Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Fairly new here but browsing around it looks like most folks use one pump for each independant system and after shopping pumps for a while it looks like i could move water more cheaply (at least in terms of purchase cost - not sure about the energy efficiency) by buying several small pumps than by buying a single large one.

So i'm just curious if anybody would like to try to talk me into using a single large pump as opposed to a few redunandat ones.

I wouldn't try to talk anyone into anything (I exception )

Your small cheaper pumps, how high are you pumping and what is their head? Lets forget piping wiring etc for the moment.

i'd need to pump from the bottom of the (ibc tote) fishtank to a growbed that sits next to it, so i need to lift the water about a meter. There seem to be a wide range of pond fountain pumps that do about 220 lph with a max of 9 feet of head.

Example: i need to move about 1150 lph. Pump dc30a-1230 is available for $10.99 (usd). It allegedly will pump about 190lph at 1 meter of head. I'm having a tough time finding a single pump to do 1150lph for less than $200. Why not grab 7 of the little pumps for less that half the price of the single big pump?

I think i see where youre going with the plumbing/wiring thing. It would be a big messy looking bundle and plumbing cost is something i had not figured in.

Keep in mind when calculating head is you measure from the water surface, not where the pump sits in the bottom of the IBC.

Not sure where your shopping for pumps but a good example is the Rio Hyperflow models, Ive used these and they are a great little pump for low wattage. The 10HF model pumps 2500L/H at 25W, delivered to your door from Amazon for $46.

http://www.amazon.com/Rio-10HF-HyperFlo ... water+pump

Thanks for the insight. I did not know that it was from the water's top. Makes sense that due to water pressure getting to the top is free. That being the case, i only have to pump like a foot or so.

I always use this mobs pumps I have 3 at this place and had 2 at the last place
All ran with no problem
Have 2 friends running them as well
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3000LPH-Subm ... Swd0BV2lbh

>>Pump dc30a-1230 is available for $10.99

With a price like that, I'd be concerned about durability and reliability, as you do tend to get what you pay for. The price-quality correlation can be rather loose at times in mid price ranges- but not at the bottom end.

I tried googling that pump; I end up with a 12v brushless pump couldn't find the pump curve. So how are you powering your 7 x 12v pumps? (there again have just got in from work, 5 beers ago, so maybe I got it wrong)

Pump curve for the cheap dc pump: http://www.dcbrushlesspump.com/Mini-Dc-Pump(DC30A)-p66.html

Or google dc30a-1230 datasheet

I had been considering using solar panels to power the pumps, mostly for fun. I wouldnt mind paying a little more up front, but it seems like the dc pumps have too much of a price premium to be even close to cost effective. So i was coming up with brands like el cid (cid 20pv) and march (809-hs).

the rio pump that charlie recommends above looks like a winner now, since i've basically given up on dc pumps.

You could buy a very simple 100watt inverter like what you would plug into your vehicles cigarette lighter and simply wire it up for the AC you need to run those tiny pumps and still use your solar setup. They cost anywhere from $25-$50 and even less if you google for it.

EDIT: very old post. LOL

That's ok dude somebody else will be looking for that idea and closure would be nice anyway

The small 12V brushless pumps (dc30a-1230) have worked out great for us so far in our DIY solar powered system. We run two two separate pumps cycling two grow beds.

I was a little worried about the reliability of such a small low cost pump. We had one stop running, but I was happy to discover they're very easy to service. Just pull the four screws and the single piece impeller/armature slides out and can be cleaned. Mine just had some hair stuck in the impeller. It worked fine once I cleaned that out and reassembled it.

Well i did give up on using solar to power the pump, although i did hook up a panel for a little air pump in case my power goes out.

I wound up with a laguna pond pump, which i like a lot. It's quiet and it doesnt mind a bit of gunk.

FWIW, I am running a dc40 24v pwm(variable speed) brushless pump, about 17 months now, it is running off of a 19v laptop power supply, turned down to about 60% of the max(19v) speed. I have not measured the current, do not know what power draw is, but the max 90 watt power block runs just room temp, or slightly above unless the pump is abnormally loaded. I think I do link to the specs/curve somewhere in the system thread in my signature.

It is probably running about 360lph at 1m average head, but for the first year it ran about the same or a little more flow at 2m+ head, running the main tank flow against a partially closed ball valve to develop enough pressure to get up to the top of the strawberry tower.

Have run dry a few times now for up to 24+ hours, stalled the pump once for one to three days when it wrapped the tail of a small snake into the impeller (yes, four screws to strip the impeller and shaft, slap it back together, good to go), and loaded it up for the last couple of weeks as it was tangling in roots. I'm working out, was home for one day, noticed flow was low, adjusted the speed control pot, came home this week and it was low again. Looked in the sump, the pump had ingested 5cm or more of the roots from the kale plant growing in the lid of my sump. I'm amazed it did not stall out. All I did was yank the roots out and drop the pump back in the water.

For the 50ish bucks I spent on this pump, I could not be happier. Your mileage may vary widely. My intent as I upgrade is to use a similar BLDC pump for each loop (one for GB's, one for DWC, one for strawberry towers, one for upflow bed) to allow for easy individual control of low rates, and matching pump drive to the required head. I bought the 24v as I wanted to set the whole system up to run off of grid charged batteries with solar contribution (solar is of moderate benefit in my climate). I still hope to do so as I upgrade. Inherent power failure protection, this system would run at least a full day (probably quite a bit more) on 2 standard 12v group 27 deep cycle battteries in series.

I hope this is helpful for some one.