Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Go with the 50mm, there is a massive different between your pump and kita's and you will be massively disappointed when it cant lift the solids.

Look for something caled a "rapidseal" lettuce, dont know if you guys can get them, but they are uniseals with a large seat - made to go through corrugated tanks, not straight wall tanks like uniseals.

If you do find the 50mm is too small, dont fret. Get a piece of wood, drill your next sized SLO hole in it, then clamp to your tank, you now have a new guide for upsizing your small hole. (assuming you cut it with a holesaw)


- Quotes removed because: what the hell forum, only 3 embededd quotes?? grrr.

If its a real concern why not punch 90mm through then reduce in FT?? Then it is easily upgradeable if not happy or system upgrade, run 90 outside and reduce at the GB.
Re-drilling is ok as you suggested but he would have to remove tank from stand or possible muck around with going through the stand but sounds too much like hard work/double handling.

yea perhaps, i suppose it depends on the fittings that are used. you wouldnt want to have a dip where that 90mm piece is, especially if you are running down to 50mm, too much crap would settle in the 90mm section.

Dont forget... we are talking about 850l/hr. Im not sure about you, but i have never even run such a small pump, i use 90mm for 8000l/hr, i cant see the SLO working at 1/10th of my flow rate.

Yeah me neither, here in oz we get the multi reducers as seen on my SLO, they have a flat side which you would make sure was the bottom.
It wouldn't be hard to make up 1 and try before fitting? It will only be lifting a little further but he can fill the tank a bit more to negate that extra lift??

Sorry I never got back to this thread, yea at such a low flow rate there prob would be issues with a 90mm SLO. Plenty of members here have used 50mm SLO's with success and if you find thats not enough you could add another 50mm SLO. What volume is your FT? Remember you want to be turning your FT volume over approx once an hour so 850l/h might be too small for your system, considering out of the box its prob only good for 600l/h. Food for thought anyways.

Thanks for the reply. My FT is 120 gallons (450 liters) so that's plenty of turnover rate. I wish I could build a huge system but I just don't have the property for it yet.

I'm thinking I'll order the 50mm bulkheads for the SLO tonight. Not sure if I have the ability to add a second one because the water flows directly from my SLO to the RFF and MBBR. All of these aconyms make me feel important...

Yea cool, no probs, lettuce. I see so many IBC systems day to day I now automatically assume a new system is exactly that... and Im a shocker for skim reading. In larger systems and if your pump is of capable size, a 90mm SLO is favourable. In your case Im sure a 50mm will be quite good.

It would be good if you started up a system thread and post some pics of your set up or proposed set up. This way we can better understand how you want it to work. Im kinda confused why you want a series of filters when you could just be pumping to a grow bed then returning to the FT but once again I need to see what you have to help.

Okay, I'll probably make a system thread today. I want the filter series because I am going with a DWC growbed. I want to filter the fish waste so the plants are happy.

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=20294&p=435288#p435288 There you go!

Ok I know I mentioned it earlier in this thread but I run a 40mm SLO at 1000 l/h and it is fine (I also have a 40mm overflow just in case, which is easier and better than stuffing around with 90mm piping and then reducing it anyway.. Overkill!) for my 1000L IBC FT. 90mm for you would be pointless and possibly detrimental. If you want to be sure get the 50mm and at least you can find bulkheads at that size that will go through your wall thickness.

I went with 1 1/2" (40mm) also. Mine is 850 L/H. I think that 1 1/4" (32mm) would have worked too. I consulted this handy chart to find out my gravitational flows: http://aquaponicsnation.com/forums/topic/8461-gravitational-flow-rates-based-on-pipe-size/



Totally agree, I am planning to do the same thing. I ordered 4 bulkheads, one for grow bed SLO, one for fish tank SLO, and one for each emergency standpipe. You and I see eye to eye on this topic mate. Have you ever had to use your emergency overflows?

I did a search but came up with lots of concrete products. Do you have a link?

Yes the overflow got used once when I swapped out a pump with a larger one temporarily and the flow overwhelmed the SLO by a tiny amount… so it was good to have it. I also added a second SLO that goes to my RFF which is about 50mm below the SLO that goes directly to the GBs… this way when I close the ball valve to the RFF (in Winter when I am not feeding the fish as much I don't use the RFF) the water rises to the next SLO 50mm up and if it gets blocked or can't handle the flow then the water rises to the overflow.