Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Howdy.

I'm building a timed flood and drain system. The grow bed drainage is using a 40mm polly bulkhead / tank fitting with an adapter and a PVC stand pipe. See photo:

I plan to drill a couple weep holes where the Hansen sticker is, as low down as possible, but this still means that there will be 9mm of flange and rubber washer below the holes.

So my question is whether this 9mm of water in the base of the grow bed will be an issue? Will things stagnate down there, or will it wick up into the drying media? Will I need to clean out the bed more often? As I'm building this from scratch, I can slightly tilt the base so the water pools near the drainage point, or I could possibly counter sink the bulk head slightly to shrink the height down a little.

Any advice or thoughts would be really welcome. I will get some shots of the system up here soon.

Thanks, Paul.

It will not be critical if the water does not fully drain every hour and it will mix with new water anyway. Don't worry it'll be fine.

I couldn't get away from water in the bottom because of the ridged part in the middle of my IBC
I also put x2 6mm or 8mm holes in the hansen sticker - made them on an angle so they made less splash noise

My GB's are full all the time

Heres one of mine - makes less noise than the other bed where the two holes spray onto each other.

Thanks Faye, so I obviously don't need to worry about a little water in the base .. as Charlie says, think constant flood systems.

Jay - thanks for the hot tips, I will drill on an angle and stagger.

I've created a new system post: http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=16154