Solar water pump setup

[hg1027]

Hey guys

First post, and I expect points off for not being very trailer related. I've been lurking for years and there are some pretty knowledgeable folks here when it comes to solar and batteries and management.

My local nature center has a rookery pond that's fed by ground water, but when there are loads of birds there, the water gets pretty nasty. Lots of birds and chicks and eggs would attract predators, but there are two alligators that take care of the raccoons and coyotes. The concern is that if the water gets nasty enough, the alligator will pack up for a cleaner pond, the predators eat all the birds, and we lose the rookery.

So.

The idea is to aerate or otherwise clean up this pond. It's about 2 acres, up to 5 feet deep, so I have no expectation of cleaning it all up in any reasonable amount of time. Just trying to make a dent. This is mostly a science experiment. Budget is ~$600, much more than that and I'll have to reconsider or get help.

I'm looking at a diaphragm pump, since this water is pretty nasty. I think I can put a float and a filter on it, so I won't be sucking mud, and trash pumps seem to all be 110v. I think I would prefer to use my budget on pump, battery, solar panel, controller, and avoid adding inverter to the mix. Northern Tool has a spray pump item 2685561 for $180, that advertises 17 amps, 5.5gpm. 10 minutes per hour, that would take 7 years to recirculate the whole pond. I'll call that the minimum.

10 minutes per hour at 17 amps I think means 12v*17A=204w/6=34 watts per hour, 816 watts a day. Full sun in Houston TX, I'm thinking I can rely on 6 hours of sun a day, so I need 816/6=134 watt panel, right?

As for a battery, if I want 3 days of capacity for cloudy weeks, I need ~2.5kWh, or about 200 amp hours.

200 amp hours appears to be over $350 from renogy, which I think is something of a premium brand, and doesn't give me any safe overhead.

Am I doing the math right so far?

I don't have a controller in here, but I believe they're fairly cheap for a simple one.

Is this a realistic project?

[Tom&Shelly]

Full points: You are exploring a nature project, which is sort of what our teardrops are in the first place, and you're asking about 12 volt systems, which some here should know about! Welcome to the forum!

Your math looks right to me, and it sounds like you have a good handle on it.

Renogy is pricey. I'm considering refurbished solar panels for a garage with no lines to the power company, but I haven't done it yet so can't recommend anyone, or comment on the refurbished panels' performance.

Hopefully others here will have more comments.

Good luck with the project!

Tom

[RJ Howell]

Didn't take much to find a 5.5 gallon at 4amps from a supplier I despise (Bass Pro). Meaning it's out there for better pricing!

Question I have is what are you filtering? Around me we have biological contamination. That's a whole other game vs. silt. Then silt, I wonder if not removing the base layer of the pond, would you get rid of.

So, what are you actually filtering? Curious here.

[hg1027]

So, what are you actually filtering? Curious here.

As far as we can tell this is fed by ground water (~100 yards from the bayou), just getting contaminated by the bird droppings from being a rookery.

If we pump water, we're thinking we need suction to be suspended at least a foot off the bottom to avoid getting clogged, and move it every week or so.

Discharge would be 50 feet away or so, water would basically be going back to the water table and back in the pond.

Alternative was to put it through a sluice or elevated barrels full of rocks or logs to filter and oxygenate and back in the pond. This could be a benefit, mixing up the silt where it dumps back in.

We also considered an air pump, but I'm not finding anything high volume, low pressure, high duty cycle in anything like the same price range.