A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

System Upgrade Radial Flow Filter

I have recently added a radial flow filter (RFF) to our system. To do that I had to rebuild the drains from the FT to the gravel beds. The old drains were 1 1/4"; with each GB having it's own drain from the FT. I now have one 3' drain from the FT to the RFF and then a 3" drain from the RFF to the GBs. Each GB has a 1" feed from the single 3" drain. Now, that may be a bit hard to understand, but in a nutshell that is what was done. That places the RFF between the FT and my biofilter, which is the GBs.

The building of the RFF was a challenge because there are a lot of different opinions as to how it should be built. Some time soon I will post a video on my YouTube channel (HOWponics) and show you how I did it. It only took a matter of hours to see the RFF doing what it is suppose to do. In the two years that we have been doing this in our backyard our system has grown and we have learned a lot.

If you need Uniseal fittings, as I did, I suggest you check out THE UNISEAL WAREHOUSE online. Their prices are unbeatable and their customer service is excellent.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael Welber on April 28, 2014 at 9:13am

I'm interested to learn what a Radial Flow Filter does. I have a two pump system and the sump tank gets quite dirty. Yesterday I had to drain it again to remove the dirt. Will an RFF help this situation? I'm using a standard flood and drain system with auto siphons.

Permalink Reply by Jeff S on April 28, 2014 at 9:14am

Looking forward to the video. I too am assessing options for a RFF as I will be reorganizing my GH over the summer.

Permalink Reply by John E Windsor on April 28, 2014 at 9:47am

Michael, I hope you don't really have dirt in your system, but if you do the RFF will take it out. By placing the filter between the FT and your grow beds you can remove most of the solids, whatever they may be, before they get into the system.

Here is some good info on the RFF: http://www.earthangroup.com.au/diy-solids-filter/.

Permalink Reply by John E Windsor on April 28, 2014 at 8:33pm

Her is the video I uploaded to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAXnG0dyv3A&feature=youtu.be

I am not a video aficionado.

Permalink Reply by John E Windsor on April 29, 2014 at 5:37pm

As I neglected to give mention of the effluent valve in my 1st video of our new filter, I have added this video: