Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Walked into the harware today and saw the Y fittings straight away. You are right they are perfect, just put lengths of pipe between each fitting and maybe vary the potition of the y fittings as you go up the pipe. I think I will build me one of those when I get my system going. I can see them sitting all around the fish tank (or even above the fish tank so the water flows straight back in).

Gotta admit, I want to go the the big "B" to see what it would cost...

Already went there and bought some today, they're in the back of the ute.....

Will set one up tomorrow and take some pics...

i can see a row of 5 vertical pvc pipes with Y fittings, then the bases fitted to a horizonal pvc pipe draining back to the tank.

If you wanted to make it REALLY creative you could run the supply poly inside the return pipe and T off at the vertical pipes to the top before it was all fitted together.

You might need to read that a few times for it to make sense.

Whadda ya think of that?

still trying to make sense of that Steve..*hic*...
- so what didi they charge you for the y pieces then?

EB, have you tried another supplier for your pvc?

The B has a reputation for being quite expensive for certain things.

What are your experieces with prcing of PVC and fittings?

I went straight to the big "B" - have not priced other areas yet (I can be a little lazy that way )
I know that there are other "plumbing suppliers" in town, just been tooooo lazy to pop in
(hmm, they should make it law that everybody lists their prices online!)

They are 65mm DWV fittings shapped a bit like a slightly pissed 'Y'.

I think I;m getting what you mean, like the idea of running the supply line internally, it's a neat way of doing things.. I was only going to set one verticle column up, I think it will end up being 6-8 of the Y pieces high, with very short pieces of 65mm pipe between them just for joining purposes.

It will be fun to play with tomorrow....

Oh and price.... They were under $5 each fitting, closer to $4 each for memory.. Not super cheap buttt, like you say, possibly cheaper elsewhere......

That's CHEAP! I paid $17 for one pvc 65mm elbow!

Of course, I will have to have my corpse carried there to ever be seen in that store again.

LOL - but at $4 TO $5 A PIECE, that still adds up!
Looking forward to some more ppics

Mitre 10 had 90mm (or maybe 100) ones for less than $5 here and that was at the city store.

a few years back, i looked real hard at building a similar system, only i was going aero. a 3 inch net pot w/ hydroton, and a mister per plant site. that way the vertical tube wouldn't need to be filled w/ medium, just the cups.

either way, i think that it would be benificial to to have feed lines to each plant site, as opposed to just one feeding from the top. imo, the only way to get uniform growth is to give all of the plants an equal oppertunity to feed.

True. But too much fluff and parts. for someone running uniform cropping or attempting it I see the need.

I will play with heavier feeders above and light feeders below. A flow valve on each tube so I can see if flow rates change grow rates etc. And if I'm wrong I can add a line inside, one pipe at a time sometime down the track.

Aquaddict, did you ever get around to trying this?

What results and any pics?