Backyard Aquaponics
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Hi to all,

I have just bought and connected the Jebao 10,000l/h pump. The pump is not pumping 10,000l/h, flow rate is more like 4 to 5,000l/h.


I am hoping you guys can spot what I have done wrong.


Pump outlet size is 1/1/4" and is connected via a flexible hose to 1" PVC pipe which takes the water to the tanks. The flow chart on the pump shows that at the head height I am using I should be getting at least 8,000l/h.


The previous pump was 4.700l/h and connected direct to the 1" PVC pipe and was pumping 3,000 to 3,500l/h no problem.

If I disconnect the 1" PVC and time the flow from the flexible 1 1/4" it seems to be around the 8 to 9,000l/h

So the question, why is the new 10,000l/h pump only working at half the capacity when I connect the 1 1/4" flexible hose to the 1" PVC Pipe?


Thanks for the help.

You can only shove so much water through a small pipe- as you try to increase flow, frictional losses rapidly increase. Use a bigger pipe if you want a higher flow rate.

Yep... always use match the pipe to the pump outlet size....

Also watch out for restrictive joiners -- if a joiner has a small internal diameter that will restrict flow by a massive amount.

What head is it pumping at

Try stepping up the size of the pipe like I have done in my ibc system. Stepped up to 40mm and this 9000L/hr laguna pumps a heap of water with over a metre head. Pic is my spare pump ready to go

95W @4700 versus 85W @ 10,000 - that's where the wattage comes in. If there is no pressure, the 10K pump is great for moving water but as soon as there IS pressure you need torque to move the water. Higher watts means more torque. (it's more complex than that but the relationship is still similar)

In practical terms, a low watt pump will drop throughput faster than a high watt pump. In your system, one way to reduce the drop is to increase the size of the pipe from pump to open water areas. i.e. larger output from the FT - maybe even step up from the 1.25" up to a 1.5" or even a 2" pipe. Reduce the 'head' and get more throughput.

Hi everyone,

You are correct about needing to upgrade to bigger pipe and remove some of the 90 deg elbows to increase the flow.

I did make the mistake of buying this smaller wattage pump with an alleged big 10,000l/h output which actually is impossible to achieve anywhere near 10,000l/h. I now know that if I want large volume at any kind of head height then bigger wattage pumps have to be used to achieve pumping pressure.

So false economy on my part by trying to minimise wattage.

I did upgrade most of the 25mm pipe from the sump to the fish tanks to 40mm and also removed most of the 90 deg elbows using shortish flexible pipe and it has improved the amount of flow but still well short of what I expected EG around 8,000l/h.


Anyway, thanks for the help.