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NFT Ebb and flow pvc pipe 4"or a little larger Question
OK so here goes i havent been able to find anything on an idea i had about ebb and flow in pipe. i was thinking to get pipe 4" or larger if cost effective. and cut out the upper section of the pipe( the bed section)about 1/4 or a 1/3 instead of doing the normal hole in the top for nets.Then i will fill the entire pipe full of rock similar to a rock bed.I will have more than one row of pipe.(zig zaz formation from hi to low) One pump gravity fed. Why cant i finde this? Drys to fast? air flow ? or is it because i missed it? I was Just thinking more media filtering?or is it done the traditional way for more seperation without cost of rock or the weight? Thanks
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by RupertofOZ on
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Many others have done this... and variations including various levels of flow right through to constant flood...
Almost all have found that filling there nft pipes with media usually/inevitable results in the roots and solids blocking them up...
Make sure you pre-filter your water before the nft pipes... and IMO... just run them as normal nft... rasing/lowering the flood level if you feel it is necessary..
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Permalink Reply by Farcry305 on
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makes sense thank you for your time
RupertofOZ said:Many others have done this... and variations including various levels of flow right through to constant flood...
Almost all have found that filling there nft pipes with media usually/inevitable results in the roots and solids blocking them up...
Make sure you pre-filter your water before the nft pipes... and IMO... just run them as normal nft... rasing/lowering the flood level if you feel it is necessary..
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Permalink Reply by Eric Warwick on
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What you can do with pvc pipe is put a liner over it, and fill it with media. The media bed can go to a sump tank--which feeds NFT going to the fish tank. Here's a picture:
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Eric in the drawing are u still using the pipe to grow or just a liner between the pipe?
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The liner drains to a sump which feeds the NFT. So, yes the pipes are also for growing.
Farcry305 said:Eric in the drawing are u still using the pipe to grow or just a liner between the pipe?
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So the liner is like a "hamock" over the pipes... and filled with media... and constantly flooded??
Why not just have a media bed... pre-filtering the water feeding into a normal NFT style??
I don't see that you gain any advantage doing it this way??
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The advantage I see is space, it can be scaled, compact, and made into a cube. It also gets rid of some material costs.
RupertofOZ said:So the liner is like a "hamock" over the pipes... and filled with media... and constantly flooded??
Why not just have a media bed... pre-filtering the water feeding into a normal NFT style??
I don't see that you gain any advantage doing it this way??
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Don't follow you Eric.... a grow bed would take the same space.. be less complicated, probably wouldn't cost any more... and would probably grow more vegetables...
And add to your filtration capacity.... nft add-ons can an effective low cost use of other space(s)
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Well, I know what this calls for...SCIENTIFIC METHOD! Your probably right though; I don't follow you on the grow-more vegetables part; I also don't follow on the less complicated part--less plumbing. Anyways, I should probably think about it more than the hour it took to make the diagram.
RupertofOZ said:Don't follow you Eric.... a grow bed would take the same space.. be less complicated, probably wouldn't cost any more... and would probably grow more vegetables...
And add to your filtration capacity.... nft add-ons can an effective low cost use of other space(s)
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