chop system design questions

[glenn wilkerson]

how much higher should my fish tank water level be than my grow beds stand pipe. I figure about 6 inches so that i can use a 2 inch over flow line and have a little pressure i the line.

[Eric Warwick]

Chop= constant height one pump. If you give us a picture of what you asking I think experienced aquapons should help you--que TCLynx-- as for me I'll go away to where trolls live.

[Richard Wyman]

Fish tank to grow bed difference of even an inch will clean your tank if you use solids lifting overflows. You don't need a big drop.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Glenn,

You're only limited by your pump lifting capacity. To be safe, keep up to or below the 80% lifting range of your pump             ( Between the sump and FT). Personally, I like to go to near the maximum lift because i configure my piping to suck air and water together, giving the system extra aeration. I also like more flow-rate and higher water pressure(by using gravity) to help minimize bio slime buildup in the pipe runs.

[TCLynx]

If you are simply doing constant pumping and the water overflowing from the fish tank to the grow beds through plenty large pipe, then you will want your fish tank water level to be about the width of the pipe above the top of the grow beds (that is assuming your pipe comes right out the side of the fish tank and can lay right on the grow beds with Ts off to feed the grow beds.  Make sure the top of your fish tank is at least a few inches higher than the planned high water level.  If you go putting your overflow pipe out just under the rim of the fish tank you will probably find that you didn't use big enough pipe to keep the tank from overflowing.

[Aquamaple]

TCLynx, how is the diameter of the SLO pipe calculated?

Glen, where did you end up putting your pipe? Did you end up using 2"? How did it all work out?

[TCLynx]

I generally make sure my SLO pipe is at least twice (if not more) the size of the pumped feed pipe into the fish tank.  So in my big tank I have 1 1/2" pipe from the pump and my SLO pipe is 3" (and if I send full flow from my pump to the fish tank, I will overflow beyond what the SLO can handle.)  In my Tower tank the SLO is also 3" and the pipe for the spray bar to the tank is 1".  Gravity plumbing always needs to be big.

[Aquamaple]

That seems pretty easy to handle. Do you have recommendations for the size of the outlet pipe into the grow beds? And how many per grow bed?

[TCLynx]

Uh, Mark, I need to know more about the size/scale and flow rate (pump size and head) of the system in order to make an intelligent recommendation.

Mark Wrubel said:

That seems pretty easy to handle. Do you have recommendations for the size of the outlet pipe into the grow beds? And how many per grow bed?

[Aquamaple]

Um, I can get that info, but I meant, is there a standard outlet to SLO ratio? I'll get the detailed info.

[TCLynx]

What do you mean outlet to SLO ratio?  The SLO is the outlet of the fish tank and it needs to be big enough to handle the flow rate of water being pumped into the fish tank.  If it needs a 3 inch SLO to keep up with the flow into the fish tank, then you will need to make sure not to restrict that flow coming from the SLO to the grow beds or where ever.

So perhaps you branch off your 3" SLO with some 1" lines to feed your grow beds and then at the end of the line you need to make a "overflow" to allow any excess flow to go somewhere and ensure you don't overflow your fish tank because you have ball valves or whatever restricting the flow into your grow beds.  Let me go see if I can make a diagram that will explain this better.

[TCLynx]

Ok here is a diagram

TCLynx said:

What do you mean outlet to SLO ratio?  The SLO is the outlet of the fish tank and it needs to be big enough to handle the flow rate of water being pumped into the fish tank.  If it needs a 3 inch SLO to keep up with the flow into the fish tank, then you will need to make sure not to restrict that flow coming from the SLO to the grow beds or where ever.

So perhaps you branch off your 3" SLO with some 1" lines to feed your grow beds and then at the end of the line you need to make a "overflow" to allow any excess flow to go somewhere and ensure you don't overflow your fish tank because you have ball valves or whatever restricting the flow into your grow beds.  Let me go see if I can make a diagram that will explain this better.

[Eric Warwick]

Circumference= 2PiR

R=radius 

 2radius=diameter

This should help.

 Mark Wrubel said:

TCLynx, how is the diameter of the SLO pipe calculated?

Glen, where did you end up putting your pipe? Did you end up using 2"? How did it all work out?