About pumps ans small systems

[Rich]

Hi there,
I have just become introduced to aquaponics and I'm looking at building a flood and drain style system. I was planning on pumping water from my 600L tank to the growbeds and then allowing them to drain by gravity back to the tank. I was hoping to use an electronic timer to turn the pump on and off regularly through the day. However I have heard that turning submersible pond pumps on and off regularly damages them and will extremely shorten their life. Do you need the pump running continously and design the set up accordingly or is this info about pumps incorrect or only apply to some pumps? Your advice would be great.
Thank you
Rich

[Murray]

Hi Richard,
I have just answered your email re the pump, but a further thought. In a smaller system it is good to go with a continuous flow. Use auto siphons to clear and control the water to and from the grow beds.
In our Balcony kits we use a 3000 lph pump and auto siphons on the grow beds and it works very well.

[Rich]

Thank you Murray,
Sorry about putting the thread in the wrong section. I'm new to this Forum Stuff. Rich

[Aquatic Oasis]

Hello and welcome Rich,
We have been using submersible pumps in hydroponics systems for about 10years. In that time i can honestly say that the performance of the pumps have not been affected by turning the pumps on and off. The biggest problem for these types of pumps is if you use one that is too big and there is too much back pressure on the impeller.

[Hamish]

If you use a large pump best to use the flow you need to the grow bed and loop the rest of the flow back into the fish tank. This way you are not putting backpressure on the pump. The extra currents in the tank can be used to airate the water with the use of a venturi - or just set up a jet to spray the water back onto to the surface of the tank. And if you ever add more grow beds you have extra pumping capacity in reserve :)