Hello from Tennessee
- Thread starter Solar guy
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It would be nice to have someone who can say what solar stuff works, as we get lots of questions about solar pumps.
Quick question/ suggestion. What’s your tap water ph/ gh/ kh? You might want to get a test kit ( api liquid pond test kit is the gold standard around here) it will tell you these things . My tired brian won’t do the work to figure out if limestone will raise or lower the ph. Someone more rested can answer that, then depending on your waters natural ph, that would determine if you want to keep it out or not. I’m thinking your water will probably have come in contact with limestone naturally, so it’s a matter of if it’s city water, what have they done/ added/ removed. If it’s well water, less problems.
Quick question/ suggestion. What’s your tap water ph/ gh/ kh? You might want to get a test kit ( api liquid pond test kit is the gold standard around here) it will tell you these things . My tired brian won’t do the work to figure out if limestone will raise or lower the ph. Someone more rested can answer that, then depending on your waters natural ph, that would determine if you want to keep it out or not. I’m thinking your water will probably have come in contact with limestone naturally, so it’s a matter of if it’s city water, what have they done/ added/ removed. If it’s well water, less problems.
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Thanks so much. You guys have already clued me in on something I had not thought of. Ground water buildup under the liner. I will definitely study that and incorporate some type of drain.
Good to know Aqua Scape uses limestone. I have watched several of their videos. I have to admit I get a little put off by some of those half million dollar water projects they do; not that they are not beautiful, but just way, way more than I could ever afford. Anyway, if they use limestone then that's gold.
I'll be glad to help anyone I can with advice on solar power. The company I work for mostly does commercial systems but we are beginning to do more residential systems when they involve battery storage. I didn't want to come on like I was trying to sell something because I'm not. The cost of solar power has come way down in the last few years but although it is costly to purchase it does have a payback, especially where you have a defined use. Let me just say that I can't afford to buy a system from the place where I work so I can understand when someone tells me it's expensive. What I'm working on for my own system is buying used panels and cheap inexpensive Chinese inverters and batteries. I can make this work for me, but I'd never try to sell it to anyone. I would have no way to support it for one thing.
Solar power is a matter of calculating Watts. The formula is simple, Volts X amps = Watts and Watts X hours = Watt hours. Watts and Watt hours is everything. For example, if I know haw many Watts a pump uses to run and where it's located, relative to available sun, then I can design a solar power system to run it 24 hours a day. I can design in a day of autonomy, the ability to run through a cloudy day on it's own, but to get much more than one day of autonomy is usually more expensive than providing an alternative backup source. And, nailing down these requirements will reveal how big the system will have to be and a rough estimate of what it will cost for materials. I could not give an honest estimate of things like labor cost and the markup some other company might charge, especially in another part of the country.
Good to know Aqua Scape uses limestone. I have watched several of their videos. I have to admit I get a little put off by some of those half million dollar water projects they do; not that they are not beautiful, but just way, way more than I could ever afford. Anyway, if they use limestone then that's gold.
I'll be glad to help anyone I can with advice on solar power. The company I work for mostly does commercial systems but we are beginning to do more residential systems when they involve battery storage. I didn't want to come on like I was trying to sell something because I'm not. The cost of solar power has come way down in the last few years but although it is costly to purchase it does have a payback, especially where you have a defined use. Let me just say that I can't afford to buy a system from the place where I work so I can understand when someone tells me it's expensive. What I'm working on for my own system is buying used panels and cheap inexpensive Chinese inverters and batteries. I can make this work for me, but I'd never try to sell it to anyone. I would have no way to support it for one thing.
Solar power is a matter of calculating Watts. The formula is simple, Volts X amps = Watts and Watts X hours = Watt hours. Watts and Watt hours is everything. For example, if I know haw many Watts a pump uses to run and where it's located, relative to available sun, then I can design a solar power system to run it 24 hours a day. I can design in a day of autonomy, the ability to run through a cloudy day on it's own, but to get much more than one day of autonomy is usually more expensive than providing an alternative backup source. And, nailing down these requirements will reveal how big the system will have to be and a rough estimate of what it will cost for materials. I could not give an honest estimate of things like labor cost and the markup some other company might charge, especially in another part of the country.
Doctor mcboy
hes dead jim
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thank you for the reply. i am going to start small and put a small solar air pump in my pond for the winter. i have a waterfall now with a dc motor so when i am near the pond i can turn it on. the pond is about 300 feet from my house so i can not see the waterfall from my house. as far as that goes the pump will not have to run 24 7. but i do want it to come on from time to time to help clear the water. i can get a little 12 v timer relay and regulate the pump on and off run times. . i will run power to the pond this winter i will have power there in a emergency, a must if i want fish down the line. i might as well do it now while the pond is new. this forum has been good for me so far the people have been real helpful.
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Well, I'd say the plan to run grid power to the pond is a good one to start with. Even if you had a full solar powered system you would need a backup. That said, I don't think I'd want to use a DC powered pump tied to batteries anyway. I'd rather have the best, most efficient AC powered pump I could get and then convert my solar charged battery power to AC to run that pump as much of the day as I could afford. You could even start out with no batteries and just use a grid tied solar inverter to offset some or all your pumping power consumption during the day when the sun is out. The batteries can come later if you want because they are the most expensive part of the system.
The overall logic I prefer to use is to have as much redundancy as possible. It's easy to convert DC into AC and the modern inverter(s) that perform that function are very efficient. So, if your pump is AC driven it is never going to know wheather it's power is coming from the sun or the grid. And, at the same time, your solar energy system, with or without batteries, is never going to know if it's power is running that pump or any other electrical load in your house. That's irrelevant. What I try to do is pick a dollar number of electrical expense and see if i can offset that, and at what cost. This would work for you I believe also. You might decide you can run your air pump and offset half your circulation pump for example. If everything runs on the same AC power line that's no problem. You can blend in as much or as little solar derived energy as you can afford. Later, if you like the way the system works and you have room for more solar power you can always add it. In the mean time, if you have 10 days of storms and rain, well your electric bill will be a little higher that month, but your pond never knows the difference.
Doctor mcboy
hes dead jim
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you read my mind. i was wondering about the ac vs dc deal. that is why i came here to get the skinny from the people that have used this in the real world. thank you!
They have featured a lot more small projects this year - many that would be perfect DIY projects. They like to show off the big stuff - because who doesn't love to dream, right? - but they also know their market calls for lots more manageable and affordable projects. We live close enough that we can go visit their headquarters here in IL. Great group of people who are always happy to share the knowledge they've acquired over the years of building ponds big and small.
I’m 25 minutes south of the Alabama line. Hello neighbor