Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Also, I am hoping to see something with the 100 watt solar panel. Will the inverter consume a load of power? Any DC water pump?

You will have to look to see what DC water pumps are available in the US.

Without any detailed specs, it is impossible to know if your inverter will consume lots of poewr.

Link to the thing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00UFERZ ... ref=plSrch

Any methods I can use to provide oxygen to the water? D.C. Air pump?

Can't say I have ever heard of that brand, but I will say you generally get what you pay for with electronic gear.
There isn't enough info on that page to say how efficient it is, or even if it is pure sine or modified sine wave, but I suspect the latter.

My 300W pure sine wave inverter cost about 10X that much, 20 years ago.

Yes there are DC air pumps.

I gave up on the solar panel dedicated to the fish system, even for backup purposes.
Instead, I whacked onto the 3kw Solar system I got the for house, and just tied my equipment to the mains.

If power goes, I got a backup air pump (working off rechargeable batteries), to tide over.

No main water pump action till the power gets back on.

Come EOFY 2017, I'll work out what play money I have left for this hobby

Modified Sine Wave is supposed to be more efficient than Pure Sine Wave.

400W is about 10X what you need... and again, supposedly they are more efficient if you run them closer to their capacity rather than lightly loaded.

AGM batteries are better at cycling and especially deep cycling than regular car batteries; but they seem to cost more for a given capacity.

The "problem" with DC stuff is that you either have to keep the wires short or make them large to prevent a lot of transmission loss... 20' of wiring can easily cost you a couple watts of power.

+1 on DC wiring and power loss. Also, a little bit of corrosion at lower voltage DC connection points will create significant power losses.

I'm skimming through this thread so maybe I missed something, but I have the following observations.

Many questions are directed to DC pumps, timers, aeration, wiring, etc. but also inverters. If you build a DC system then inverters are not necessary, only charge controllers.

If you have an inverter, then the DC system is not needed except for battery backup for dark hours / outages if 100% solar. If you grid tie you can create a cheap battery backup for your 120VAC aeration with a used computer UPS and a marine battery. Then you might not need a more expensive string inverter / charge controller combo, just a regular grid tie system.

One thing I find helpful, and my typical request when considering any new project; what is it supposed to look like when it's complete? I recommend starting with some simple sketches and diagrams. If you don't specifically know what you're trying to accomplish before you start, then how will you know if you are successful?

Once you have some sketches you can research and revise items as needed, such as inverter or charge controller types, pump size and power requirements, panel and battery sizes and wiring, etc. Panel placement, mounting, grid tie...

People here can answer specific questions and help along the way, but no one can design and build a system for you from a forum thread.

I do have sketches and an idea of the system design. It is a 220 gallon ibc tote and it has an nft system that is level with the tank's height. I am unable to upload a photo of the sketch of the system from my phone.

That's great, but in this case I was thinking more of a sketch for your electric system and requirements. I'm sure you have a plan and a sketch will make it easier to follow and refine your ideas about what is AC, DC, solar, etc.

This system worked well for many years for me... viewtopic.php?f=51&t=13060

Earlier attempts with inverters failed with multiple cheap inverters blowing up over time.

I do have a link to the thing:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1sVBM ... sp=sharing

And this is for a nice and large school project (that I wanted to do myself).

Any suggestions?

It’s hard to read your sketch, but I see the concept. It looks like a charge controller, a battery, an air pump, an inverter(?) a timer and a pump.
I’m not clear on whether AC voltage is not an option so everything must be DC only, or if it is a preference that everything be DC only and AC power is available. I’ll assume DC only. First, I would eliminate the inverter, it is not needed and will only reduce efficiency. I found several repeat cycle timers that are 12 VDC on Ebay for less than $20, so I would go with a DC cycle timer (on / off – repeat). Also, many people use DC pumps like a marine bilge pump (Rule 800 for example).
Below is an example of how I would determine the needs, numbers are made up since you provide only the 60W panel and 35 AH battery numbers, but I think you need to work this another way as shown below. You will need to find the correct water and air pump, timer, battery and solar panel information for your situation.
According to the Rule website the 800gph bilge pump draws 2.9 amps at 12 volts but 4 amps at 13.6 volts. Other items you will need to determine correctly. I assume a 12 watt (1 amp) air pump below.
Batteries last longer if you don’t drain them regularly, so let’s say you want to keep them above 50%. Let’s also assume you want to run your system for two days on battery only (in case of clouds, rainy weather, etc.). I will also assume you will run the pump 20 minutes per hour.
20 minutes / 1 hour = .333 hours x 4 amps (pump) = 1.333 amp/hours
Air pump = 1 amp/hour
Timer = .167 (guess)
So, 2.5 amp/hours x 48 hours = 120 amp hours. Allow for only 50% discharge = 240 amp/hour battery required.
Daily, 60 amp/hours = 60*12 = approx. 720 watt/hours
Since you are in Phoenix assume 5 average sun hours per day. 720 / 5 = 144 watts. However, charge controllers are only 90% efficient? Battery conversion efficiency I’m not sure, so I’ll use 85% overall.
144/.85 = 169. So with a 170 watt panel and a 240 AH battery you have a good chance for success given the scenario above.

Crap I don't have a lot of cash. In reality I am doing a gofundme but it only fetched 240 dollars. With ac power and an inverter for powering a water pump will it work? Pump is 17.5 watts

Kevin, will what work? Going back to your original question regarding 300 watt inverter, 40 - 60 watt solar panel and a 17.5 watt pump. Will it work? Yes you can run a 17.5 watt pump from a 300 watt inverter. At 12 volts the inverter will draw around 1.5 amps to power the pump. The battery will provide 1.5 amps for 13 hours then it will be dead. The solar panel (50 watts?) will provide 250 watts per day, so about 18 amps at 14 volts. This will almost charge your dead battery assuming everything is magically 100% efficient.

Good luck.