Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My only real world experience with airlifts was our old wastewater treatment plant which ran primarily on them. We also used to rig a 2" airlift out of PVC pipe and suctioned grit from 20ft depth but we had a lot of air to play with. Lots of gold jewelry in that grit so yes it will suction anything in a fish tank provided enough air and proper placement of air inlet. Probably best to go with real aquaponic experience and use the pumps suggested by those here and using them with success. I'm not so sure about some posts I've read here stating airlifts don't suction well though but don't wish to start a debate. In my experience, the deeper the water with a good size pipe of at least 2" and lots of air...much water can be moved and maintain DO levels of at least 7 in concentrated wastewater so when I saw your tank is when I thought it might work well.

we now have about 10,000L tank and 10,000L growbed. We brought them all online at the same time, but we planted with seeds, so everything grew together, fish, plants and bacteria.

Thanks Jaymie.

I've got easy space for 7-10,000l of growbed. Though shading could be an issue for some of that (morning shade, afternoon sun). It seems to be getting hotter here so perhaps that's a good thing, will just have to keep leaf litter at bay with some sort of clear roof.

Cost is going to be an issue for me But if I can progressively add growbeds over time with fish stocking it should be do-able.

Now to find some time to draw a picture... Overflow plumbing height is going to be a pain as its just perfect head height , so I'm going to have to use large diameter pipes that go down and back up again...and hope the poo doesn't get stuck...

I recon something like this concept might work for me.

Healthy Rainwater Tanks

Overflow to the growbeds with 'fresh water' from a single pump in the sump. Swirl action delivery helping to direct the poo to the overflow standpipe...

Main pictures below: