Pond Boss Magazine
https://www.pondboss.com/images/userfiles/image/20130301193901_6_150by50orangewhyshouldsubscribejpeg.jpg
Advertisment
Newest Members
Shotgun01, Dan H, Stipker, LunkerHunt23, Jeanjules
18,451 Registered Users
Forum Statistics
Forums36
Topics40,899
Posts557,084
Members18,452
Most Online3,612
Jan 10th, 2023
Top Posters
esshup 28,414
ewest 21,474
Cecil Baird1 20,043
Bill Cody 15,110
Who's Online Now
9 members (Sunil, Dave Davidson1, Fishingadventure, PRCS, Theo Gallus, BillyE, Requa, Jason D, Jared015), 756 guests, and 264 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
captwho Offline OP
OP Offline
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
So I started with my first pond and I have become obsessed. It is about an acre and is at the bottom of a hillside. I have an old stock tank up on top of the hill and now I want to make a pond out of it as well. I also want to connect the two with a stream, using a pump to pump water up the 100 foot hill to the upper pond and let it run back down to the lower. If I create a lot of little pools in the stream to fabricate volume then I probably only need 5-10 gpm. Does anyone know where to find a solar setup that will provide this kind of flow with 100ft of head?

Last edited by captwho; 11/16/14 07:26 PM.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 1
Offline
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 1
Cool project. First question is are you saying the upper pond is 100 feet higher in elevation than the lower pond or 100 feet from the other pond? If you mean it is a 100 feet from the other pond, what is the difference in the elevations of the two pond?


[Linked Image]
Be Brave Enough to Suck at Something New!
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
captwho Offline OP
OP Offline
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
Yes, it is 100 feet higher and about 300 feet away.


"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 20,043
Likes: 1
Hall of Fame
Lunker
Offline
Hall of Fame
Lunker
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 20,043
Likes: 1
Originally Posted By: captwho
So I started with my first pond and I have become obsessed. It is about an acre and is at the bottom of a hillside. I have an old stock tank up on top of the hill and now I want to make a pond out of it as well. I also want to connect the two with a stream, using a pump to pump water up the 100 foot hill to the upper pond and let it run back down to the lower. If I create a lot of little pools in the stream to fabricate volume then I probably only need 5-10 gpm. Does anyone know where to find a solar setup that will provide this kind of flow with 100ft of head?


Yikes! Just noticed you need to get the water up 100 feet? That will take a lot of energy if that's actually 100 feet of head so the following will probably not be practical of I'm understanding you correctly.


When you want a turn key system you have to pay extra for someone's expertise along with the equipment. It's only fair really. However what you want to do is quite simple so it is achievable and you can save money doing it. That said, even small stand alone solar systems aren't cheap, when you consider the cost of the equipment and a battery(s) to collect the energy produced by the soar array, to hold enough stored electricty for up to 3 days if sun conditions are not optimum, or at night if you want the water pump to run 24/7. If you don't need it to run 24/7 that would save considerably on infrastructure and cost.

First you need to find the water pump you want to use, and determine how many watts it will consume. A 12 VDC pump would be your best bet verses a 120 VAC pump, that would not only be more efficient, as the DC volts produced by solar panel would not have to be converted to AC for an AC pump. No inverter would be needed, which would reduce costs.

Anyway, once you know what pump you want to use, and the watts it will use, you can determine your watt/hrs., watts per day etc. to determine the size solar panel or array you will need and what kind of battery capacity you need. You will also need a controller, and an inverter if you end up using an AC pump as the solar photovoltaic cells produce electricity in DC. But you can also use a panel that uses has a built in micro inverter.

Here is a link that will determine much of that for you and includes a ballpark price.


http://solarelectricityhandbook.com/solarcalculator.aspx

Of course there's more to this like direction of the solar panel, angle etc. but the book associated with the website explains it all quite well.





Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 11/16/14 08:42 PM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 6,086
Likes: 93
S
Offline
S
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 6,086
Likes: 93
You will need a pump capable of developing 50 psi, because your head pressure will be close to 45.


John

I subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
captwho Offline OP
OP Offline
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
Thanks! I plan to use a dc pump that optimally will be variable speed with no batteries. That way it will just pump when power is available. (this is AZ so I'm not worried about sun.) I don't think it needs to run 24/7. Just during the day would be fine. Does anyone have any experience with brands or vendors of dc pumps? This is where I seem to be running into dead ends. I've found dc well pumps that can do 100 feet but only 1-2 gpm. id like to get those flow numbers up.

Has anyone built running streams connecting ponds, and would this be enough flow for trout to spawn? Not that trout spawn is a high priority but it would be cool.
I'm thinking if I grow FHM in the upper pond I can strategically release them into the lower pond for forage.


"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 6,086
Likes: 93
S
Offline
S
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 6,086
Likes: 93
If you don't find a suitable larger pump, you could use multiple smaller pumps. Might be some advantage of lower start up current if you could start them individually, not all at once. I imagine a single larger one would be more efficient though.


John

I subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
captwho Offline OP
OP Offline
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
Great idea, I hadn't thought of that. Multiple pumps could be a last resort. Three separate systems would not be as efficient but as a last resort....


"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 20,043
Likes: 1
Hall of Fame
Lunker
Offline
Hall of Fame
Lunker
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 20,043
Likes: 1
I personally don't think solar would be a viable option for that much head regardless of what you do.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,414
Likes: 792
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Offline
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,414
Likes: 792
To calculate the GPM needed, look at some of the on-line calculators that figure out GPM required for a waterfall.

"X" amount of inches wide by "X" amount of inches deep for the stream. Once you have those numbers then you can plug those into the calculators to get the GPM needed to achieve that stream size. Multiple pools or not, the amount of water that you pump to the top of the hill is the amount of water that you get at the bottom of the hill once the pools are filled up.


www.hoosierpondpros.com


http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4
3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
captwho Offline OP
OP Offline
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
Yes, but my thought is the pools would make the stream look bigger than it really is. Even though the total flow is small, the more pools it has, the bigger it will look.


"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315
F
Offline
F
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315
Originally Posted By: captwho
Yes, but my thought is the pools would make the stream look bigger than it really is. Even though the total flow is small, the more pools it has, the bigger it will look.


To go along with this idea of appearances. How about at one (or more) of those pools, you pump water into those. Still try to pump into the top one, but then also pump into the lower ones. When the water flows into the last one, it will look like a lot and be impressive. Much like a natural spring on top of a mountain. The further it goes down, the more other water joins in as it gets lower. It should keep the pumping costs down a bit too.

Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
captwho Offline OP
OP Offline
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 143
Once again, another great idea from fish & chips!


"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill

Link Copied to Clipboard
Today's Birthdays
Bob Lusk, GaryK, GrizzFan, PhotographerDave
Recent Posts
Working on a .5acre disaster, I mean pond.
by PRCS - 03/28/24 02:50 PM
1 year after stocking question
by Dave Davidson1 - 03/28/24 02:44 PM
Happy Birthday Bob Lusk!!
by Sunil - 03/28/24 12:39 PM
New 2 acre pond stocking plan
by Sunil - 03/28/24 12:39 PM
Paper-shell crayfish and Japanese snails
by esshup - 03/28/24 10:39 AM
Brooder Shiners and Fry, What to do??
by Freg - 03/28/24 09:42 AM
Relative weight charts in Excel ? Calculations?
by esshup - 03/28/24 08:36 AM
Dewatering bags seeded to form berms?
by Justin W - 03/28/24 08:19 AM
Reducing fish biomass
by FishinRod - 03/28/24 08:18 AM
Questions and Feedback on SMB
by Donatello - 03/27/24 03:10 PM
2024 North Texas Optimal BG food Group Buy
by Dave Davidson1 - 03/27/24 08:15 AM
Newly Uploaded Images
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
by Tbar, December 10
Deer at Theo's 2023
Deer at Theo's 2023
by Theo Gallus, November 13
Minnow identification
Minnow identification
by Mike Troyer, October 6
Sharing the Food
Sharing the Food
by FishinRod, September 9
Nice BGxRES
Nice BGxRES
by Theo Gallus, July 28
Snake Identification
Snake Identification
by Rangersedge, July 12

� 2014 POND BOSS INC. all rights reserved USA and Worldwide

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5