Which water pump?
- Thread starter pot/head
- Start date
NorcalAbdiver
Well-Known Member
Not sure to your hydro question since i do soil but as a saltwater aquarist for over 15 years i can tell you there is multiple brands that will push those sprayers. try magnum danner pumps fairly cheap run like a beast, easy to get new impellers and pressure rated. I have a mag 18,12 and 3 running equipment on my 90 gallon saltwater tank and they have been running non stop for years. I think the 12 might be pushing a decade of use.
NorcalAbdiver
Well-Known Member
Yeah iwaki pumps are pretty bad ass pumps, but also the best comes with a a hefty price and since he said cheap i went to the danners. they give good performance for price point.
Just want to thank everyone for the suggestions. The reason why I'm asking I tried using a Petco 225 gph water pump I used last year on a small aero (4 sprayers) grow. It worked well on the small aero but now since I've gone larger (20 sprayers) the water comes out like droplets instead of a fine mist spray. I was wondering would this pump work?
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202563432/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202563432/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
puffntuff
Well-Known Member
It's not the gph that get the mist it's the high pressure. I'm using an iwaki mx 70 vrt. I got it off eBay pretty damn cheap. You want to go with a magnetic drive pump IMO. It's an inline pump so I don't have to worry about it heating up the water. Also I run it with a solenoid so it runs 24/7. Alot of the pumps fuck up because they ate made to run always and when you turn them off and on it wears on them.
hellraizer30
Rebel From The North
Best ive found is little gaints
pazuzu420
Well-Known Member
Exactly..if you are looking for a mist then you need PSI not high rate of flow. You can use aquarium pumps in cloners and low pressure aero if you get one that is large enough but by the time you do that you might as well jsut buy the right pump.
Iwaki pumps according to my research of many many many threads is tried and true. My next purchase will be an Iwaki, when it comes to hydro and pumps it certainly make life or instant death (pump failure) of your crop.
This thread has some interesting info you might be interested in reading and this quote was taken from within the thread that is actually from yet another thread. ~~~>Bypass vs. Demand Pumps<~~~
Here is a quote from fatman that gave me the idea. "
"The pump I recommend is the IWAKI MD-70RZT pump. It is designed to run continuously. It can easily supply water to over 500 sprayers. The MD-30RZT also works but supplies more water in the 30 to 50 micron range and will only supply up to about 50 sprayers. A Hundred cam be supplied but no real well. As the system is high pressure, barbed fitting will not work well as too many leaks always appear and therefore the pressure is greatly reduced. Therefore I use John Guest fittings in my designs. They are available cheaply here in bulk. "
Just a glimpse of what is out there on pumps....let me know if you want some info on sprayers also if someone else doesn't help you out first.
hellraizer30
Rebel From The North
Unless you go true aero then your not going toget high psi, but low psi aero works to your just not going to
Get the super fine hairy roots.
Get the super fine hairy roots.
Trichy Bastard
Well-Known Member
If you are looking for a true high pressure aero pump, then this is what i just bought- http://www.dultmeier.com/products/search/7462
it seemed a good price for 150 psi. Details on the type of system this would work with are outlayed in my sig link. But this is quite different as what most people are calling aero nowadays, and this pump would not be optimal for those situations but the iwaki would.
it seemed a good price for 150 psi. Details on the type of system this would work with are outlayed in my sig link. But this is quite different as what most people are calling aero nowadays, and this pump would not be optimal for those situations but the iwaki would.
That's not a bad price considering how much the Iwaki pumps are going for. I don't see any electric plugs for these pumps, do I have to rig up a plug myself or does it come with 1? Is this pump submersible?. If I hook up this pump to a 1/2" PVC with 20 sprayers will I blow them out?
Again thanks for the suggestions!
Trichy Bastard
Well-Known Member
The pump is in-line (not submersible) . The model I chose was 12v so I could keep a car battery hooked to it and a trickle charger- that way if the electric company fails, my plants will not. But you can also buy it in a 120v wall electricity model too for the same price- it's just a matter of the options you choose. I have always been a fan of low voltage when mixing with water- it just seems more safe to me... It would be much more advisable to use john guest (pex) tubing in lieu of pvc, as it holds less volume and wont expand under pressure. Its also way easier to work with for this. But- as I mentioned, this setup if you chose this type of pump, really requires going all the way with a true high pressure setup, using an accumulator. And as mentioned, if you want to know what I really mean by this setup- then click the link in my signature line, and read the first 3 posts or so to get an idea of the concept... Good luck, and if you just wanna go mediium pressure with pvc,etc then just go with the iwaki...
PeaceFarmer
Active Member
I think you have NASA to blame for that...as the aerogarden simply runs water over the roots. Technically to qualify as aeroponics, the roots simply must be sprayed with nutrient solution and suspended in air, and never submerged....that's all there is to it. Whether you choose to go high pressure or low pressure is a matter of convenience, and neither is right or wrong. They both produce the same results, though the high pressure is much more maintenance and requires more rigid construction than low pressure. Low pressure also has the benefit of not requiring expensive pumps or timers that cycle on and off every minute or so, allowing your plants to go much longer without being sprayed.
Trichy Bastard
Well-Known Member
Hi Peacefarmer... Actually I have seen ample evidence that low pressure and high pressure produces independent results that are as much night and day as they are in respective setups. This thread is sort of me documenting my experience as such, and also to debunk that the HP areo setup is much more complex to setup, and harder to maintain. In all honesty, if you read the explained method, you will see that hp offers many benefits in growth and also in ease of maintanance. We can run drain to waste because we can use very low levels of nutrients. There is no recirculation and ph swings, or guessing which nutrients the plant did/did not take out of the ec., etc... I think nasa was really the only people doing hp the truly efficient way. The manufacturers of lp aero systems have caused people like you (and me until recently) not not understand any benefits, because lp aero is basically a fancy way to do old fashioned nft (nutrient film technique). Yes, they looks different in setup, but in the end you are still applying a film layer of wet nutes to the roots. In hp aero the idea is the roots never get wet, but only damp, which causes hormonal changes in the plants and they grow fuzzy, efficient rootballs that are probably why the plant grows so much faster and tighter. Also, I believe I will be saving 80% on nutes, and I am purchasing a $40 solar panel and battery that will run the whole system- it' that energy efficient! Hope you read a little bit more about what were doing here (click the link in my signature) and become as interested as I was when I figured out the truth... We're a very small and enlightened group here the way I see it...