Plumbing for Vertigro systems

[M Cosmo]

Question: What size pipe should I plumb from the tank to the Vertigro stacks.

Some of you have experience with Plumbing verticals.  As I may have mentioned I am in 6 high stacks of Vertigro. I am now plumbing my Tanks. I have a Danner MD18 See chart and PDF.

I need to go to 12 and eventually 24 stacks. I want to plumb with 1/2" or 3/4" PVC. I want to put valves at each stack. I could reduce to the valve at this point. 

Should I use larger pipe? Should I use smaller pipe at the stacks?

I am going to run it 15 mins every hour for 12 hours and less at night. Overflow pressure to circulate the tank. I don't think running 24/7 will work with the coir media based vertigro. I am going Low Density 1lb to 5-10Gal as they are doing so successfully at Friendly Aquaponics. 

[Rob Torcellini]

At a 6' head, that pump is capable of doing 20GPM. You should go with at least 3/4", probably 1" pipe to reduce your line loss. If you have multiple rows, you could run the 1" for the main feeder and then reduce down to 3/4" on each leg....

What's the size of the connector on the pump?

[Nate Storey]

If you're doing a primary pipe with stacks coming off of it, I'd go at least1" (if not1.5) on the main (ground level) and then reduce down to 1/2 with a valve on that. My reasoning- you're going to be moving a lot of water with that pump and adding on eventually and running small lines everywhere makes gives you more pipe surface are as a function of volume of water moved which means more biofouling and more energy consumption for less work. If you have valves on your stacks, you don't necessarily have to reduce to 1/4 or anything- you can moderate flow with your valve- whatever you think is easier. If you really want flexibility, use poly- it makes it easier to change stuff down the road and its flexible, cuttable, spliceable, etc.

[TCLynx]

I would say yes larger pipe from the pump and you can then reduce as you feed out to the towers.
I've got a similar small (actually I think mine mine is the MD7, but I could be wrong since mine has 1/2" male pipe thread fittings) Anyway, by using a bushing threaded onto the pump, I easily went to a larger pipe size out of the pump and it definitely increased the flow out of that pump as compared to running just the 1/2" pipe like the pump connection seemed to call for.

Anyway, my recommendation here won't be very scientific but I would probably go for at least 1" thin wall pressure pipe coming from the pump up to your highest point, then Tee off from there to go to your various locations. Actually, it might be even better to go with 1 1/2" riser up to the first Tee and then reduce down to 1" to feed out to the various locations and 1" to 1/2" Tee's to feed each tower.

Now an option instead of ball valves might be 1/2" caps on the feed to each tower and drill some holes in the caps kinda like Nate is doing for his vertical components. 1" to 1/2" tees with the 1/2" outlet being threaded are a common part to find and then you just need the tread adapter some 1/2" pipe and the caps to. I don't even have my caps glued on and so it would be easy to adjust and change. So far it doesn't seem to be trying to blow off the pipe. Ball valves can add up quickly but they are more adjustable.

[Rob Torcellini]

I agree with Nate about the tubing. I use black poly tubing and run 3/4" and 1/2" through most of my system. It's all connected with barbed fittings and easy to make changes to it. My only "solid" pipes are on the drains.

A few side notes: be careful with the coir....I tried it once and had serious root rot problems with some of my plants...it stays wet far longer than gravel or expanded clay. I cycle my gravel filled strawberry towers every 1.5 hours, with 15 minute on time.....

[Ron Thompson]

Michael,

Your pump has a 1/2 inch outlet - that is a choke point. I do not believe you will move any greater volume of water with a 1" line than with a 1/2" line because of that outlet. Your runs are also fairly short so you won't lose any measurable amount do to the run length.

As you know I have a 60' run from my tank to my stacks. I'm running 1/2" using the same pump as you. While I don't have the number of stacks you do, my end pressure could easily sustain an additional 15 stacks (IMHO).

[TCLynx]

Ron,
I have tested this recommendation about using larger pipe Ron. Running a little pump that has a 1/2" outlet. I ran it using 1/2" pipe and I found I had clogging issues and the beds couldn't flood (I'm using flood and drain not vertigrow) in the 15 minutes I was running the pump so I decided the pump sucked and got a bigger one which unfortunately used way more power. At a later date when I got sick of how much power the bigger pump was using, I decided to adapt up and hook the little pump to the larger piping just to see what would happen. To my happy amazement the little tiny pump was now able to flood the grow beds in the 15 minutes the timer had it on and I've not had the big pipes clog with gunk either.

Yes, the outlet and inlet to the pump is going to be a major restriction point but the friction loss of running long runs of small piping (especially in aquaponics where bio-fouling and bio-slime do restrict plumbing more than one might expect) do add up in a very big way. My experiment with the little tiny pump was dealing with minimal piping length and only a couple feet of head. Switching from 1/2" pip to 1" pipe made a huge amount of difference to the flow provided by the pump.

I'm not sure I would recommend the poly pipe and barb fittings but only because I have difficulty pushing them together and pulling them apart and also, the barb fittings will restrict the flow more than a comparable size PVC fitting since they are inserted into the pipe. PVC is pretty easy to cut and glue and pretty cheap so modifying and changing things isn't so bad, I seem to do it regularly.

[M Cosmo]

All right this is what I have bought and am going to install tomorrow. From the pump up-sized to 1" ID soft vinyl for the 5". In the tank and up the inside. Then to 1" thin wall PVC all the way to the top of each each Vertigro stack. then the T is 1" and 1/2" to the stack. 1/2" ball valve on each stack (1/2" valves were only $2.65 each). I also have two 1" Ts in the riser from the pump. One to shut off the system to the Vertigro and one for the overflow inside the tank. I will post the pics after I do it and see how it does.

[Rob Torcellini]

one more thing to think about. You may want a backflow device installed just after the pump. Some people like them so the water doesn't drain back out of the piping....some people don't install them so it can flush some of the junk out of the pump when it shuts off. You could go either way.....

[TCLynx]

There are two places I use check valves in AP.
1- when you have an inline pump above the water level in a sump tank or in ground fish tank. A non flow restricting swing check valve installed below the normal low water level can help the pump keep it's prime along with a priming basket installed at the highest pipe level between the sump tank and the pump.

2- when a beds is having flood and drain achieved by use of a float controlled pump, having the water flow back into the bed through the pump from the piping would kinda defeat the purpose of the whole thing if there is a lot of piping to drain back.

for small pumps, I actually like a bit of backflush through the pump to reduce the amount of pump cleaning needed regularly. But you don't want huge amounts of water going back through the pump all the time.

When using check valves, always make sure to install the right way around and the right way up. A pin hole might be needed below the check valve to avoid air lock problems. Check valves can get fouled with debris and not work right. I recommend the swing check valve rather than the spring loaded variety that will have metal in them to foul. The swing check valves will allow more unrestricted flow of water and therefore not put extra restrictions on your pump and therefore be more efficient.

[M Cosmo]

I am finally an Aquaponic gardner. I have my fish 100 fingerlings in one 300 gallon tank and a 12 in a breeding colony in another 220 gallon tank. I plumbed my Danner pump with some 1 in. vinyl to 1 in. PVC to 1" x1/2" Tee to ball valves on the top of each stack. I also added a bypass 1 in ball valve to the tank to control the excess flow back to the tank. You can see most of this in the photos I just added. I have it set to run for 15 mins every hour for 12 or so hours. When I plumb the 2nd set of 6 stacks I will evaluate the cycles.

[Nate Storey]

Sounds like you're off to a good start! Congrats!

Michael Cosmo said:

I am finally an Aquaponic gardner. I have my fish 100 fingerlings in one 300 gallon tank and a 12 in a breeding colony in another 220 gallon tank. I plumbed my Danner pump with some 1 in. vinyl to 1 in. PVC to 1" x1/2" Tee to ball valves on the top of each stack. I also added a bypass 1 in ball valve to the tank to control the excess flow back to the tank. You can see most of this in the photos I just added. I have it set to run for 15 mins every hour for 12 or so hours. When I plumb the 2nd set of 6 stacks I will evaluate the cycles.