Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

as above

If you mean the maximum number of times per day Hunter then it would depend on your growbed drain time and whether you intend to pump continuously drain with a standpipe (and/or use a timer) or whether you use a siphon to sump with float valve etc....

Most people would probably be aiming to turnover the equivalent of their tank capacity about once an hour.... mainly to ensure sufficient oxygenation of the tank water.

Some others turn over once every 2-3 hours but have added supplementary airstones etc to aid oxygenation....

People running trout which prefer high oxygenation may be turning over twice an hour....

as a general rule the less times you turn your pump on the longer it will last.

Especially with permanent split phase motors (run cap)

as above

My beds flood maybe 4 times an hour. I turn over the tank 4-5 times per hour. Pump is continuous. Fish are tilapia.

side note JP what do you pay for a unit of power?

US$0.154/kWh. 15.4 cents per kilowatt-hour. Pump is 138W, so I think that means 3.3kWh in a day, or 51 cents per day. I probably don't want to do the math on the bank of heaters I'll be running in the winter.

I could pay a little less per kWh, but I chose to purchase "green" energy. Wind/solar/biomass.

as long as pump W is electrical power not pump mechanical power

if its a electromag pump then you're right

Easy way to check is to multiply the Amps by the volts (you're 115 there?)

if its close (within 2 or 3%) tehn the pumps stating electrical consumption.

if its 25 to 40% out then its stating pump mechanical power.

That is the electrical power, but thanks for the sanity check, Steve. The pump is electromag.

120 volts here, except for heavy duty equipment (like an electric clothes dryer) which I think is 220.

I have a 45 watt pump that runs continuously. 650 gallons per hour, cycles the tank once per hour, Growbeds drain 4 times per hour.

Janet,

By what mechanism do you manage to flood and drain your beds four times per hour and not turn the pump on and off that many times?

I just lost a pump that was only two months old. I'm guessing because I turned it on and off each half hour.

Thanks.

Rand

Looped siphons, rponda.... give a rapid drain.... allows for a continuous pump/fill

There are 2 schools of thought:
1) - have a pump on a timer and switching it on and off at pre-determined times
2) have a small capacity pump (3,000lph/800gph or less) that runs continuously and have siphons which drain faster than the pump capacity when the water level reaches a pre-determined height in the grow beds.

As Rope said, Janet uses method 2.

Yep, they've got it. The autosiphon just has to be faster than the pump. Really important.

I do have to clean the pump every couple of months when I see capacity dropping off. Likewise with the autosiphon loops. Otherwise, things are pretty idiot-proof.