Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah, all the info is there somewhere, might be on the one of the front pages of this thread....I remember it being a really really really good idea until we realised that it also ran off power

Trying to make it to complicated Best to keep it simple

Yep battery backed up air pump.... For the peace of mind and the price, you can't beat it..

what sorta price are we talking here EB ? ball park is fine

About $85US Delgrade.....although there may be larger ones for more. It would be nice to have a golf cart battery size backup to last maybe 20 hours. And, of course, the size of your system makes a difference.

If you use an air compressor, get an auxilliary tank. The additional tank will give you a buffer, make the compressor come on for a longer time with a longer time between cycles. Get a 100-gal air tank, and it won't come on very often. As for the 10-min cycle, that's only until the air falls below the threshold. It may take much longer before you run out of air entirely. The pressure you need to run an airstone is fairly small (a couple psi

i was think along those lines myself greendo, but as my system is still al teory its hard to say how big and how much fish ect ill have to keep alive

only a month or so till i can realy start planing properly, though its good try work out a few ideas aint it

There are advantages and disadvantages of "virtual" systems. I have redesigned _MANY_ times. I think I'm on my way to a good system, but I don't have any plants or fish to show for it yet. Hopefully before the end of the summer....

Had a real power outage from 6:30am to 1:45pm from a transformer shorting on main line. Used 5000 watt gen on house. The air and water pumps in the AP system ran on two 6 volt golf cart batteries in series (12 volt) that powered an 800 watt inverter. Ammeter indicated a 10 amp draw from the batteries. The batteries are 105 amp hours at that level of draw. So they should work for roughly 10 hours. The outage was 7 hours. The system worked great and the batteries were still 12.4 volts after 7 hours .

The power came back and the charge controller brought the batteries back up at a fast charge rate, followed by a slower rate to run the pumps (10 amps). I was pleased. When I get the embedded controller computer set up, it will use a schedule of on/off times for the pumps. That should provide 24 hours of backup (which is my goal).

For long term outages, only solar electric or a generator make sense for the system. I am not so patiently waiting for solar prices to drop. I am hoping to start with two 120 watt panels (240 watts) that's 15 volts and 16 amps at full power (of course there are losses in the real world). Perhaps 10 amps average for 6 hours a day. That is 60 amp-hours per sunny day. That is a bit lean for our climate with many cloudy days. When I can afford it, I would double that system. Then life is good. At current prices, the 240 watt system would cost about $1600US. I looked, I do not have that in my piggy bank.

gee Doug, it's good to know your backups worked, well done

That's great DB

I know - my backup supply is still on the "To Do" list

Well LKB, the system was planned and built to run from 12 volts, so backup came along for the ride from day one.

Jaymie, your avatar has matured. Must be at least out of high school in this one.

no Doug, only 10 yo in this one

alright, last night, hours after the arrival of a 4800L/hr aerator, we had a power outage Power went off at 1:30am, back on again at about 5:15am. I got up at about 4:00am to check on the fish and thought that they might need some extra air to get them through the night.

I still haven't got a backup power supply (getting there) and it being 4am I forgot about the tiny battery aerator that I got a few weeks ago, so I got out the real emergency aeration device. Every home will most likely have one and not realise it. Simply attach the air hose to the end and go for it. Something even I can manage at 4 in the morning.

In an emergency it will keep your fish alive

You vaccinated your fish at 4am???