Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Has anyone gotten this pump or another similar or from the same company?
With only 1 review I am nervous to purchase!

http://www.1000fountains.com/solar-water-pump-kit-409gph-with-white-led-lights-p-49669.html?cPath=1733&src=list_img

My FT is 220 gallons

Sylvie. I wouldn't think that pump would move enough water...only about 6.5 gpm. Depending on your setup, you want to try and turn your FT over once an hour and would need almost 4 gpm for that. Cutting it very close to have enough for GB's. Maybe better to use a larger 120 volt pump with a 12 volt inverter, with solar charged battery backup? There are a few good threads regarding these type setups. I don't have any experience with the small solar pumps, but it doesn't look like it would be the best option, and certainly wouldn't give you any room to expand. Always better to plan for bigger, larger, & more with this addiction! I started with a 35 gpm pump thinking it would allow me to expand and way more then I needed. Now 8 months later, am planning another FT, and will need another pump.

I've trialled that exact solar pump with the battery 'house' enclosure thingy. Pretty sure it all comes out of the same chinese factory no matter what country you're buying from

I have no complaints against the pump itself, but the 'battery backup' was pretty useless. From memory it could either run in 'daylight mode' (directly off panel) or 'nightime mode' (off battery), and nighttime mode was useless. It would only last 3 hours or so. And you had to push lots of confusing buttons to get it to run right (intructions didnt explain much)

You'd be better off buying a decent 12v solar pump and buying a bigger solar panel with the money you've saved not buying the above pump, then run it directly off the solar panel during the daylight hours only. So much easier than mucking around with battery backups and all their associated costs

You could also run a mains powered pump or airstone overnight if you're concerned about your fish running out of oxygen - but a few people here seem to leave their pumps off overnight to save $ or for noise issues and it can be done sucessfuly providing they have enough aeration

Then your solar pump, providing its the right size for your system, could perform the biofiltration of the water during the day

One more point on the 'nighttime mode' on that pump - I couldn't work out how to automate it so it turned on automatically at night time. I had to press the button to charge the battery during the day, then press some more buttons to get it back to night mode to run for the measily few hours it ran for.

When it nighttime mode it didn't run during the day.. so whats the point of that!?

Perhaps I didn't give it enough attention to operate it better (I did read the instructions), but then again I was selling aquaponics pumps so if I couldn't work it out in 10 mins then I didn't hold much confidence my customers would be able to run it without issues. So I never sold this pump

thanks all for your advice
I'm building this for my college and they don't want to pay for a proper, well powered solar pump... so I'm trying to figure out a solution.... they told me we would have electric run by next month but now are back pedaling

then they suggested a diesel pump.... I almost died. No way!

I'll check for other threads with this info, thanks again!

What is your budget on the pump?

In oz we can buy a decent 1500 litre per hour 12 volt solar pump for about $120, then about $60 for a 40 watt solar panel off ebay to run it (eg http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-40W-Watt ... 338a89b782). That's double the solar wattage for less than the price of the first pump you mentioned above.

I'm sure there would be similar pumps in your country, just gotta hunt around a bit

Try convince the dinosours at your college on this point - once you've bought the solar components it won't cost a cent to run from there on in, with beautiful chemical free, fresh food being the only 'consumable' product


.. or show them a cost breakdown analysis (ROI) of how quick it would be to pay off the solar gear, compared to running a diesel pump/generator 24/7. I bet less than 3 months, if that!

jono- that's a great cost estimate for me but I feel like some parts are missing
I'm trying to keep it under $300 or $350

My plan (as far as I can understand it this far)
-a 12 V DC pump (likely a bilge pump).... can bilges run continuously and be fine? definitely don't want to deal w/ a timer.
-1500L per hour might work out alright, but around 1600 or more LPH is what I'm shooting for, I'd rather have more water being cycled than not enough, right?
-a charger controller
-a series of batteries so it can still pump when its not sunny (like at night)

Hi silvie,

I would definately steer clear of boat bilge pumps - I've seen one too many stories on this forum of them failing over time. They are just not designed or suited for long term continous use, and honest manufacturers/retailers of them should tell you that.

I've not found a bigger low voltage solar pump of higher capacity (eg 3000 lph). What tends to occur with the bigger DC pumps I've found is they require a lot more power (watts) to run. So you end up spending more on the extra solar gear to run it right...

Instead you could consider using two smaller DC pumps to get the desired output.

For example, from memory the solar pump I run draws about 15 watts and is rated at 1500 litres per hour. If you find a bigger DC pump which has the equivalent effeciency (eg around 30 watts draw for 3000 LPH) please let me know as I'd want to look into it myself.

Yes, you are correct - the more water turnover the better in aquaponics

OK so you're considering batteries... be advised this will add to your costs significantly, as you will also need the charge controller as you correctly point out to prevent the batteries overcharging and over discharging. Also remember the batteries are are an environmentally unfriendly (lead filled) consumable item, with the best, most expensive Deep Cycle batteries still only having a life expectancy of 3-5 years depending on how heavily you use them.

The only reason you would need the batteries is to run the pump 24/7. I think your budget may be too tight for what you are wanting (charge controllers, deep cycle batteries etc, all running 24/7)

I think you will either need to increase your budget to allow for the batteries and charge controller, or, if that's not possible, change the way you run the aquaponic system.

For example, you could omit the batteries and:

- keep a few less fish
- increase your fish tank volume a bit
- feed the fish a bit less, and only in the morning

The above would effectively lessen your oxygen requirements. Your fish will run out of oxygen before they run out of biofiltration. It is possible to perform all the required biofiltration during the day off a solar pump and panel only, no batteries. See my system thread for more on this (http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... 18&t=20785). In this scenario, you could leave the pump off overnight and the fish would still be healthy and plant growth excellent. But you just need to be a bit more careful with this approach, making sure your fish have enough oxygen

Question - do you have any mains power available on site at all?

Jono- Thanks a million for your in depth response. I got too frustrated trying to build this system off the grid at a spot that's 30 min from my campus and the area I live.

New plan: (woohoo!) Going to set up in a big ole greenhouse area now with good ole electricity and stocked up with just about every garden-related product you could ask for. Conveniently located right behind the college library, where I spend way too much time anyway.

I'll let the next garden intern or AP obsessed student rig it up to solar. I think it would be easier to make the conversion once the system is up and going, rather than try to make this so damn complex from the beginning.

And my professor gave me a little giant pump that's more than efficient enough. Probably won't last too long, but hopefully long enough to get some solar consultants or geniuses on board.

I have to stop making everything so much harder than it is! Life is hard enough!

But again, thanks for you advice. I'll pass it along to the person who goes after the "solar challenge"

Wow beaten to my answer
I was going to suggest that you get the best 12volt pump your budget can hit and run it from a transformer ( you can use on old computer power supply. Ask around your college mates or google it.) That way you have 12volt system running on mains ready to swap to solar.
Run that through one of those power monitoring devices, so you can show exact costing.
Run it for a season, sell your produce around the college and the system will pay for its own solar set up.
Good luck
Ps why where they suggesting diesel ? Is it cos they have it already or is it cheaper to buy than solar.
I would think showing running cost over time comparison would get you a favourable result from them.
What are you studying ?
Is this project part of your study?
As I said good luck and keep it up you will get there.
Remember there are plenty of wrong ways to do aquaponics but there are many more ways to do it right