Comment

Comment by Allisyn Wood on August 20, 2011 at 8:12am

More or less...

The 9 holes drained too slow when one of the beds was siphoning. I want the water to get sucked out pretty quick to draw oxygen down to the roots.  That's the point of the angled pipe under the table.  It allows the excess water an escape.

 

The pipe in question sends water directly from the pump back to the fish as I didn't need it all to go to the beds or else the water would be dumping into the beds too quickly and it wouldn't break the siphon OR I kept the pressure (ball valves) lower which I've heard is bad for the pump.  Plus, I wanted the noise and the water movement.  I don't have an airstone in this tank.  All O2 is from the water draining constantly (at different rates at different times) from the 9 hole return pipe.  I'll try and take a better picture of it. 

 

Really not as complicated as I make it sound.  Just extra water that needed a place to go, so that's my solution...

 

You should see my PVC connector collection...

 

Comment by Bryan Man on August 20, 2011 at 6:53am

I can see if now **light bulbs comes on** once the beds drain they go into that long white pvc pipe with the holes in it....since that was to slow you added a T fixture which connects my pipe in question back into the grow beds so it can aerate the water for you....ALSO on that T you made that angel pipe for the overflow in case the water was not being diverted back up top quick enough.

 

I think that's how it is all setup the  ( 1'T part I may have read wrong)

Comment by Allisyn Wood on August 20, 2011 at 6:40am

Sure! 

What you can't see under the table is that the long pipe in back, where the beds drain, has 9 holes.  This wasn't enough and the beds were draining slowly so to the right (off the picture) is a 1"T which connects the far right pipe you were originally questioning to the long pipe in back.  The pipe in front (under the table), that is angled up, is overflow, if you will.  It lets the extra drain off quickly, but it's angled up so it's the last option for water because I'd rather it drain from the holes in the back for more aeration.  There's a constant waterfall on our lanai.

Comment by Bryan Man on August 20, 2011 at 6:26am

AWESOME I see it now :) ....that black pipe goes from the tank to your pvc which diverts some of the water back to the tank and some of the water to your grow beds :) flood and drain back to your tank. KOOL! :) thanks for the photos and time :)

Comment by Bryan Man on August 20, 2011 at 6:19am

Thank you I will flip through the album some more ;)

Comment by Allisyn Wood on August 20, 2011 at 6:15am

The pipe attached to the arm comes up from the pump.  The pipe on the far right goes directly back to the fish.  It's a small pump (400 gph Beckett from Home Depot) but it has enough umph to be able to send a good amount of water back down for constant aeration.  Check out the rest of the album.  I think there's a picture taken under the table to see the plumbing.

Comment by Bryan Man on August 20, 2011 at 6:09am

Thanks, so you are pumping the water up from the fish tank and into the grow beds. Over on the right hand side of the picture I see two PVC pipes instead of one. What is the extra one being used for?

Comment by Allisyn Wood on August 20, 2011 at 5:26am

Thanks. 

The iron makes it really sturdy and really light.

It's a river rock media with bell siphons.  Constant flood and drain.

Comment by Bryan Man on August 19, 2011 at 5:02pm

is that the fish tank on the bottom? EBB and flow?

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