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A pond in the terrace

Thanks zozo, yes you're right. There's something more in this project than just the economic cost. Exploring my very limited skills on electronics would be one of the challenges.

Jordi
 
Ok, another dumb question... I have noticed that in eBay there are plenty of solar sets for being attached to water pumps but not that much for air pumps. Due to power needs? Or maybe I was wrongly assuming that an air pump would be better than a water pump). Probably, as far as the water jet is able to break the surface the oxygenation would be the same or even better, right?

Another question: these kinds of solar sets are quite common and surprisingly affordable: http://www.ebay.es/itm/FUENTE-DE-AG...3?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_186&hash=item56716514d5. I guess this solar panel would be able to work only under direct sun... do you think it would be easy to adapt a battery to ensure 24/7 pump working?

Jordi
 
Waterpump or airpump doesn't realy matter. :) both are in this case driven by a DC electro motor, the watterpump drives a propeller and the airpump a membrane or a piston and works like a bellow. So if the power specs of the DC motor are about the same it doesnt make a difference which one you run on it..

As for your 2nd question the discription of the product answers
Periodo de funcionamiento en un día soleado: 8:00 AM - 5:30PM (dependerá de la hora en que amanezca o atardezca)
Click to expand...

And as Martin already said, you need an overhead to charge a battery the specs say the bomba has 30ma overhead.. I believe that wont be enough to charge a battery and run the pump.. :) Lo siento..

Btw usualy those little pumps have a nozle you can adjust a bit, you could make a tiny fountain with it, that will also oxygenate the water a little better and cool it a bit more. Adjust the flow so that it wont spray out of the bucket.. And haha hear me about reinventing the wheel, i'm so in diy mode that i didn't think of they already excisted.. ¿duh? lol I thin i order me one.. Thanks for sharing..
 
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A bit disappointing, isn't it? Even for my nano terrace pond this won't have much effect... I'll have a look for the specs of this model, it's obvious it has to be something better.
Maybe I should come back to the DIY plan. I'm sure there are solar panels at a reasonable price that match better the pump needs, and a 12v water pump is not something expensive.

Jordi
 
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When looking for a 12v pump don't forget to check its power consumption and its usage rating........

For example a 12v bilge pump, (No particular make / model) They claim to pump around 500 LPH. sounds good, but.........
Most bilge pumps can only run for x amount of minutes at a time, even if its 120 minutes its not much use for a pond.
Also to achieve the 500 LPH they use around 2.5 A which at 12v is around 30 watts, a 30 watt solar panel is not cheap, then as said before, you need a bigger solar panel to charge the batteries.

It can all be done, but not on a small budget. Which is why people opt for mains powered pumps as they cost less and run continuously.
 
I still got this one at home, once ordered it to do some with it in the future for my aquaponic idea. Didn't come to that yet, still brainstorming.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Ultra-...485?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19f1750cf5

Quite a nice little strong submerseble pump, 12 volt 4,2 watt 240l/h, it can run on a solar panel like 2 x 6v/3w in serie, still wont be enough for running it on a battery and charge it at the same time. I tested it as powerhead in my tank , it runs like a charme and swirls my 40 liters a bit to much.. It needs 10,6 volt as starting power and it wont run with less, so it only runs full power. So the panels need to give full power to make it run, the question is at what point of the day will that be?

I guess you need at least a 12 volt 20 watt pannel, a charge controller to charge a 11,2 volt 1500mah lipo battery.. A 12 volt 10 watt panel somewhat arounf $ 25 x 2, charge controler $ 15, battery $ 15 motor $ 5 some wire, some hose, some construction material to mount and to make you a little filter so the pump wont clog. Battery have a cycle life, the life like a notepad battery have about a 1000 load cycles to live. After that the time will be getting much shorter to drain it empty. For example like lot of us maybe have experienced already, new notebook runs 5 hours on the battery, 2 years later only 1/2 an hour left. This is all depending on the quality of the battery and if it is in constant use, so these things you need to take in consideration.

I use this pump to run my filter.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-High-Qu...815?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f4d805d77
12v - 1050ma 13 watt 600l/h, it can run on lower power and starts at 6,4 volts, but still it use about 7 watts to run like that. Thats even more consumption than the little one from above.

At least if you like to push a fair amount of dense medium like water around to get a nice cooling and aerating flow, you need some power you can't get around that. And that's what you only will find in the aquarium or pond section..

I'm not sure how they performe but you could take a look in the computer or model building section. There often small 3 volts pumps are used to provide cooling or do something funny with an electric train model setup. Here is an example of a totaly home made 3 volt pump. But you'll find them also ready made in the model building stores.
http://www.instructables.com/id/A-homemade-water-pump/
Little pumps llike that have a 4 mm nozle and spray considerably more powerfull than a pump with same specs and 10mm nozle like the pond thing in the video. In you little bucket it might just do. :)
 
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Hi all

I have decided to upgrade my terrace pond (which I think should be better called balcony pond). This year the mini pond is doing so well that I will change its location in order to have a larger volume and a bit more of sun.

This is how it will look like:
7880f013992d92b32fb0e5ebea6be92f.jpg


Two plastic containers will be used, one as a green filter with (with Alocasia, Lythrum, etc.) and another one as the truly pond. I will build a kind of wood fence around. As you can see it is not a large volume, all together around 170 liters.

I will wait until the autumn for setting it up but I need your advise for a few issues:

1. The idea is to place a submerged pump in the pond to push the water through the green filter which will be filled with gravel. I will use a PVC pipe that will go to the bottom of the container and will be drilled to let the water flow downwards... Hoping that this way it won't get clogged

a8bb22722b3b448f0ad3321ae297193e.jpg


Do you know a better option? Will it get clogged?

2. The green filter container will be placed higher than the pond container so the water will fall due to gravity (using a small tube). If there is a power cut, part of the water in the higher container will go the the lower one, my guess is that it will be just a few liters, exactly the difference between the two water columns... Am I right? Any additional precaution?

3. I am not sure what pump will be needed to run such system. What about an Eheim Compact 600 (up to 600 lph)?

Any suggestion is welcome, even if it entails a complete change in the design :)

Jordi
 
Actualy if you don't use a pump suitable for dirt water, you need to prefilter the pump, or that one will be clogged soon. Those dirt water pumps, don''t know i what sizes they are available but i guess to strong and noisy for such a little project. so i guess you're might be stuck with the prefilter idea.

I use this Aqeul flow pump in my terrace pond, it pushes 1100l/h only costs €20. Hoses can be connected to either side. more than enough for 170 liters.
103346AE-1.jpg


For the green filter inlet i would use that flexible perforated drainage pipe wraped with coconut fiber

drainagebuis%20met%20kokosvezel.jpg

at the bottom and make a u turn with it and glew it to a pvc stand pipe to connect the pump with a hose and cap the other end.. That will never get clogged at least not for a few years. :) And lay that pipe in a bed of lava grit, small rocks or pumis with a few inches of someting like Akadama as smaller substrate on top.

I made a filter like this connected to the pump above, pump and filter were about € 30 and it already runs for years..
s8mjyM9.jpg

i your case one half this size with a rough filter sponsh to catch the biggest dirt pieces would be sufficient.

Maybe you could use a hose from an old vacuum cleaner as flexible pipe and perforate that yourself whit as many holes as you can. I gues some sheets of coconut fiber wont be hard to come by to wrap around it.
 
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Thanks zozo, I didn't mentioned it but I would put the pump inside a small plastic box with some sponges in the inlet to avoid clogging. I've seen specific pumps for ponds but I cannot see any advantage and having a green filter my guess is that I only need to ensure good flow.

Jordi
 
Then put some heavy rocks in the box. :) because moving water trhough tiny cavities slowly degasses, the gass accumulates in the box and doesn't escape in the suction and under the layer of sludge in the sponshes (top). And one day the bubble will come up floating and only sucking air after that. It happenen to me once, and noticed the pond getting dark, didn't see the thing floating under the floating vegitation.

I lately saw a video from a guy owning a fish store.. He had the most genius idea.. He had a fiber material tube made from a kind of filter mash. It was big enough to fit a little submerseble, only had to make a hole for the pumps outlet. And plug both ends with other filter mesch.. Next to the pump you could put any kind of filter medium with it.

I'll try the find it back.. He did some other suggestions with it as well, forgot... But remember is was very cheap and very sufficient idea for a nice easy to mantain filter. :)

Got it..


Didn find these polyester tubes yet, didn't realy search.. And i guess they come in sizes.
 
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Funny guy! Is he English? The way he pronounces 'pump' sounds really weird to me... Nice inlet filter by the way.

Jordi
 
It's a Geordie accent.
 
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