Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone,

First time aquaponics guy here, and first post on this site. I've been lurking for a few weeks now, lots of helpful information!

I've decided to start off with a decent sized system and I think I have most of the design worked out but I've got no idea what size or type of pump I should get.

Here's an overview of what my system design looks like...

I have a "bay" of pallet racking (like what you'd find at Home Depot). My upright columns are 8ft tall, About 42" deep and 99" wide. I plan on putting a 4ft x 8ft x 2ft deep fish tank, made from wood, on the concrete floor, as the bottom level of the racking, with two shelves of grow beds above it. sort of limiting myself to how much I can pack into the 32sq feet that this racking occupies. I don't plan on heavily/densely stocking the fish tank. The pallet racking is rated at 10,000lbs per shelf.

My plan is to pump water from the fish tank up to a mineralization tank that will sit on the top shelf, and use gravity to feed the grow beds from that. So the height of the MT might be as much as 11ft above the bottom of the fish tank. I would like to pump all solids out of the FT and into the MT at the top.

If this system is as productive (and fun) as I hope it will be, I may look at adding a second bay of pallet racking next to the first and replicating most of the setup.

What type of pump should I get for this? I looked around on ebay and there's a number of really inexpensive centrifugal pumps which all seem to have power draws in the 100's of watts range, this seems quite high compared to submersible pond pumps that I see in most systems.

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My instant response is to the thought of the mineralisation tank at the top..
My thinking is that the MT is likely the most in need for access...after the FT

Check out the thread on basic rules of thumb, where the opinion is that the FT should flush each hour
So a 1000L tank should have a 1000L flow..
To get that flow, and lifting to 8ft, will need a larger pump..
Pumps have a specified flow rate at zero height and then a graph of flow Vs height..
To pump to 11ft is likely at the extreme end for most pumps I have seen. Ie 3M....

That is where you start in picking the pump ..

Now, I would be looking at trying to have the swirl filter at ground level, such that the solids can be drained off to a separate drum, with air, and mineralised off line..

Sooooo.. much will be determined by planned stocking densities..
And given your initial thoughts, I wonder where the plants will be.. ie. Accessibility ..
..
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Ok thanks for the suggestions.

Could I use a MT that sits after the FT, so the FT would simply overflow into the MT and the water level in the MT would go up and down as the beds were filled?

One pump I am looking at is: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Centrifugal-C ... 487e98af11

I understand there's a significant population of Australians here, so if you're outside of the US and that link doesn't work then:



Centrifugal type pump, listed at $32.95 USD.

So the pump will it need to be the same size as the fish tank or as the total volume of your grow beds?

I am also needing some advice as I am going to make a system with 3 IBC tanks.

BUMP

- i dont want to hijack your thread but im really curious to hear the answer to Jacko's last question

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Ummm.. how has anything changed.. pump selection will still be based on FT capacity. Being one or a dozen containers. ..

The only challenge then becomes how you use a single pump to feed. EQUALLY the number of tanks..

So, with multiple tanks, the pump may need to be bigger, to allow for the mechanical flow adjustment... ie valve back pressures etc..

Alternatively.. as in my case.. I am feeding multiple GBs that Auto-Siphon to "flush" the FTs.. but irrespective the basic rule of thumb of one volume per hour for each tank should be maintained ..
..
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okay so you are saying that if he has 3 x 275 gallon IBC, then he needs a pump that will push 825 gallons per hour? is that correct?

That's correct if that's his fishtank. If one of those is acting as a sump, he only needs to turnover 550 g/h

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