Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was wondering if any of you have a good resource about large scale airlifts, I need an airlift that can do 4,500 Gallons an hour with a head height of 6 feet. Are there any videos of one this size or sources i could see?

After looking around more I found an interesting source,

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/AirliftPumps.htm

If i follow figure B's design then i just need 300 L/M airpump
Any ideas where i can find one of those, most air pumps i see are only 100 L/M

I'm stuck here, i just cannot find a 300 L/M air pump or even close to it. Anyone have some insight for me?

Hi Dagger,

You don't mention at what pressure you need to move 300 lpm, but that could be important. So 300 lpm is about 10.6 cfm. Here are some blowers that'll do upto 15 cfm:

http://m.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3669+9004&pcatid=9004

--
Sam

if your after head this is a good start

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9FrU9 ... G047wVKnSA

their are 2x main types one uses no valves the other uses valves


instead of pumping high flow at a high head
for my setup I run high flow filtration with practically headless air lift pump
then with an trickle flow @ high head to the grow towers I have 6m 3m and 1.5m long grow towers
depending on crops and rotation

1.5m are on daily / weekly so the tower can be transported in van to markets etc
(nothing better then having full running demo system at markets everyone picks it fresh of the towers)

3m are weekly / monthly towers pulled down and harvested at the spot

6m are long term to be accessed via lift

a simple airlift pump can run 1:1 ratio @ 1m submerge 20cm lift
(this is just an airstone plunked down inside 50mm pipe )

ie) I have tested an 10LPM air pump moving a bit over 10 LPM h20 @ 20cm lift which would have just been running an airstone which is now aerating plus filtering IBC

I would only need 20 LPM of air to do hrly water exchange in 1000L IBC and 20 CM lift is more than enough infact if its designed right you should never need over 5cm lift ( apart from making use of vertical towers )

pretty much my system consists of 2x types of air pumps
1x regenerative blower type low pressure high Flow
150 watts 20 cm deep moving over 700 LPM o2 and over 3000 LPM h2O up to 10 CM head

1x piston/diaphragm type high pressure low Flow
116 watts 100cm deep moving over 110 LPM o2 and over 110 LPM h2O up to 50 CM head
( but can go higher with additional collectors )
but better using water pump or water pump / air lift combination for high heads

http://dwkoi.com/wp-content/themes/dwk/ ... lator.html
can help you guesstimate what you can expect with a tuned airlift

Well, if you can't get that much water to 6 feet you could always take it in steps of 2 feet.

Trying to move that much water that high, Why don't you just use a water pump?

I do use air lifts all the time for outside but so far never over half a meter. I do not use an air stone. Just 2 hoses. One inside the other.

I actually found smaller pipes best for stoneless lifts
while if using airstone larger pipes better .. even had 2x LIFT ??

even made another discovery the other day .. moving more water if pipe 45 deg same head ...

I also use an large funnel on my air lifts , normally the base is 10x the size of the lift pipe
how ever found an golden circle drink bottle is also good 2x pipe sizes fit right onto the neck ( inside / outside )
( more if you use an 40mm adapter )


currently redoing my system so I supersaturate the water under pressure pre biofiltration , then by the time it passes through the filter / plants it should be normal aerated water