Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

even if the outlet is only 19mm, go for the next size up to reduce the flow restriction that elbows and t's produce.

cheer OBA - makes good sense

And if you are running any significant distance....(over 3 meters?) it can make a big difference, especially as bioslime builds up inside the pipe.

+1 OBO

My Ebara has a 32mm outlet, so that is the fitting I have , but immediately after that I have it convert to 40mm pipe, even the distribution piping in the GBs. All drains back to the FT are 50mm. Someone said on this forum once that "your outlet (or drain) pipes can never be too big", and it's true.

lol - well

I had a 19mm HP male connection screwed into the outlet with 19mm HP hose going up - head-height of approx 1.8 metres. It was working ok, but I thought the graph (head height) was over estimating)

I screwed a 20mm pvc connector into it and 0.5 metres above, went to 25mm the rest of the way, approx 2 metres head height (the bottom part has a barrel connection + a t piece and bleed of valve if needed)

Wellll - have I got more "volume" or what!. The IBC water level has raised up about a solid 50 cm and the looped siphons and 2 Affnan siphons are working better than ever before. I "may" even have to bleed a tiny bit off as well....

I suppose just cos the hole looks approx 19mm doesn't mean that's the best size

Cheers all - a good test.

ps - agree with chillidude, 50mm min for returns = winner

hey ap'ers!

has anyone here purchased this pump?
http://www.vogelsang-gmbh.com/en/Produc ... ation.html

if so, how was the perfomance and what was the cost?

I'm having problems with my centrifugal pump(1-6m3/h @22m, 0,5kw) because small rocks and fish feed remains get stuck so quickly in the pumps impeller and the flow quicky drops after that(pumps intake is directly from the FT no2). I don't want to setup a mesh filter before the pump becase of the flow restriction. I'd like to avoid filtering in any possible way because i see the benefits of fish poo on my grow beds. And i'd also like to avoid using pumps rated at more then 0,75kw because of the costs.

Thank you very much!

I managed to snap the threaded section and body on my Hozelock Cascade pump, seriously not impressed. So now I'm waiting to hear from the vendor whether it will be covered by warranty.

I had 25mm upvc pipe and fittings attached to it, I wanted to pull them all pieces apart to clean it out. all I did was apply some pressure when it didn't easily undo. I don't believe the pressure was excessive and was freaking shocked to say the least when it broke.

I'll get some photos of it to show how it looks.

Rather disappointed considering it cost my $282, my old $80 ebay special is still going strong in my first system.

As lame as it is quoting oneself I thought I'd give an update.

I have had my pump fixed as a warranty claim by 'Rock Around The Block' they were prompt to respond once they started back after the Christmas/New Year break. They put it down to being over tightened and possibly the pump not sitting on the base of the sump tank. It seems the pump may have been suspended by the pipe slightly putting pressure on the pump body itself.

Very happy with the service considering I contributed abet unknowingly to it failing. Now to add some flexible hose from the pump to the rest of the pipe and it's back in action.

Onga pumps?

Am thinking of getting an Onga VF150 (8000lph) pump for my sump.
They are not rated for constant running but was considering running it 10mins on 30 - 45mnins off
Has anyone had any experience with this or similar grey water pumps.
Could the timed f&d shorten the life of the pump.
Are they a viable option to the pond pumps.
All comments & thoughts appreciated.

Very inneficient, and possibly oil filled. It draws 350 watts at full flow, and is made from cast iron. It will not last in AP.

A much better choice would be a :

http://www.pondsupplies.com.au/pondshop/laguna-max-flo-9000-filter-pump-pr-16152.html


Max Litres per hour 9000
Max Pumping height 3.7m
Power usage (Watts) 100w
Voltage 240v

A heaps better choice, you'll find it for around $350 via google. 3 year warranty.

Rock around the block sell similar pumps.

I'm really impressed with my "Hozelock Cyprio Cascade 4000 Submersible Pond Pump" it has been running great since I got it back. Added some flexible pipe and no more problems.

Looking at getting one for my first IBC system and keeping the "cheapie" as a spare, the lower wattage is a win win for me.

http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/pr ... ID=7&cID=2

Hozelock Cyprio Cascade 4000
Hard brown ceramic shaft & bearings. 80,000hrs (10 years) or more shaft life is not uncommon from our continuing tests and customer feedback on these models.
Max Flow: 4000L/hr
Max Head: 2.3m
Flow at 1m: 2800L/hr
Cable Length: 10m
Power Consumption & Voltage: 44W 240V
Automatically resettable thermal cut-out protection if pump runs dry
Dimensions (LxWxD): 180x120x110mm
Guarantee: 3 years

Ok, I'm sold. Will order one of these at the end of the week.

Pretty pricey though...

For minimum power consumption on a pump still able to run an outdoor size system in my area (I consider 300 gallons or 1000 liters minimum for a stand alone outdoor system to keep from getting too outrageous on the temperature swings.) I like the Quiet One 4000. It is a 50 watt pump that I've had running my 300 gallon system for well I guess it will be a year sometime next month. I've been able to run a gravity modified aquaponics indexing valve with this little pump and it has held up well to turning on/off 6 times an hour 24/7. It's a little mag drive pump. I've used some of the larger Quiet One pumps but I'm not impressed by them so much, their little tendency to go clickety clack as if something is caught in the impeller even when there isn't seems like it is going to break something and having the pump not start up for the first couple minutes of the "on" time just doesn't work for me.

So for a slightly larger pump to be able to run more pressure for indexing valves and fill beds quicker, I'm switching to the Danner Supreme Mag Drive MD18. This is a little 145 watt pump that will break your toe if you drop the pump on it. But I've got it running a 1 1/2" six way Aquaponics Indexing valve and I've even piggybacked another indexing valve off one of the ports so outlet one of the big indexing valve is driving a 1" indexing valve which feeds the line of bamboo. The Danner pump costs more than the Quiet One pump of similar size/power use but, replacement parts for the Danner pumps are much more reasonable.

Some day perhaps I'll get my hands on some of those Laguna pumps to test out.

My main pump in the big system is an inline aquaculture pump by sweetwater. Moves a lot of water for very reasonable energy usage and is quiet but not an appropriate pump to run on a timer since it is not self priming and installed above the water line of the sump. I do have a trap basket that allows the pump to start and stop (in case of power out or me unplugging it) but it is best not to tempt fate by turning such a pump on/off all the time.

I generally don't trust cheap pumps but there are some little garden pumps (like 20 watt little things) from Harbor Freight that have worked very well for me over the years for very small applications, like aquarium systems or pumping clean water to a NFT pipe, running barrel ponics, or even sending clean water to a raft bed. Heck, I even used one of these little things on my solar water heater set up, I don't know how I didn't melt it. I think it's like a 258 gph pump and costs between $14 and $35 depending on the sale at harbor freight.