misters using aquarium pumps

[golfish]

Hey all,
I'm done building the new enclosure for my sons veil. I've read a lot about some of the misters your all are using but haven't seen any DYI units that use water pumps. I've always been into saltwater tanks, mainly reef tanks so I have a lot of pumps laying around as well as my own RO\DI system. I know HD and Lowe's have misters that run off garden hoses. I'm just wondering if anybody has tried them using a small water pump along with one of those type of misters.

I'm sure this topic has been beat to death. I've used the search feature and don't find what I'm looking for.

TIA

Mark

 

[SuperRad]

Hey you know i was thinking the same thing about maybe using a circulation pump from petco or something that sell for about 20 bucks or less. The thing is most of those pumps put out 60 + GPH. Mister pumps put out around .5 - 2 gph. 60 + GPH would be too much pressure and might cause the nozzle tips to come flying off. But i am not sure and have not tried it.

 

[golfish]

Hey you know i was thinking the same thing about maybe using a circulation pump from petco or something that sell for about 20 bucks or less. The thing is most of those pumps put out 60 + GPH. Mister pumps put out around .5 - 2 gph. 60 + GPH would be too much pressure and might cause the nozzle tips to come flying off. But i am not sure and have not tried it.

The pumps I have range from 300 gph to 4000 gph. I don't think GPH is what these nozzles need, I think its pressure. You have to figure the units sold at HD and Lowes run off a garden hose.

Having the nozzle come off would not be a good thing

 

[Nicodemayo]

You are correct, psi is what you want not gph. For any misting type setup you need a pump that puts out AT LEAST 30 psi and thats just enough to run one maybe 2 nozzles. I use an aquarium pump for my drip system, it pumps water from the reservoir across 4 line to drippers and theres 2 drippers in each cage. Those pumps basically only have enough pressure to get the water through the tubes. If your looking for a cheap alternative to misting multiple cages very well i suggest a garden sprayer. They come in multiple size reservoirs mine has a 2 gallon tank and i bought it for $17 from lowes and its been sooooo helpful and ever since i started using it, i havnt seen even one little hint of orange in their urate and its saving me energy not having to hand spray. Im posting i thread on it with pictures so keep a look out.

 

[golfish]

So you could run a small pump, say 300 gph through a line with dripper heads and have it return back to the reservoir. Set the pump on a timer to run maybe 10 minutes every few hours. You could control the drip rate by controlling the return pressure on the pump (after the drip nozzles) with a ball\gate valve..... I'll have to play with it.

I'll keep an eye out for your thread.

 

[Nicodemayo]

thats kinda what i have setup now except i dont recommend having the water circulate over and over through the system. Bacteria will build up.

 

[golfish]

thats kinda what i have setup now except i dont recommend having the water circulate over and over through the system. Bacteria will build up.

that shouldn't matter if its a closed system..

let me do this again...I wouldn't think it would matter if it was a closed system.

 

[Mesnik]

Nice idea. Lots of us tried without success. I own a 180 gal saltwater fish/reef tank as well... and have tried a few of them.

Let us know how you make out!!

Roberto.

 

[golfish]

Nice idea. Lots of us tried without success. I own a 180 gal saltwater fish/reef tank as well... and have tried a few of them.

Let us know how you make out!!

Roberto.

This is kind of what I was looking to read. Got to figure its been tried before. Can you tell me what the problems is? I wonder if a peristalic pump would work better?

 

[Nicodemayo]

These aquarium pumps you plan on using will not work for misting, only dripping.

edit-unless you have a pump that generates 30psi or more which i highly doubt because there is no need for an aquarium pump to ever need this kind of pressure.

 

[Mesnik]

Golfish,

I didn't want to steer you away cause you might have had a different approach...

But the issue, like Nico explained, is pressure. The submersible pumps for tanks don't have it.

So I bought those nozzles at Lowes/HD since they claim you can plug into a 1/4"tubing and connect that to your tap... well, that didn't work either.

What MIGHT work are those centrifugal dry pumps, but for the price, you better off just getting a commercial mister.

I was as disappointed as you when it didn't work...

 

[golfish]

Thanks Mesnik, I have a few ideas.

 

[LaserGecko]

If you find a cheap pump that works, let me know! Every pump is designed for a purpose. If it's designed for circulation in a mostly open system, then it's really not going to like having almost 100% back pressure. A misting system is pretty darned close to being a closed system. Imagine having a slightly leaky brake system on your car and you're pretty close.

Forget about how many gallons per hour your pump can push. It's not important at all. The pumps I sell would absolutely suck if you used them in an aquarium...unless you need 12 gallons per hour of circulation. Of course, that's not their intended purpose; pushing water through small holes is.

If, during your research, you stumble upon a part number for a $50 Flojet pump that's extremely hard to find, I would advise you to skip it. It's loud (but, that's not important in a car wash, is it?), can't run dry, and can't run continuously. I don't think it's NSF rated, either, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

In the past month, I personally replaced one that barely lasted a year in a cool custom built dart frog vivarium and have sold a replacement pump to another customer whose FloJet failed. (That's just in January, btw.) FloJet was going to comp one to me for development purposes, but as soon as I checked the part numbers, I told them to cancel it. A fifty dollar pump that only lasts a year is a ripoff.

Anyway, hope that helps. Keep us posted if you find something that works!

 

[KevinA]

I've been looking for the cheapest price on a Aquatec 6800 pump. It is the pump used in many commercial systems. So far the cheapest price Ive found is $95 shipped.

 

[BIGGUN]

I use a Flojet pump for restaurant beverage dispensers. Model # 2125-506-115 seems to work well. I buy them used on E-bay. They have a thermal shut off incase there's a problem. It normally runs for a few minutes then goes off. It's plenty to soak the entire cage. I run it 4 times a day.......it also fills my dripper that never drips until I re-adjust it but that's for a different thread.

The other idea is to run a washing machine solenoid valve plumbed directly into your 1/2" copper on a timer. It opens for ????? and flows through pressure rated 1/4" hose to your nozzles. This is the same idea as the setup I use for my filtered top off reef water.

Good luck,
Kevin

 

[LaserGecko]

I've been looking for the cheapest price on a Aquatec 6800 pump. It is the pump used in many commercial systems. So far the cheapest price Ive found is $95 shipped.

If it's off of eBay, be sure you're buying through a legit source. One of those guys actually told me that the warranty was void if you use them for misting. Hogwash. If they're really buying them 500 at a time, they could do a lot better on the price.

I just love gimmicks like "$15 flat shipping". It doesn't cost $15 to ship a 6800 to anywhere in the US. Heck, it only costs about $12-14 to ship a whole system including that same damned pump! Eh, go ahead and screw the customers who are close to you out of a few extra bucks. They won't notice that it's not fair! Sorry, that kind of bullcrap marketing just chaps my hide!

 

[golfish]

Anyway, hope that helps. Keep us posted if you find something that works!

thanks bro, after doing a little more research I've found that there's a guy named Jason that has this HerpMist system that pretty much blows all the others away. It looks like a pretty sweet deal to me when you consider what's all included. I've wasted enough money over the past 25 years on reef ideas that didn't pan out. I think I'll go with what works this time.

Thanks Jason

Mark

 

[Dankmeleon]

Hey I'm going to say this and I'm only going to say this once because I've been around this corner too many times


You may plug your pump in and it may work fine, and if you are like everyone else it will take some tinkering.

One thing that no one ever takes into consideration is gravity, having your resovoir located higher than your cham tank takes a lot of the work off your pump, rather than having the water on the ground have to get carried up 6 feet to your cage....

use gravity to your advantage, and if your really crafty you can make a mister setup with no pump at all