V-Pump in Aquaponics?

[Benjamin Frimmer]

Hey is anybody using the V-Pump in their aquaponics system? 

I am by no means affiliated with this company - I just came across this on the net and thought this would be a very useful tool for all of us.  If this thing is legit, I think it would save us all a great deal of money and electricity.  Anybody use it?  Is this thing too good to be true?

http://www.v-pump.com/

Let me know what you think.  Thanks!

[TCLynx]

You have to be constantly adding water in order to use it.  It is basically a venturi where you hook it to the garden hose and another hose in order to pump out a tank.  (They say it uses no electricity but if you are on a well, it will use electricity to run your garden hose in order to pump anything out and if you are on city water you pay by the gallon.)  Kinda neat idea but it would waste too much water.

[Jeremy K]

I don't understand how this would be useful in an aquaponics system. It is powered by using water from a hose, it would just add more water to your system

[jonathan futch]

I to have just found this product. good ideal the problem is it requires 30 psi min according to the company. so the ony solution with out using electric is to place a water source above the plants and fish tank where the water is pumped to at least maybe I don't know 110 gallons (2 to 3 55 gallons drums ? )and branch a tube from there to the plants. and this only works if the psi is 30  or more constantly or maybe it dosent need to be the orginal ratio for the pump 3 gallons up 1 gallon from the hose but since this is a closed system maybe it will work if we get 1 to 1 ratio what do yall think

[jonathan futch]

check out my ideal below

TCLynx said:

You have to be constantly adding water in order to use it.  It is basically a venturi where you hook it to the garden hose and another hose in order to pump out a tank.  (They say it uses no electricity but if you are on a well, it will use electricity to run your garden hose in order to pump anything out and if you are on city water you pay by the gallon.)  Kinda neat idea but it would waste too much water.

[Glenn]

30 PSI translates to about 830 inches of water column. Meaning  water stored at a 69 ft. height could be used to power that pump. But getting water back up to that height could be costly.
 
jonathan futch said:

I to have just found this product. good ideal the problem is it requires 30 psi min according to the company. so the ony solution with out using electric is to place a water source above the plants and fish tank where the water is pumped to at least maybe I don't know 110 gallons (2 to 3 55 gallons drums ? )and branch a tube from there to the plants. and this only works if the psi is 30  or more constantly or maybe it dosent need to be the orginal ratio for the pump 3 gallons up 1 gallon from the hose but since this is a closed system maybe it will work if we get 1 to 1 ratio what do yall think

[TCLynx]

people use these kinds of pumps to drive a pool cleaner using city water or household water pressure.  These are not designed to "pump" water around a closed loop system.  There are always losses so you will have to expend energy somehow/somewhere to move water around a system. 

[jonathan futch]

IDEAL......IBC CONTAINER X NUMBER OF FEET ABOVE GROUND WITH SPOUT FROM THE DRAIN HOLE TO V PUMP IN 55 GALLON DRUM OR BIGGER AND EXIT AT GROW BED ON TOP OF IBC CONTAINER. WOULD THE PRESSURE BE ENOUGH TO PUSH THE WATER THAT HIGH MAYBE 1GALLON UP AND 1 GALLON OUT DRAIN HOLE (1 TO 1 RATIO )                        

ITS ONLY AN IDEAL MOST IDEAL FAIL BUT WE HAVE TO THINK OUT SIDE THE BOX!!!!!!!!!

LIKE THE IDEAL OF TRYING TO RECYCLE THE WASTE WATER FROM A RAM PUMP WATCH THIS VIDEO ON YOU  TUBE "HYDRAM ENGINE, HAMMER ENGINE,RAM PUMP ENGINE"

[jonathan futch]

ALSO I DONT NEED 30 PSI AS LONG AS ITS A 1 TO  1 RATIO 30 PSI IS A 3 TO 1 RATIO FOR THIS PUMP

WINDMILLS -UNRELIABLE

SOLAR - GOOD BUT MANY HIDDEN PROBLEMS AND COST

ROPE PUMP -TIME CONSUMING

MAYBE MORE BUT I CANT REMEMBER

DO YOU UNDERSTAND NEED MORE IDEALS THAT WORK OFF GRID (THANK OUT SIDE THE BOX ) 

PS LIKE MANY OTHER PEOPLE I DONT HAVE A LOT OF MONEY TO SPEND ON THESE IDEAL SO IF YOU SEE AN
  IDEAL THAT FAILED ON YOUTUBE ETC MAYBE WE CAN GET THIS SITE TO POST A SECTION FAILED IDEALS FOR OFF GRID OR ONES THAT WORK MAYBE BOTH
TCLynx said:

people use these kinds of pumps to drive a pool cleaner using city water or household water pressure.  These are not designed to "pump" water around a closed loop system.  There are always losses so you will have to expend energy somehow/somewhere to move water around a system. 

[TCLynx]

Please no need to shout, using all caps all the time is considered shouting when doing it online.

Do a bit of research into venturi design, in order to move water with a spray of water, it requires a certain amount of pressure. Since I don't know anything about this v-pump you are asking about I don't know if it will move any water at a lower pressure.  Even at a 1:1 it is unlikely that you can cause 1 gallon of water to be lifted all the way back up into your water tower just by the action of allowing one gallon to drop down from the water tower.  And even if that did work, that is all it would be able to do, you would not be able to let the water go to irrigate grow beds because all the falling water would need to be used to lift water back up to the top at a 1:1 ratio.  If you want to be able to spare any water, you actually need something more than the 1:1.

Also, just because 1 gallon of water pushed through the nozzel at 30 psi can move 3 gallons of water, they don't say at what height/pressure you can move those three gallons of water.  That could be a 1:3 ratio at 0 head, as soon as you want to lift the water up out of the fish tank you may be lucky to get the 1:1 ratio even at the 30 psi.

Sorry I don't have the time to go researching all the engineering for you.

1 psi=28" of water collumn  so to have 30 psi just by letting the water drop from an IBC that is elevated above the ground, that means you need the bottom of the IBC to be at least 70 Feet up (And you have to get the initial water up there to start everything off somehow.)  Building a 70' water tower to support an IBC doesn't necessarily sound like a cheaper way to go even if the idea could work.

There have been many threads/discussions about "pumpless" aquaponics.  Most of the ideas sound cool but generally impractical, not very efficient, and even if they did work they are probably not cheaper than using existing power generation ideas OR they require that the stocking densities be incredibly low and basically are like a large natural pond with plants growing around it rather than a recirculating aquaponics system.

jonathan futch said:

ALSO I DONT NEED 30 PSI AS LONG AS ITS A 1 TO  1 RATIO 30 PSI IS A 3 TO 1 RATIO FOR THIS PUMP

WINDMILLS -UNRELIABLE

SOLAR - GOOD BUT MANY HIDDEN PROBLEMS AND COST

ROPE PUMP -TIME CONSUMING

MAYBE MORE BUT I CANT REMEMBER

DO YOU UNDERSTAND NEED MORE IDEALS THAT WORK OFF GRID (THANK OUT SIDE THE BOX ) 

PS LIKE MANY OTHER PEOPLE I DONT HAVE A LOT OF MONEY TO SPEND ON THESE IDEAL SO IF YOU SEE AN
  IDEAL THAT FAILED ON YOUTUBE ETC MAYBE WE CAN GET THIS SITE TO POST A SECTION FAILED IDEALS FOR OFF GRID OR ONES THAT WORK MAYBE BOTH
TCLynx said:

people use these kinds of pumps to drive a pool cleaner using city water or household water pressure.  These are not designed to "pump" water around a closed loop system.  There are always losses so you will have to expend energy somehow/somewhere to move water around a system.