internet from ebay or amazon as I can't find any good quality equipment where I live.

Thanks,
Cory

I doubt running on a timer would really alter the life expectancy for a small pump like that. It's a mag drive right? I don't think I would worry about turning pumps on and off until you start getting into inline pumps that could have trouble with the priming or are talking about pumps that draw enough amps at start up that they could be dangerous to the timers (usually around 1/3rd HP.)

What I would suggest for a system you are thinking about expanding, go for a pump with larger plumbing connections than you think the run really needs and then use even larger pipe than the pump connections.

I actually have a Danner Model 7 (700 gph nominal) But apparently that means 640 gph at 0' so I don't quite get how they rate the pumps? Anyway, I would have gotten a Quiet One instead had they been in stock (would have used less electricity and moved more water and larger plumbing fittings.) I've found that with aquaponics, I like the larger piping and fittings, less trouble with clogging. Though I did find that the danner was far more effective if I hooked it up to larger piping than the 1/2" mine is equiped to connect to.

Anyway, that is my two cents and yes you can get Quiet One pumps online. The Danner pumps are not bad, just they have small openings that are easily clogged in AP applications.