Comment

Comment by TCLynx on January 10, 2012 at 7:22am

Airlifts have a few design constraints.  First measure the head from the surface of the water tank you are pumping from.  You generally need a good submergence depth for the airlift in relation to the head above water you are lifting.  So if you had a 4' deep fish tank and a 1 foot head above the water you might be able to do it.  But if your fish tank is only 2 feet deep and you are lifting the water 4 feet above the surface, an airlift won't work.  Airlifts are great for only lifting the water a tiny bit.  A geyser pump (the airlift's spurting cousin) can lift higher in spurts.

Chances are if you have a 2 foot deep fish tank and need to lift 2 feet above the fish tank, a regular water pump will be more energy efficient for the amount of water pumped.

Comment by Suzanne Carter on January 9, 2012 at 12:24pm

Has anyone ever used an airlift setup for both aeration and circulating the water? I was at an aquaculture store and they suggested this for my simple drum flood and drain system because it uses less energy. I haven't tried it yet but I'm having trouble imagining how I could get it to push the water up the 4ft head height to my grow bed through the 1 1/2" pipe. Thoughts?

Comment by Michael Welber on January 4, 2012 at 9:00am

Thanks. We're so lucky to have you on this site. 

Comment by TCLynx on January 4, 2012 at 8:58am

No, Brass is not ok either, No metal in contact with fish water or hydroponic water.

High grade stainless is the only metal you should allow in contact with the water and that is so $$$$ that I would only go there if you need some hardware that can be submerged.

Comment by Michael Welber on January 4, 2012 at 8:45am

Back to an old topic. Are brass fittings OK in an AP system? I know copper is a "no" but what about brass? Thanks as always. 

Comment by Amanda on January 4, 2012 at 8:32am

thank you, anything worth doing is worth doing right, huh. 

Comment by TCLynx on January 4, 2012 at 8:23am

I've dealt with replacing the liner in a pond that some one else tried to go cheap on.  I fear he probably spent more putting in extra layers of liner as each one started leaking.  Now if you prepare the site well and put down the good underlayment then maybe you will get lucky, however, how ready are you to pull everything out and replace the liner?

The heavy duty rubber linner (EPDM) does cost extra but it is tough stuff and I've abused it with rocks and re-arranging the water fall regularly and the pond at my Mom's place is still going strong (I believe the good liner was put in either in 2000 or 2001.) 

The rubber liner is flexible enough to lay into complex shapes while most of the other types of liner are not nearly so flexible and the thinner stuff like builders plastic is very prone to leaks from abrasions (or stepping on it, or getting into the pond to do work.)

If you are building a perfect rectangle, then the Druascrim liner is really nice but I would hate to try to make a pond shape from it.

Comment by Amanda on January 4, 2012 at 8:12am

so 12 is way to thin then? 

Comment by TCLynx on January 4, 2012 at 8:04am

for an in ground pond with liner, I recommend the good stuff EPDM Firestone Pondguard I think they call it .45 mil?

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on January 4, 2012 at 8:02am

Sorry David. "It's a Small World" usually cures that problem for me. Or you could try "Friday." 

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 136
• 137
• 138
• 139
• 140
• …
• 145
• Next ›
• Page