Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I purchased the Boyu (fake Hailea) ACO-318, 30watt, 70L/m in Jan 2012 and it died after 1.5 years. The brushes were heavily worn and it started rattling till it eventually stopped. So for $70 thats not too bad I suppose. Like anything, you get what you pay for.

I posted some pics of the internals here viewtopic.php?p=409852#p409852

About mid 2013 I purchased another piston pump from Boyu for an overwintering project I was building and Im still waiting for that pump. They have no costumer service at all. For that I will never buy anything from them again.

Like DD says, they are loud and run very hot. I never attached a meter but I would put money on that the watts stated is incorrect.

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I put a meter to my piston pump, and it was down on the plate power..
I suspect that the actual power will depend on the air back-pressure... most obvious really..

I am quite pleased with the operation of my piston pumps..

I have an ACO-006 in the garage and a long garden hose to the AP system..
I have two ACO-001's with one on a mineralisation, and the other on the DWC bed

Planning to get some more as spares, as it is too late, when something does fail..

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Just a note for folk with Piston Pumps..

When they stop pumping air but still make the noises (usually excessive) , they do so because the rubber diaphragm valves fail.. I believe because of the heat...

They can be easily repaired using SILICON BAKING MATS cut to the right size discs.. just put the smooth face to the valve seat..

Those discs will not fail again, because they can take the heat..

I did it years ago with one pump and I'm pretty confident there are three discs. .. being input, piston and output valves..

That pump finally died because the mechanics failed.. I think the return spring broke..
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All this pump tech talk is doing my head in. My system has cycled and I am about to get trout fingerlings. It has been strongly recommended that I add an air pump to my system. I was hoping that the water circulation through the two GBs and 20 grow towers would provide sufficient oxygenation... But it would make sense to have a rechargeable battery back up air pump that will keep going in the event of a blackout or water pump failure.

BYAP has the air pump package with stones and tubes at $135 plus postage. Aquarium online store has one with the battery for $105, but you have to get the stones, tubes and valves plus $10 postage http://www.aquariumonlinestore.com.au/p ... -bb-15000/

What size stone/s would I need?

Would either of these be suitable for my system (1 IBC 900L FT & 2/3 IBC 600L ST), and what is the preference between the two? Has anyone had experience with either? Are they quiet as it will be outside the brm window?

Did you ever open them up to make sure they were actually Linear Piston Air Pump's and not Linear Diaphragm Air Pump's

its getting pretty hard to find True "Linear Piston" they should easily last a decade if its not fake

I purchased a RESUN LP-100 pump from Rock-Around-The-Block.. Works great.. parts available (but not needed yet)
I am about to buy a second one as a functional backup - manifolded together , with one-way valves, and auto change over..

"Linear Diaphragm Air Pump" and "Linear Piston"

Do I assume the difference is that the Linear-Diaphragm, uses a linear piston connected to a diaphragm and valves,
whereas the linear piston, is just that , a pumping piston and two valves..

I would have thought that the Linear-Diaphragm would be more serviceable, as when the diaphragm fails it can be replaced, but when the Linear-Piston fails, the whole thing is gone..
I am told that the LP-100's biggest killer, is lack of back pressure
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Peter

today I opened up my resun ACO-003 that has been running my test bench last 6 months or so

pretty happy to find it is indeed an "Linear Piston Air Pump" no diaphragms to wear out

*edit* then I found the flapper but anything could replace it ,
it's just an circular flat bit of rubber


downside is the plunger is not sealed the best
but it might have been designed to allow a slight leak as protection from extreme back pressure ?

ps , I am referring to the join on the side wall , it might even be their to stop warping from changes in heat ?
either way I am going to fill it and see if I can get higher pressure out of it

the pumps meant to be 60L but in an IBC 1m deep running a standard airline its 9LPM
running an larger airline it had plenty of more airflow but the bubbles just bounced back out of my 1.5L measuring container .. and I can only measure up to 25LPM inline

I really need to find my spare airlines I have over 20m floating around here somewhere
so far the last few months made a few trips back to aquarium shop to buy some of their premium hose .. which is utter crap they already shrunk and hardened after a few weeks , I have hose here over 30 years old still like new ..

I forgotten my new fav air pump is the

https://www.nitto-kohki.co.jp/e/prd/new ... _80ECO.pdf

its rated 60L @ 1.5m depth with 35 watts power

What sought of price..

An interesting looking device.. much the same as my main pumps..
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And I must say that I am uncertain about the difference between a linear piston and diaphragm pump..
I would have thought they were much the same and based on a piston, but. With a different valve arrangement ..
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I've already asked them for a price and freight quote to Oz, & will report back when/if I get an answer, unless someone already has a price.
They appear to be more efficient than any of my 230VAC pumps, but still not as good as the 12VDC units from Hailea and their clones.

they were about $30 EU extra than the standard version

and around $450 AUD delivered ( we don't pay their tax so that goes into shipping fee )

how ever you have peaked my interest in efficient 12v air pumps .. where are these beasts ?

I have an 12v 2000Ah battery bank here doing nothing ....

hmm, $450 delivered, they never bothered to reply to my enquiry. I could have a dozen SunSun 35W 12V 55lpm pumps for that!
They certainly are not good value for money, the 240V Hailea V-60 Air Pump at 60lpm and 35W, ie just as efficient, can be had for under 1/3 the price from Oz.
The Hailea 12VDC 25W 55lpm pumps cost me $59 from memory, way better value and more efficient. As far as longevity goes though, I couldn't say. I can't imagine the ones you linked will last >7 times longer though.

You should be able to easily find any of the 12V pumps with a search online.

do you have an exact model number
the only ones I can find those LPM ratings are at atmospheric pressure ... like most things from china
ratings are not at a deep working pressure
and their AC pumps are cheaply made because they only run on half of the AC wave ( simple diode )
and the better named brand ones have 2x motors that run on each wave alternating

http://www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.a ... -pump.html

how ever I must admit they have it rated as >0.06Mpa which is better than the AC version @ >0.03Mpa

will get one for testing anyhow

I have the ones in your link, a Hailea ACO-003 25W 12VDC Air Pump as backups, one of which currently runs for 12 mins on 18 mins off, and I think it puts out equal or more volume than a Yuting (Hailea clone) ACO-004 55W 60lpm 240V pump, despite being ~50% deeper in the tank

>0.06MPa means it will work at greater than 6m depth.

I dug up their flow rates / depth

its not too bad your looking at around 2.5+PSI in IBC with airstone = 30 LPM
the LA60 Eco would be twice that ( but 10x the price )
but these DC are definitely better than the AC versions
( sorry lost the pic of the chart from the box I uploaded online )

the main question is whats their life time like

I take it your cycling the pump because it gets hot fast ? it does not appear to be setup like the AC versions

is it an rotating piston ?

">0.06MPa means it will work at greater than 6m depth"
actually from china means it will stop working at that depth

1m = 39.3701 inches = 0.009806655229968606 MPa
1m = 0.01 MPa
1m = 1.4223350919744044 PSI

using IBC working pressure
AC0-3 25w = 30 LPM 1.2 LPW
AC0-6 75w = 75 LPM 1 LPW
AC0-7 130w = 105 LPM 1.23 LPW

I would go for the ACO-007 definitely best bang for $ costs about $1 per LPM @ working pressure

and the ECO would be still doing 60L+ without breaking a sweat at 35w
now to import some DC air pumps ( minimum order was 50x ) .. and I just ordered another 100x AC pumps the other day ...
( setting up small IBC AP's in peoples back yards also )

I run my pumps into central manifolds ( low,med,high pressure's )
with check valves on each pump so no drama if I have the odd failure