Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

In a chift pist system, where does a top-up tank go? The fish tank is at a constant level no matter what and the sump and growbeds have fluctuating water levels. Would a top-up tank float go at the lowest water level in the sump? If so, how could it be mounted inside the sump?

Thorn,
the top up tank as far as i can tell what your talking about is a manual operation. You can only fill the sump after you have done a cycle, meaning after the grow beds have drained.

Thorn, second post on this page by TCL shows an easy way for a top up in your sump. Not sure about mounting inside the sump, why does it have to be in there?

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=4873&p=173944#p173944

Hi Thorn,
First drain all your grow beds and turn off your pumps.
This gives you the most amount of water that can possibly be in the sump at any time.
Then fill or drain the sump to the level you want as your "maximum fill".

Then fill all the beds and leave the pump running, this will give you the least amount of water that can be in the sump at any time.

This is the level to set your float valve to!

It will only let water in when all beds fill simultaneously, and the sump water level drops to this "Worst case scenario" level.
If it is set any higher the system may overflow if all the beds drain into the sump at the same time.


Install an agricultural type plastic float valve. often these can mount into a threaded inlet fitting through the side of the sump, or can be piped down from the top.

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What size system are you looking at for this Thorn

Sounds like Dicko has the right of it. In the sump. You would mount the float valve such that it only lets water in if the water drops below the normal low water mark in the sump. I simply fitted the plumbing to hold mine at the right level so I didn't need to worry about any sort of "mounting".

Thanks for confirming everyone. TCLynx, my plumbing will be routed into the greenhouse from the main house outdoor faucet. Figured I'd use a hose in conduit underground to keep it where it could be removed later if need be (same with the grid power) (homeowners assoc sucks). Just didn't occur to me before to hookup a pipe instead of hose to the float valve to keep it in place. Good idea!