Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i am concerened now that the solids that will be lifted from my tank are going to sit in the bottom of my piping as it runs underground and back up again, i was thinking about making some kind of solids prefilter been toying with ideas tonight, prob make it out of 100PVC and have it so i can just remove an screw on cap at the bottom and empty it into a bucket and into my GB, would be good if anyone has made such a thing that works well.

this is my Rough idea

Fully sealed unit No Atmospheric pressure.

put inline where the SLO Comes out of the Tank.

As im not sure how the solids will go as iv got no fish atm not sure if this will work or wether the solids will just go back out the top with the flow in which case i guess it would do the same where it drops underground.

May depend on the flow of water. Having it go into a larger container may help. I had a few 200ltr swirl filters before gb's a while back. Now I only use I large swirl filter as the gb's take care of the rest now the worms built up.

If the solids don't make it up the pipe to the gb, it will be there that most of the solids end up.

Wouldnt hurt to put it in place Jamie. But if you do you will have to keep emptying it cause solids will collect there.
My fish tank has a sloping floor to a sump outlet and every couple of days I pull off a bucket of water with lots of solids, as the pump doesnt pull them all out in my system.
I am surprised how many solids there are as my little trout population is growing

A bit off topic, but it does help slightly if you only feed your trouts when your pump is running... their quick moving nature would help stir up the solids so that they can be lifted out into the growbeds...

Im Running Chift-Pist with an SLO, my Problem is that my Piping runs down underground and 3.5mt over to my beds and back up again, worried that solids will end up staying in the bottom of my pipe.

I can not see why it wouldn't work. The only thing I would add is some extra length on the 'T' before the cap to give you more room for the solids to go. The further they have to fall the less likely they will end up coming out the other side.

also, make sure the cap is the type with an "o ring" to seal it cos if not - it will leak

Instead of putting the clean out in the middle of the line, I would suggest putting it on one end or the other (or both.)
I run my SLO where the water comes out of the fish tank and feeds to some of the beds and I have a clean out near there, then the water feeds down under a walkway and up to some other beds. Been running like that for over a year then I made some changes where I cut the pipe under the walkway and re-arranged things. The pipe wasn't clogged with solids. I've found that at least with my catfish and the feed I'm using, much of the solids seem to float back up well enough to move on through the system.

But a clean out is a good idea anyway. If you put the clean out on the end of the straight bit of pipe, it will be easier to look in and see or run some sort of cleaning tool in if there is ever any real problem. I've done something kinda like this on my new 300 gallon system.

My gut feeling is that you won't have a problem. If you have enough flow to lift the solids up the SLO in the first place, then there should be enought flow to lift it a second time

If you place your hand over the top of the T piece at the top of your SLO every now and again it will turn into a syphon and that will temporarily increase the flow and should flush the piping out. I do this occasionally on my SLO to lift the stubborn gunk of the bottom of the fish tank.

was thinking today if i put a T at the bottom of my Rise at the GB end and put a cap on it i could undo it and the rush of water would also act as a cleaner... im sure once a month would take any left over solids that dont quite make it.

i also agree with the idea of if it makes it up the first SLO it will be able to make it up the next rise, im only buried about 200mm under the surface... and iv got plenty of flow.

i would like to think that the solids will make it too my GB's as that is good for my worms that iv got in there....