Using your water pump to also put in air.

[halemart]

At one point I was  using my pump to stir up solids in the bottom of my tank.

 

Tonight, I thought I would look around and see if there was a venturi  that would work with the pump to add more air.

 

I stumbled on this video.    The pump is way to much power for what I  need, but, I am thinking it would cost me nothing to run an air  line down next to my pump input and see if I get any results.

 

This guy is putting some massive amounts of air in.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&annotation_id=annotati...

 

 

[TCLynx]

Probably better to inject air after the pump rather than before it.  If you inject the air before the pump you could cause some cavitation that could be bad for your pump impeller.

 

I'm not home right now and video is loading too slowly to watch it yet.

[halemart]

Excellent point cavitation is destructive, probably even more so with more powerful pumps, I guess one could ask the guy who shot this video how his pump is holding up.   

 

I was impressed with the results the guy was getting, but not impressed with the amount of wattage the pump he was using.    However, he does have a high volume of water to get air to.

 

One test I hope to make is to test the difference between running with a bubler in a given volume of water verses, using  the same air pump to create a pulsar pump.   I am wondering which would create more dissolved oxygen....    My hypothesis would be that the air stone would, but in watching the pulsar pump in action there is much interaction with the air and the water.

 

 

 

 

 

[RupertofOZ]

Just as simple, and probably just as effective... if you have excess pump flow... is simply to plumb in a bypass line (with ball valve) ... back to the fish tank... cut it in above the pump outlet and delivery line to the grow beds .... and attach a spray bar...

If you want to add extra grow beds later... you just divert the line to the new beds...

[Ian Cameron]

Hmmm... I am a firm believer in getting the maximum use out of my energy inputs, and that includes the water siphoning out of the grow beds. I have one Maxima R air pump feeding 3 12' airstones. 1 in the fish tank and the other two in the GB's. When I first set things up, I was delighted at the noise and air being introduced to the fish tank from the GB's. My wife however, was not. So I lengthened the down spout to sit about 4" under the water surface with the resulting loss of extra aeration. Hmmmm...thinks I, not good. So, harking back to my days as a wildland fire fighter, and some of the designs we came up with to make our water more 'efficient' I had designed and built a down stream soap and air injector coupled in with a fire hose. Actually worked quite well, and was a precursor to the modern foam injectors of today.( Wish I had patented it). Anyway, I digress, but the point being is that I drilled 4-  3/16" holes on an angle  \| |/  like this through the 1" down spout about 2" above the water line.. Air is pulled in via the low pressure area passing by inside the pipe, and voila! great secondary aeration. The classic venturi.

[Bob Vento]

Ian,

I tried your idea and drilled 4 - 3/16" holes in a downward angle and damn if it didn't work. I noticed about double the bubbles coming from the modified 1" grow bed bell siphon drain pipe. I am planning on doing the same thing to my equalizing 1" water feed pipe going directly into the fish tank.

Thanks for the tip.

I love this forum and the brilliant people on it !  

Ian Cameron said:

Hmmm... I am a firm believer in getting the maximum use out of my energy inputs, and that includes the water siphoning out of the grow beds. I have one Maxima R air pump feeding 3 12' airstones. 1 in the fish tank and the other two in the GB's. When I first set things up, I was delighted at the noise and air being introduced to the fish tank from the GB's. My wife however, was not. So I lengthened the down spout to sit about 4" under the water surface with the resulting loss of extra aeration. Hmmmm...thinks I, not good. So, harking back to my days as a wildland fire fighter, and some of the designs we came up with to make our water more 'efficient' I had designed and built a down stream soap and air injector coupled in with a fire hose. Actually worked quite well, and was a precursor to the modern foam injectors of today.( Wish I had patented it). Anyway, I digress, but the point being is that I drilled 4-  3/16" holes on an angle  \| |/  like this through the 1" down spout about 2" above the water line.. Air is pulled in via the low pressure area passing by inside the pipe, and voila! great secondary aeration. The classic venturi.

[halemart]

I will have to try the venturi idea...

This video blew my mind.   If it is real think what one could do with aquaponics with this!...

http://youtu.be/fpfjOs0IZfk

[halemart]

Wow I did not know they posted other videos.    I want to try this!

The first video is amazing.

http://youtu.be/riiaaWnfzSg

http://youtu.be/WVpxdONMkWc

[Ian Cameron]

As a part time hatchery worker, I am constantly reminded of the critical DO levels required for healthy fish. For Coho salmon juveniles it is at least 70% saturation, preferably more. We run our flow thru system to provide at least 86% plus. I'm not sure about other species, but am of the opinion that there not such a thing as too much DO. I adapted my venturi system to run on my pump return line. Drilled 30- 3/16 holes about 24" above water line and added enough pipe and an elbow to extend into water about 8" so I could get some directional flow in the rectangular tank. What I noticed however was that the air was being pulled in with great efficiency, but the outflow was just great big BURP's of air and water. Thinking about this for a bit, I came to the conclusion that the water weight in the pipe was just barely sufficient to force the air down under the water. Sooo.. I drilled 10-3/16" holes just above the water line to help relieve the pressure. Man, does that work or what? I borrowed a DO meter from work and tested the water before, and 1/2 - 2hr later after the change. Before reading: 66% . 1/2 hr after change 74%, after 2 hrs 93%. Bear in mind that I have also a 12" airstone in the FT.

[Yadi]

Howdy!  I'm just getting started building my system.  I understand theoretically what you are saying, but I've never seen it in use.  Would one of you be willing to post on youtube or maybe post a picture or three of the venturi tube in use?

Thanks!

Ian Cameron said:

Hmmm... I am a firm believer in getting the maximum use out of my energy inputs, and that includes the water siphoning out of the grow beds. I have one Maxima R air pump feeding 3 12' airstones. 1 in the fish tank and the other two in the GB's. When I first set things up, I was delighted at the noise and air being introduced to the fish tank from the GB's. My wife however, was not. So I lengthened the down spout to sit about 4" under the water surface with the resulting loss of extra aeration. Hmmmm...thinks I, not good. So, harking back to my days as a wildland fire fighter, and some of the designs we came up with to make our water more 'efficient' I had designed and built a down stream soap and air injector coupled in with a fire hose. Actually worked quite well, and was a precursor to the modern foam injectors of today.( Wish I had patented it). Anyway, I digress, but the point being is that I drilled 4-  3/16" holes on an angle  \| |/  like this through the 1" down spout about 2" above the water line.. Air is pulled in via the low pressure area passing by inside the pipe, and voila! great secondary aeration. The classic venturi.

[Ian Cameron]

Yadi, here are some pics. I don't subscribe to youtube and don't have movie capability. I am always experimenting with the plumbing so things may not appear as previously written.

The bottom end of the pump return

The top end of the pump return. Please note that all the holes are drilled at a 45 degree angle downwards. I had reversed them originally in a bad moment, but fortunately caught it before gluing in place. I'm a big fan of dry fit now ;)

[Yadi]

Hi Ian!

Thanks so much for posting pictures.  I get it!  Sounds interesting and it might be something I could do here.  Also thanks for the reminder to dry fit. 

Yadi

Ian Cameron said:     The top end of the pump return. Please note that all the holes are drilled at a 45 degree angle downwards. I had reversed them originally in a bad moment, but fortunately caught it before gluing in place. I'm a big fan of dry fit now

[Hal Hurst]

I am new here, but I have a fish culture setup that pumps about 300 gph through a biofilter and returns it to a pipe that drops two feet into the high end of my system of barrels.  Recently, to enhance my aeration, I routed this water down through a 3/4" pipe that discharges a few inches from the water level of the tank into a 1 1/2 inch pipe, open at the top and with outlets a few inches below the surface and another at the bottom of the tank. This churns up the water and carries a lot of air into my water without cooling it, and it's dead simple to set up.