Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I reckon you can't have too much air...having said that, I don't run air stones.

My aeration comes from.....growbed draining...water being pumped into GB...water return to fish tank...I run pump 24/7

I have one puny air stone running all the time, but the aeration is being handled more by the water circulating and especially splashing around from the tank drain and the siphons into the tank, plus the flood and drain action aerating the beds.

Yep, I run an air pump in my main system... I'd recommend getting an 240V/12V air pump that has built in batteries, they are more expensive, but offer great piece of mind when the power goes out.

Do you have a link or something to one of those kinds of pumps EB?

Towards the bottom of this page

http://www.aquariumsrus.com.au/pumps/smldia.htm

Hi EB, what size pump do you run and was it sufficent aeration for prolonged power outage, the 65ltr/min is reccommended for approx 1500ltr

Fantasitic sytem Worms. And lends itself to being expended I suspect. ... Now... and you going to make a massive work farm to feed your fishies?

The air pump I use in my big system ATM is a tiny one, a Rena 301, 325LH. This was enough to keep my fish alive for a few hours recently when my pump blew up after 3 years of operation. The fish weren't totally happy, they were crowding around the surface above the bubbler after a few hours, but it was enough to keep them alive.. And that was about 120 silver perch in almost 2000L.

I've ordered a couple of different battery backup air pumps, and I'm going to test them out soon..

thanks mc, worm farm, cricket farm, snail farm, fish farm....there all on the to do list

eb, have you tried those 12v backup switchover systems with a bilge pump jet spray type aeration, im just trying to get the most bubbles for my buck. was going to try dick smiths for the parts and make one myself

This article is written for a commercial AQ readership but has a good technical information and a cost benift analysis of different areration options.

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/aq/aq020/index.php?0404

Do you know how to do this???
If you do it would be a most valuable thing to post here on BYAP... I know I would welcome a "how to" thread on how to build a 12v backup switchover system with a bilge pump jet spray type aeration

leave it with me aq, at this stage i'd be guessing but you could use a 240v relay which when loosing power swithes on a 12v appliance (bilge pump) could maybe use a car battery with trickle solar feed and regulator.....starting to soung expensive.

yEP, WAS PICTURING MY MEAGER DOLLARS GROWING WINGS AND FLYING OUT THE WINDOW ...
But all the same, if there is a plan, a how to, then people can work and ways to do it more efficiently, more on the cheap etc

Didn't Steve do one a while ago in a thread?? I'm sure someone did, somewhere.....

Rings a bell with me as well EB... think maybe it used one of Murray's fail-over switchs...