Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Exactly F&F. You have to sum up the cost of the pump vs the compressor. Then work out the cost of power to run the comp. for 20 mins a day compared to a pump 24/7. Then compare it to the water flow rate. The true advantage of a compressor is that is stores air and would still work in a power outage for some time.

Are yes but to have a compressor that can store enough air to run a water lift for some time you wood need a big receiver i think murrys compressor only runs and air stone for three hrs uses very little air you would lift no water with that

good point - I was/am thinking of having a big reciever with a compressor attached so that even if my power goes I will be able to aerate my ponds... but the minister of finance is yet to sign off on the idea

played around with airlift today... I used a 32 mm pipe with a decient sized stone (and my electromagnetic air pump).
the pvc pipe was/ is 1m long and as you can see i submerged it most of the way... strangely I found that I got better results (more water out the top) when the stone was about 5 to 10 cm up from the bottom of the pvc pipe...
I did try with a smaller airstone but had almost no success at all - I guess the more fine bubbles the better

AM, most of the airlift pumps i have seen have the air stone around the 1/4 way mark for some reason. Fits in with your findings.

yeah, as you pull the stone up the water increases, then falls off sharply! Perhaps it needs a bit of a suction thing going on (like a siphon? )

‘The more fine bubbles the better’-check

Aquamad Great to see someone working with this I think its bringing us one step closer to a self sufishent AP system.

Can you tell what psi the air is @? and whats the min submerged she would work with.

How much gal per min? Does it work best strait up or with a stant?

So much questions so little time

if its an aquarium pump then its only at about 2psi.

it was my electromagnetic pump... -(image of it here )
Specs that I could find :

TECHNIQUE PARAMETER :
VOLT:110/220V
FREQ:60/50HZ
CURRENT:0.60/0.21A
PRESSURE:0.027MPa
POWER:18W
OUTPUT:0.065m 3 Min
DIA.OF OUTLET:10mm
SPEC.OF DIVIDER:6
WEIGHT:1.7kg
DIMENSION:225x115x130mm
It pumps 3600L an hour.

it seems to be dependant on the pipe length... I can't go into more detail as my IBC's are only 1m deep...

Iwould like to experimant with airlift - one idea is to start with a length of wider pipe, then step down to a smaller diameter a little way up from the airstone - wondering if that would give me any more lift?

straight up only - a slant seems to allow the bubbles to 'pop' easier and the water to return down the one side of the pipe



No idea for now... need to experiment a bit first... perhaps over the week end if time permits

If I had a larger pump I might be able to get a better height than I have so far...
I am just wondering if there would be a loss of 'lifting power' the higher you go due to the bubbles 'popping' as they lift and forming bigger bubbles, thus reducing the ability to lift

AM the specs you quoted work out to about 2 psi, i think. checked it last night.

www.onlineconversion.com

how thats one cool site you have there steve if that what can be done with 2psi i wonder what i could do with 10?

Thanks steve... never bothered with PSI (never neede to) - guess its good to know now...
trying to figure out how to test just how deep down the pump will push air..

AM - you're killing me