Pumps
I can sell Lifeguard Aquatics products.
Lifeguard has a wide range of products but I haven’t really researched many of them yet.
Quiet One Quiet One 4000 |
Danner Supreme Mag Drive Danner MD18 |
EcoPlus Eco 264 Submersible Pump EcoPlus 264 |
|---|---|---|
| The Quiet One 4000 is my favorite small pump so far. Small being a relative term, the Quiet One 4000 is up to handling a system with a 300 gallon fish tank but only uses about 50 watts. Quiet One Pumps I am offering the Quiet One 4000 Aquarium pump since it has a grill that will not pop off by accident unlike the old pond pump grill. The Aquarium pump model has a 6′ power cord. | The Danner MD18 is a nominal 30 gpm pump that is well able to handle driving an indexing valve system provided there are no extremes in heights or distances involved. This is a hefty little pump too, don’t drop it on your foot but it is still efficient on the power use at only 145 watts. This is currently my pump of choices for operating a normal Aquaponics indexing valve with a pump on a timer. | I finally found a replacement for my favorite Tiny pump, it is now the EcoPlus Eco 264. This is a 20 watt pump that can deliver 264 gallons per hour (1000 lph) at 0 head but more importantly it’s max head is 6.39 feet which allows it to deliver the perfect amount of flow to the top of a tower 5-6 feet above the water surface. |
| Quiet One 4000 $85.98 | Danner MD18 $175.98 | EcoPlus Eco 264 Submersible Pump $19.95 |
| This is the smallest pump I have managed to operate a gravity modified indexing valve with. So far I can only recommend it for the 1 1/4″ Valve body with the Gravity stem. |
This pump has operated all the normal (low flow) aquaponics indexing valves. | This is the pump I’m using for my single Zipgrow tower bucket systems |
An important note about pump choice. A cheap pump may use more electricity and cost more in the long run (sometimes not so long run.) So look at the pump curves and watt or amperage ratings of the pumps before you buy. I once bought a $150 pump only to turn around and go buy a $400 pump when I got the first electric bill.
The other important note about pumps and fish systems, make sure it’s fish safe. If there is any metal other than stainless steel touching the water, it will corrode and the pump will probably fail. Also, most metals in contact with Aquaponic water all the time can cause unsafe levels of those metals to build up in the water which could eventually kill fish. Finally, if it’s not fish safe, it might have seals and lubricant in the pump which will eventually leak and could kill the fish and bacteria.