Pump Requirements for First Aeroponic Setup???

First aeroponics setup. Using 1/2" pvc tubing, just 1 or 2 five gallon buckets and possibly another one for a cloner, not sure on that yet; I am just getting into aeroponics so... Does a regular fountain/aquarium pump work? Like an eco264 for example. I am not interested in high pressure at all so don't need/want any fancy pumps. What the best "bang for your buck" pump, so to speak? Any other advice for an aeroponics noob wouldn't hurt either. Thanks

How are you planning to set up aquaponics in a couple 5 gal buckets? Flood and drain,recirculating,DWC, etc? Or are you planning on aeroponics? Either way, flow requirement will determine the pump you need which will be based on the system you're running.

WeedFreak78 said:

How are you planning to set up aquaponics in a couple 5 gal buckets? Flood and drain,recirculating,DWC, etc? Or are you planning on aeroponics? Either way, flow requirement will determine the pump you need which will be based on the system you're running.

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First off, I must have smoked too much before making this post. I think I typed in aquaponics once and it kept auto-filling it after that. You would think I would have caught that... right?

Anyways, I edited the post. Might make a little more sense now.

I will post pictures of what my buckets are going to look like

Generally you want around 20gph per spray head. A eco264 per bucket should be more than enough. Look in the DIY area, I believe there are a few tutorials an building aero buckets. you're also going to need a timer, called a recycle timer, that can be set for 1 min on 4 min off, or something similar, to control the pump.

Great answer I run simular setups 200 gph pump would work great. I use one in my cloner with 2 misters I'm sure it would handle 4

I've found that the "pump" is only as good as the "stroke". When I pump, I like to grandaddy long stroke it.

WeedFreak78 said:

Generally you want around 20gph per spray head. A eco264 per bucket should be more than enough. Look in the DIY area, I believe there are a few tutorials an building aero buckets. you're also going to need a timer, called a recycle timer, that can be set for 1 min on 4 min off, or something similar, to control the pump.

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I've got a few pumps laying around but wasn't sure of the pressure requirements. I would like to run a decent number of sprayers in each bucket. So thats basically the other question; How many sprayers can an eco264 handle? One pump per bucket would work for now but will probably go out and get a bigger pump so I can eventually handle more buckets.
I figured I'd need a cycle timer, the 15 minutes normal timers go by would be way too much time between on and off times.

Are you running a separate res? You may need to factor in the length/travel of the hose. It takes more power whenever you have to pump the water "up". I run 8-12 EZ-Cloner mister per 400GPH pump. Any more misters and the pressure drops too much. You should be able to run 4-6 sprayers with a 264CFM pump no problem.

StinkBud said:

Are you running a separate res? You may need to factor in the length/travel of the hose. It takes more power whenever you have to pump the water "up". I run 8-12 EZ-Cloner mister per 400GPH pump. Any more misters and the pressure drops too much. You should be able to run 4-6 sprayers with a 264CFM pump no problem.

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I was hoping to hear something like that. I wanted to be able to use a cheap/quickly replaceable pump.

I was originally going to use food grade five gallon buckets cause they have a nice tight lid and using another bucket for the res. But now am thinking a five gallon bucket won't be big enough.

I am rethinking my originl plans? I'm worried that the roots will over grow and cover the misters. What do you use? If you don't mind me asking?

[QUOTE="DirtyMcCurdy, post: 11404071, member: 896160" I am rethinking my originl plans? I'm worried that the roots will over grow and cover the misters. What do you use? If you don't mind me asking?[/QUOTE]

In flower I run an Aero/NFT system using PVC fence posts. My veg unit uses 2-27 gal strongboxes. Coolers work the best but they are expensive. I'm using a cooler for my aero cloner right now. The best thing about coolers is they never leak. I have to use a layer of rope calk to keep the strong boxes from leaking. None of those worries with my Aero/NFT system. Roots run down the fence post and into the res. I have to cut the roots every couple of weeks or they start getting sucked into the pump.

I have to say the easiest method is with the Aero/NFT system. My current design is called the Oregon Special. I've been taking a lot of photos and I have the plans drawn up. High Times magazine loves this kind of shit! They always buy my articles. I'm trying to have it finished so it can be published by this July. I'm stoked! It's history here in Oregon. This July anyone can grow 4 pot plants for themselves. How fucking cool is that!

I am sketching out a couple of designs for 3 extra plants I have. They are killer strains and I don't want to ditch them. I'm looking at something like my current veg unit with two layers but I'm also considering a drain to waste system using a coco mix. I want to get a pound of of each plant if possible. I can do it in soil but I'm not sure with a drain to waste. We'll see...

The ZC-T40 and ZC-A40 pumps from china are the most impressive pumps I have found. They use the least power while delivering much better pressure and good flow. I use 1 ZC-T40 to run my water cooling setup for my LEDs. I use 1 ZC-T40 for my cloaner. I use 1 ZC-A40 for my hydroponic strawberry tower outside in the summer powered by solar. You can run them at 12v 1000ma (aka 12w), and get plenty of flow for a very large cloner or 2-3 buckets and the lower watts means less heat added. You can run them submersible or plumb them for even less heat added to the water.

You can find them on ebay or aliexpress for $14 or less shipped.

Note the max lift height on the ecoplus is 6.5ft vs >13ft for the ZC pumps. (I tested one and it pumped up to 16 ft, I was testing how tall I could build the strawberry tower, way higher than I expected after using a number of much bigger pumps from Home Depot that totally fail in comparison.

One note, you will have to find a spare AC/DC adpter laying around or buy one. 12v 750ma-2000ma all work fine, only slightly better flow past 1200ma... I just use 12v 1000-1200ma ones. They can also go up to 24v at lower amps.

StinkBud said:

[QUOTE="DirtyMcCurdy, post: 11404071, member: 896160" I am rethinking my originl plans? I'm worried that the roots will over grow and cover the misters. What do you use? If you don't mind me asking?

Click to expand...

In flower I run an Aero/NFT system using PVC fence posts. My veg unit uses 2-27 gal strongboxes. Coolers work the best but they are expensive. I'm using a cooler for my aero cloner right now. The best thing about coolers is they never leak. I have to use a layer of rope calk to keep the strong boxes from leaking. None of those worries with my Aero/NFT system. Roots run down the fence post and into the res. I have to cut the roots every couple of weeks or they start getting sucked into the pump.

I have to say the easiest method is with the Aero/NFT system. My current design is called the Oregon Special. I've been taking a lot of photos and I have the plans drawn up. High Times magazine loves this kind of shit! They always buy my articles. I'm trying to have it finished so it can be published by this July. I'm stoked! It's history here in Oregon. This July anyone can grow 4 pot plants for themselves. How fucking cool is that!

I am sketching out a couple of designs for 3 extra plants I have. They are killer strains and I don't want to ditch them. I'm looking at something like my current veg unit with two layers but I'm also considering a drain to waste system using a coco mix. I want to get a pound of of each plant if possible. I can do it in soil but I'm not sure with a drain to waste. We'll see...[/QUOTE]

I was originally thinking of doing an aero/nft system but using like 10" or 12" pvc pipe and using the rubber end caps to seal the ends and cut holes and run my pipe through the rubber end caps. Something like this . This setup seems to have plenty of space for roots as well as the ease of just running pipe down the side with all your misters. Its looks easy and effective. The only problem is I think you have to order pipe that big, I'm not sure how to get any. I know home depot and menards only go up maybe 6" pipe and thats not going to be big enough for the plants I want to grow.

After messing around with the bucket I was maching up I am looking at something along the lines of aero nft again, if for no other reason than ease of use/assembly/maintenance. Start to run out of room in buckets real quick when you start putting piping in them. I never thought of using a cooler though. Maybe for my upcoming cloner project?

nomofatum said:

The ZC-T40 and ZC-A40 pumps from china are the most impressive pumps I have found. They use the least power while delivering much better pressure and good flow. I use 1 ZC-T40 to run my water cooling setup for my LEDs. I use 1 ZC-T40 for my cloaner. I use 1 ZC-A40 for my hydroponic strawberry tower outside in the summer powered by solar. You can run them at 12v 1000ma (aka 12w), and get plenty of flow for a very large cloner or 2-3 buckets and the lower watts means less heat added. You can run them submersible or plumb them for even less heat added to the water.

You can find them on ebay or aliexpress for $14 or less shipped.

Note the max lift height on the ecoplus is 6.5ft vs >13ft for the ZC pumps. (I tested one and it pumped up to 16 ft, I was testing how tall I could build the strawberry tower, way higher than I expected after using a number of much bigger pumps from Home Depot that totally fail in comparison.

One note, you will have to find a spare AC/DC adpter laying around or buy one. 12v 750ma-2000ma all work fine, only slightly better flow past 1200ma... I just use 12v 1000-1200ma ones. They can also go up to 24v at lower amps.

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Awesome. Checked out those pumps and will have to give one a try. A little different that they are dc and you need an adapter but a brushless dc motor should last a while. Thats pretty much the info I was looking for concerning the pump aspect of my project. A good quality, inexpensive pump.Thanks

FYI the right size of Ebb Flow intake filter will fit on the intake side (T40 version) if you go submersible.

Just ordered 2 T40's from aliexpress. I probably will go submersible at first, at least till i get to a final assembly point.

So those ac/dc adapters you mentioned. Any phone or labtop charger will work as long as its rated for say 12v 2000ma?

DirtyMcCurdy said:

Just ordered 2 T40's from aliexpress. I probably will go submersible at first, at least till i get to a final assembly point.

So those ac/dc adapters you mentioned. Any phone or labtop charger will work as long as its rated for say 12v 2000ma?

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Yes, but little if any gain higher than 1500ma and it should be better for the pump and produce less heat. I prefer 1000ma actually unless you need full flow. I use an adapter from a old computer router. And another one from a old cordless phone. And a couple more I don't know what they were originally for.

nomofatum said:

Yes, but little if any gain higher than 1500ma and it should be better for the pump and produce less heat. I prefer 1000ma actually unless you need full flow. I use an adapter from a old computer router. And another one from a old cordless phone. And a couple more I don't know what they were originally for.

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Ok. Just wanted to make sure that basically any old cell phone charger would work. Cool

You have to be selective on cell phone chargers. You want something with a brick, either like a laptop, on the cord, or at the plug like a conventional brick ac/dc adapter. If it weighs nothing it isn't going to work or if it does it may be very bad for the motor. Light weight cell chargers send pulses instead of constant power.

nomofatum said:

You have to be selective on cell phone chargers. You want something with a brick, either like a laptop, on the cord, or at the plug like a conventional brick ac/dc adapter. If it weighs nothing it isn't going to work or if it does it may be very bad for the motor. Light weight cell chargers send pulses instead of constant power.

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Yeah, phone charger wouldn't have been my first choice. lol But yeah, I know what you are saying.