water level issues

[mike houlihan]

has anyone else had issues with water levels and keeping them steady?

[steve]

Hi Mike, My plan was to use a float valve (like in toilet tank) to automatically top off when needed. I have the valve but may need a different water source. Do you have any leaks?

[TCLynx]

In what manner?

 

Is it that you are flooding and draining too many big grow beds from a not too big or deep fish tank and your water levels are fluctuating?

 

Or that you seem to be loosing water and need to top up too much?

 

For the latter problem I like using a stock tank top up valve (since I can get ones that are almost all plastic with little/no metal to worry about touching the water.)

 

For the first problem, you can A, use a sump tank to deal with the water level fluctuation needed to flood your grow beds or B, if your pump is strong enough, use an Aquaponics indexing valve to sequence the flooding of your grow beds one or two at a time (this only works if you have a strong enough pump for the valve and are willing to run the pump with a timer so it is turning on/off all the time.)

[mike houlihan]

The sump levels are changing 

TCLynx said:

In what manner?

 

Is it that you are flooding and draining too many big grow beds from a not too big or deep fish tank and your water levels are fluctuating?

 

Or that you seem to be loosing water and need to top up too much?

 

For the latter problem I like using a stock tank top up valve (since I can get ones that are almost all plastic with little/no metal to worry about touching the water.)

 

For the first problem, you can A, use a sump tank to deal with the water level fluctuation needed to flood your grow beds or B, if your pump is strong enough, use an Aquaponics indexing valve to sequence the flooding of your grow beds one or two at a time (this only works if you have a strong enough pump for the valve and are willing to run the pump with a timer so it is turning on/off all the time.)

[TCLynx]

So is the system flood and drain? If so the sump tank levels should be changing as the beds flood and drain.

Is it that your sump tank is too small for the amount of fluctuation you are dealing with?

Or you have a leak like steve asked about?

[mike houlihan]

It is the sump barrel that keeps fluctuating 

steve said:

Hi Mike, My plan was to use a float valve (like in toilet tank) to automatically top off when needed. I have the valve but may need a different water source. Do you have any leaks?

[TCLynx]

Sump tank water levels normally do fluctuate in a flood and drain media bed system.

Is that the kind of system we are talking about?

[mike houlihan]

I believe the movement is coming from the lines accumulating waste on the walls, which is slowing the flow. 

TCLynx said:

Sump tank water levels normally do fluctuate in a flood and drain media bed system.

Is that the kind of system we are talking about?

[TCLynx]

That can happen if your pipe size is too small.