Water pump is one important item in my aquaponics set. In my setup I will try my best to use a single pump to feed all the growbeds in the system.
Water pump must be reliable and of sufficient capacity to undertake all the irrigation requirement on my set. With last redo of my aquaponics set, I have a total of 5 growbeds, four of which the gutter type and one traditional growbed.
Currently I am using a 2000 litre per hour pump which suffice to irrigate all growbeds. However the margin of excess is very little and if any deterioration of pump output due to clog etc will affect the water flow into the growbeds and could cause siphon malfunction.
This Astro 2000 pump is the smallest I can find with ceramic shaft. You can check my video on the importance of ceramic shaft on a pump : Here
This pump is rated at 26.6 watt, it's such a small pump and has work flawlessly with my 4 gutters set up without any hick-ups. With addition of extra growbed it still able to support, but I am not that comfortable with its excess margin.
Its bigger brother the Astro 3000 fit the bill nicely, at few ringgit extra it's wise to go for the bigger pump that should be better build due to its size.
How the two looks like.
Physically it is bigger and build more sturdy, with grab handle and platform suckers feet. Fittings for water feed is similar and it can take same size PVC tubing as the Astro 2000 nicely.
Being bigger in size also means it must be bigger in power, so the penalty I have to pay is its wattage has increase by about 16 watt to 40 watts for this pump.
The cost of power for this pump per month is 40 watt x 24 hours x 30 days = 28.8 kw and @ 0.40 sen per kilowatt, I have to pay RM 11.52 per month of electricity for my aquaponics set in this post.
Comparison electricity cost estimation below for 1 pump running 24/7
Astro 2000 - RM 7.66/month
Astro 3000 - RM11.52/month
In the tank and supplying all my growbeds irrigation needs.
Guys.... WE HAVE A SERIAL KILLER... :) Another failure with same symptom, wire damage. Look closely at the wire few inches from the pump body, sign of being nibble.
This is the second pump that fail the same way in the same tank, never had happen before. The tank was not new and I had pumps in it before without any problem. First it happen : Here as photo below.
Initially I thought it was the pump build quality, then could it be the wire chafe against the fibre tank. The pump has been use before and the tank is not new, no failure of this nature. I know rats love to chew on wire, sometimes we can find them electrocuted while trying to munch through the insulator. But this wire is underwater, and rat don't do scuba dive. One possibilities... its the Pacu that did it. Only this tank has Pacu fish and I only started doing pacu this year. I never had this problem before. Wiki on pacu : Here
It had been many years that I use the 25mm or the 1" stand pipe siphon with 50 ~ 25mm reducer as funnel and lately I had switch to 20mm and 15mm siphon for my setup. The 25mm siphon still relevant but since more parts needed for it and the sheer size make it expensive to make and ship. Few of my earlier growbed are still having the 25mm siphon installed and since I'm phasing out this size, it will be a good time for me to check exactly its water inflow requirements. This to document for future reference or if anyone interested in making one then they will know what needed to be done. Water inflow is the amount of water going into the growbed, it is not the pump rating. This inflow will depend on pump rating and how high the water needed to be transported up into the growbed. Water inflow means water "On Tap" that is going into the growbed for this test purpose and not the pump rating. I uses a Rotameter, which is a very simple float type flow meter to check the water inflow to the growbed. Though it is not that accurate as an electronic meter, but for a simple experiment suffice.
I am testing four siphon and will get the average water inflow to trigger and stop the siphon. Setup for the test is like photo above, I am using an old pump that only capable of supplying inflow of up to 1200 liter/hour. It is sufficient to do the test with this capacity. Those four siphon tested started at a minimum water inflow of 100, 250, 100 and 200 liter per hour due to their different outlet configuration and their condition, which already in operation for almost two and a half years. The average for above is (100 + 250 + 100 + 200) / 4 = 162.5 liter per hour
The siphon able to cut-off at a maximum inflow of 650, 700, 800, 1000 liter per hour, again due to their condition and outlet configuration. The average for above is (600 + 700 + 800 + 1000) / 4 = 775 liter per hour.
To get the sweet spot on what is the inflow for this siphon, it will be the mean of the two average at (162.5 + 775) / 2 = 468.75 liter per hour I recommend the 25 mm or 1" siphon with a funnel uses inflow of about 450 ~ 500 liter per hour. From above test anything above 250 liter per hour will do, but we will need to give some margin for pump deterioration. 450 to 500 liter per hour inflow at the tap should give good result. To know how much water flowing into the growbed you have to measure the water head, ie the height water transported up as measures from tank water level. You then need to check the pump rating as given on the pump write up as example below.
Table above, if your growbed inlet is one meter above the water level, then the recommended pump for the 25 mm siphon should be the AS-1000 pump. It is not exactly at the 450 to 500 range but it's more than the minimum inflow as tested above. It is okay to use a bigger pump like the AS-2000 in the diagram above, you will then need to divert excess water away from the growbed. The above finding serve as a rough guide, and by no means define exactly the size or type of pump needed. Your installation may differ but as a ballpark figure, the above estimation will do.
Another pump fail, this time the pump is running slightly more than a month. Electrical cable that was in the tank got damaged and I don't know what causes it.
I almost got an electric shock when I was about to check the pump operation, luckily I manage to back off before any bigger shock is felt.
Other pump running in the same tank doesn't have any problem like this, there also sign of worn on the spindle. This pump was use the most for two months total, its doesn't look good.
Close up on spindle.
That's it, I will not buy this brand until I can be sure that this will not happen again.
Lets see what this pump looks like, its been running good for the last few years. I decide to stop its usage to reduce my Aquaponics set carbon foot print.
Replacing the single pump with two smaller unit that consume less power and making it simpler for water to the growbed. The current pump that I use has excess capacity that wasted by diverting it away from growbed, this only increase the power requirement of my CRAFTS set.
So the Resun Penguin 4500 has to go out and in its place are two smaller pump that I have laying around doing nothing. I'll use these two pump until it fail and then will replace with a more efficient pump that I can get later on.
The EHK 105 pump above feed the two right growbed and below the Astro 2000 will feed the left two.
I remove the timer and will run the pump 24/7, evaluating to stop running the aerator pump at night if the two pump can supply enough oxygen to the fish.
I may put the aerator on timer as a backup if the water pump fails. However for this next few weeks I'll let it run on photo cell control which only switches it on at dusk. Will see how it goes.
I had been using the Astro pump from the start of my Aquaponics hobby. It's time to look for some other brand that may be better suited for my usage. This Sunsun HJ 1100 looks interesting enough for me to give it a try.
The Astro AS1000 rated 14 watt ,1000 liter/hr at 0m and max head is 1 meter.
Rating graph of the AS 1000.
Sunsun HJ 1100 rated 20 watt 900 liter/hr at 0m and max head is 1.5 meter. The Sunsun is cheaper by RM5.00 as compared to the AS1000.
Rating for the HJ 1100
On my gutter growbed system I need more water inflow but try to maintain a pump that is small and relatively low power. So at 20 watt is the max I'll do for two 15 mm siphon at 24 inches water head.
The HJ 1100 comes with various fittings for water outlet coupling and two types of feet.
I use the rubber bung type of feet, no need of the suction type which won't really hold but just makes it difficult if you want to remove the pump from the tank.
Same like the HJ 600 that I purchased for the Ornamental set it has a variable water output by means of this blue dial that in this installation I leave it to the max.
Water inlet to gutter increase as compared to the AS 1000 delivery, this increase in water in-flow makes it necessary to retune the siphon since it had exceeds the normal operating range of a standard installation.
Whether this new pump is better than AS1000, only after a prolong usage will tell. Both pump are cheap at about USD 10.00 each.
Another Alpha 1000 failed on the newly planted Tomato growbed. It has a hard life anyway running continuously for more than a year for my barrel set.
Removed the pump and found the rotor shaft broke.
The shaft has been ground to a needle point and detached from the supporting rubber mount.
The permanent magnet rotor has deformed probably due to scrubbing the pump inner wall.
That's a sharp point
The rubber mount with broken shaft inside,
Replaced with a spare rotor, no time to change the entire unit. I need to keep an eye on this over the next 2 weeks, may need to replace to a new pump before the festive break next month.
Few types of pump tested on the ornamental set ranging from Alpha 1000, Alpha 500 and the Venusaqua E3302. Since I am trying to use the smallest siphon for the Ornamental set the Alpha 1000 and Venusaqua pump were not suitable due to the large flow rate. The Alpha 500 works with the small siphon (15mm) but this pump construction make its maintenance high. The rotor is held by a shaft anchored at one end leaving the other unsupported and it is prone to cavitation. However it has been tested for almost eight month and still running. It only requires constant up keeping. Test a different pump today a Sunsun HJ-600, an 8 watt pump with a flow rate of 600 Liter per hour maximum at zero head.
List of pump parts below.
The HJ-600 Specification.
The HJ-600 output verses height.
This pump has a front dial to adjust output. It does work, on my ornamental set with 15mm siphon I set it to slightly above the minus mark.
Side view, this pump is in 3 section, the front is the intake with the grille and flow adjuster. The mid section where the pump impeller vane and the front spindle support, with the back part house the motor coil and the permanent magnet rotor.
On the body it is rated at 10watt, oh well.. and the height max is 1.5 m, not bad for a small pump.
The other side of the pump.
Mid section after the grille removed.
The front part where the grille and flow adjuster.
To remove the mid section, quarter turn it anti-clockwise and it it detach from the body.
Exposing the impeller and rotor.
The impeller is different from Alpha series where this design reminds me of turtle climbing from a hole.
Shaft is stainless steel, to small for a ceramic but it is significantly larger that anything in its class. With larger spindle shaft pump will last longer.
Rotor removed exposing the housing which has a hols ad the beck for the shaft pivot point.
The back with hold for the shock mount rubber. This design should makes it easier to clean the mousing since we can have a water path right through.
All the attachment came with the pump, not in picture is a filler sponge.
Pump assembled, ready for installation.
What's left not required for operation.
In the water and will be tested for few months under actual aquaponics setup.
First flush.
Water in rate as at slightly above the minus sign and only after prolong use I will know how good is this pump for this set.
