Sucking up Filth and Dirt

Pump Maintenance in AquaponicsPumps like sucking up filth and dirt. This ultimately leads to total destruction.

Look at this disgusting mess.

The possibilities of killing everything in the Aquaponics system is very high starting with pump failure, quickly followed by fish deaths. OK, it will take a bit longer to kill the plants but not too long to kill all the fish.

The possibilities of killing everything in the Aquaponics system is very high starting with pump failure, quickly followed by fish deaths. OK, it will take a bit longer to kill the plants but not long at al to experience fish deaths.

So, what is the problem?
Very simple, = poor maintenance regime.

So many home systems in particular, suffer from poor pump maintenance. The pump should be looked at weekly. Just give it a quick look over to remove any debris that may have collected on the filter screen. Quickly remove and we are all good. This is particularly important for systems being run outdoors, that is, not in a protected cropping structure such as a greenhouse.

Leaves and even dead plant roots coming down from the raft system to the sump and finally onto the filter screen of the pump. In the photo above you can even see a lonely clay pebble that has found its way onto the pump.

Commercial farm systems need to be even more vigilant. A well-organised regime of maintenance should be followed. Checklists for farm staff should definitely include physically looking at the pump or pumps. Not good enough to walk past, "Yep, water is moving and I can hear the pump".

Stop, take a careful look and if necessary clean the filter screen.

Of course, you will not have any of these problems if you employ an air-lift pump.

Immediately following our March the second 4 day Master Class we will have Glenn Martinez from Olomona Gardens Hawaii here to teach and demonstrate a full day of airlift pumps. That's right, pumping water, loads of it using a regular air pump. That is Friday March 6, 2015 here at Brisbane. We are flying Glenn down to Australia to demonstrate airlift pumps. This is a rare opportunity to meet Glenn one of the very few innovators in the world of Aquaponics.

Glenn will, on the day, actually build several different configurations of pumps. These are real and are capable of moving lots of water in a very economical way. No more pump blockages.

Book now for this standalone one-day event.
If you are coming to the Master Class make sure you book to stay for this fantastic learning experience.

Go HERE to make your booking.


Posted By Murray Hallam on 5th February 2015

Updated : 5th February 2015 | Words : 452 | Views : 61654 | Comments : 3

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3 Comments

1)

Hi,
Problem above inspired me to ventilate some thoughts:

1. Use a serious centrifugal pump that easily removes all the dirt (fish poop and wasted fish food) even leaves and so on. As you don't want to store rotting dirt in your fish tank, causing nasty diseases among the fish. Dirt on the other hand is excellent for your vegetables. If you don't want dirt in your system, when using big pipes with slow flow of water you could easily filter the dirt out using a sand filter.

2. Put prawns in your fish tank, they will eat the remaining food. Put a guarding fence in between to separate prawns and fish, so the prawns will not be eaten by the fish. prawns can be harvested too and taste excellent in a bouillabaisse: French fish soup or cocktails :-)

Keep up the good work spreading these ideas!!!

This truly is a food revolution, (fresh food for everybody) in fact a cultural (know what you eat, eat healthy products) and economical revolution: Put in some labor everyday and save your expensive money for other use!

Tom, The Netherlands


Posted By Tom on Thursday 5th February 2015 @ 21:09:47

1)

Excellent comments Tom. Thanks for your input.


Posted By Murray on Thursday 5th February 2015 @ 21:09:47

2)

Getting the right pump is the main thing here . I use grundfos submersible pmps with no filter . Bit more expensive but hey low maintenance. But my tank is 10 thousand litres so not so practice for smaller units . This aquaponics is unreal so why not go big


Posted By Darren on Thursday 5th February 2015 @ 12:16:06

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