Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

while your idea is commendable, its impossible in its current design. As i said earlier you may be able to get something like 20cm of lift from your airpump at the absolute maximum. So if you can design your clay pots to have no more than 20cm of fall over the whole lot then it may well be possible.

You will just need alot more horizontal space and less vertical. As you are running hydroponics you dont need much flow at all so it may well work as a method of moving water with as little plastic contact as possible.

This is the only way it will work, if you cant ditch the 2m head with an airlift operating from an aquarium pump idea then im afraid nobody can help you.

wont the hydro nutrients you buy come in plastic containers from factories you have no idea about?

I guess 1 liter per hour is the minimum . something like this

I have searched a lot . I think the best will for me to copy something that work.

does anyone has had a good experience with air lift pump ? if so ca i have a pict or dram of how you assembled the air line to the colomn?

what circumference did you use and height results .


fell free to ask you friends

I am working on an air
Lift pump design myself. The problem I see with your design is the depth of the tank. From my research, air lift pimps in their basic form can lift around 40% of the depth of the tank, so to get a 2m head height, your tank will need to be around 3m deep. There are more efficient air lifts, but they still have a head limitation that will not do what you are wanting with such a shallow tank.

To help this, you can lower the pipe to be under your tank so that the air lift pumps from a metre under your tank - this would give you a greater head height, but you will still have issues lifting up that high with such a small amount of water.

I suggest you research the Ben and Glenn aqua zen air pump . It is the one I am trying out and looks to be one of the more efficient models if you build it correctly. There is a lot of info to sift through but will be worth it in the end.

Good luck


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The Ben and Glenn design does have some appropriate applications but efficient it is not.

Don't tell me that! I have based my design around it!

I like to experiment, too. In my line of work, I tell everyone to keep it simple. Does not mean that I have to take my own advice.

Lucky I have a backup plan. .

It can all be retrofitted with a normal pump.

Back to thread topic: I would do the research if I were you. It will take hours, but it is well worth the work, and you will see if it is worth doing in your design.

As Stu says, they are not very efficient, but if it achieves what you are after then all the better. Although, again, from my research, your figures do not seem to work out, but you may be able to tweak it to fit depending on how flexible you are with the design.

I also said one of the more efficient air lift pumps. I did not say that it was efficient.

Yes but its not.

The most efficient air lift pumps are positive displacement air operated pumps. Like the geyser pump for relatively small lifts or solenoid valve air control pumps.

The only advantage of the Ben and Glenn pump is its ability to lift to high heads without needing a corresponding deep submergence. You could say it is the most efficient non electrically controlled, shallow installation, high head airlift though.

If you have electrical power available almost any water pump is going to be superior.

True.

So backyardlover, do your research. As Stu said, they are not efficient, but if you have such stringent rules that you need to follow, you may need to experiment, but first of all, research, research, research.

You may find that you need to adjust your design quite extensively, but you may be able to keep your materials to the high standard that you are seeking.

Is the glen and ben and glenben airlift the "paradigm shift" one?

if not, look that up, its not magic, it wont fix your problem, but it is a start.

i think the main thing to get an airlift to higher heads is going to be using super thin tube (like in the YT vid on the last page) or to place 1 way valves.

good luck, i would just use a normal pump.... try and find something from the food industry if you are worried - who said you have to buy a submergible pump?? - air lifts simply wont be as efficient at large heights or larger flow rates, i guess efficiency doesnt matter if you dont mind paying twice the setup and running costs or more.

Personally I think it is a badly conceived system with uneducated motives.
Plastic and metal are generic terms to describe constructional materials. Glass FT glued together with what? clay pots made with what? airpump with what diaphragms?
You go for the worst designed system even if you were using a centrifugal pump, it will last zip as the top pot fills with shit, and I could go on.

This however is only imho.

Edit

And I do not like having to be the one who is so blunt, can't someone (aside from me) tell him it's a stupid idea; as in I am sorry santa claus is a fairie tale.

Haha

I though I was going to get yelled at with my first post for being blunt.

Forget it you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink

+1 Sleepe.

I may have been too subtle in my post , but in its current iteration, it cannot work. You will not get an air lift pump to go That high. If you wanted to adjust the system, it would look ridiculous, as you would need to make the ft very deep. (4m or so.)

What i am saying is DO THE RESEARCH on air lift pumps. There has been quite a lot of people pointing you in the right direction . Only you can decide if it will work on your system or not . I say it will not, but you may want to experiment and prove us wrong .

I for one would welcome that.


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Apart from the head height issue , why are you concerned about plastic when you will be using a synthetic nutrient solution in your system. Why would you not use fish?


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