Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was digging around in my media bed today to plant a capsicum seedling. When I had dug a bit of a hole I was inspecting for built up solids and water flow. It was interesting to see that my understandings of water flow in a CF system are correct. The draw of water to the media guard created by the exiting water down the standpipe is drawing from all directions. I tried to catch this on video but it was difficult due to the reflection on the water so I tried an umbrella behind me so hopefully you get the drift of it. You will notice on this particular bed the distribution pipes from the pump only go along 2 halves of the bed so not a very even distribution, although you can see the water flowing nicely in what would otherwise be considered a 'dead' area.

In a couple of months I will pull these beds down and we can inspect solid build up. Hope this helps understand CF flow through a media bed.

A bit hard to see exactly... But I wonder, wouldn't the water flow into the hole you made because it's the lowest point, and then it would flow easily into the media surround because because you dug right up to it and water will always take the easiest path. Maybe.

Yea the vid doesnt do it much justice after re-watching it. To the naked eye I can see the water flowing quite rapidly from the outside to the media guard. I might have to do another take on this so to capture what Im actually seeing. The point I was trying to make was that the water is drawn from all areas towards the media guard so I was trying to give a visual on that.