Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Part of my process has been to use knife valves with appropriate gate/ball valve before/after.

I was finding that using the valve and indexing where I needed it would cause inconsistencies and cause me to babysit more when brought back online. Now I set the valve and just open/close knife when doing service and if something is awry, able to look at 2 area as opposed to several and which has the greater impact overall?

[url="http://www.seasideaquatics.com/pond/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_11&products_id=30"]Seaside Aquatics[/url]

Above link should take to pump for specs for future.

Adam

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Where did you buy the knife valves? The big valve valves are a real bugger to turn.

Oh so you aren't using the valve to adjust the flows?

I use the valves to set/adjust the flow per the system demand, and the knife valves to direct as needed (during service) so I do not have to a fine tune afterwards.

Address an issue tomorrow (that Rob mentioned) but i was in a hurry and did something quickly and did not go back out, flooded my tank and lost 3 koi (one of which was my personal favorite).

Just sprinklers has 1.5/2" - as well as the other place around the corner (dont remember name or do business there anymore). Good for immediate fix if passing through, but Amazon is probably cheaper.

Adam

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We dropped Amazon and we're happy for the freedom to buy stuff elsewhere. Ebay for example has them for around $20. Oasis aquatics, yeah I remember how they disrespected you.
"I use the valves to set/adjust the flow per the system demand, and the knife valves to direct as needed (during service) so I do not have to a fine tune afterwards."
I have to think about what you are saying in the first part of the sentence. Perhaps I need to step back and logic chart my system flows to see what the system demand is?

Instead of opening/closing the ball valves in place when doing service, i use the knife valves. The ball/gate allow me to fine tune the flows based on needs of the system.

I do not touch them unless some other change requires it and only do the knife valves

I have a gate valve that I run 3.5 turns open. Sometimes it would only take x3 turns and others , it would be 4.5 turns (it would not be consistent internally) . Now I just open/close knife valve so my ideal setting is maintained and I know that if problem arises, it has to do with my pumps and not various valve settings throughout the system.

It was this valve that caused my tank to overflow and loss of my fish.

Adam

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Thank you for this Adam. I see what you mean now.
I'm sorry to report I've made no progress on the filter. I'm in bad shape from inflammatory arthritis again. I wish I could figure out if it is something in my diet or what the heck is causing this pain in my joints. I have been drinking a lot of milk these last few months.

I have not had ceral in ages. Had a bowl last night and paid for it. Milk, wheat......the semi is still backing up/pulling forward over me as I type.

Adam

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Indeed it is cereal that both Nell and I have recently taken to. Cynical me thinks the things I like to eat always prove bad for me. All I need to do is stop it for a while and see what happens. Confused me says this disease gets worse or better for no apparent reason all the time.

Workout done, took a break, set the cone-bottom tank temporarily where I was thinking it should sit. Once I look at some pros and cons of plumbing to this location I can fine tune the location.
Take a couple pictures and another break

Good morning,
With more down time than up time yesterday I didn't get a lot done.
With pain comes pain killerz and cannabis so my brain wasn't clear, and of course that makes me more wishywashy than normal.
I did figure some important stuff out.
For example the idea I had about combining the dual inflows from dual SLOs will not function like I had imagined.

While the two 1 1/2" PVC pipes do fit inside a larger pipe I have on hand, they leave too many areas for solids to reverse and flow probably at a greater velocity downward. Even if I could seal the dual pipes at the bottom to stop the reverse flow particles may build up inside at the bottom of the well.

All I was trying to do was create a better dispersal pattern at the top of the dual SLO in-flow. I just don't see enough benefit of creating a combiner compared to the extra work needed to create a singular round top piece.

Once I moved past that issue I needed to see how high I had to mount the cone-bottom tank on the wall so that I can create a tee for either draining the RFF inside into the mineralizer tank or outside to a worm bin.

Dual flows again.
The reason for dual flows into the RFF are for the large water volume in our system which is around 3000 gallons. I'll be upgrading the water pump shortly too so turning over this quantity of water is creating a lot of flow.

I do have two 1 1/2" ball valves to use for the RFF drains, but at issue is limited space to build back in the corner. One valve will direct the waste out over the foundation through the frame wall. This would be easiest as opposed to drilling through the foundation. Even with the roof on the greenhouse at its lowest where the RFF will be located I don't want the top so high I can't see inside for extra thorough cleaning. This means I need the drain tee to do its ninety degree turn as quick as possible.

Two things I saw right away are, drain tees aren't made to combine two flows. There is a little director inside the Tee to persuade waste go in one direction. I could use a Y instead, but that will use more room under the RFF with additional plumbing fittings.
The second problem and what ultimately stopped progress yesterday is the fitting I bought for the bottom of the RFF is 2" instead of 1 1/2" DOH!

I have no room for the larger pipes. I'll just have to run back to the hardware store for the proper fitting today.
I moved from there to locating a stilling well.

This will work. Its a large enough diameter to keep flow velocity minimized around the edges of the stilling well, which is I imagine how it got its name.
I hope with no pain killers or cannabis this morning the made some semblance of logic this morning, if not so much, cheers!

Haha well, right "...this morning the made some semblance of logic this morning..."

After a quick trip to town I think made out okay.

The new closet organizer will arrive today. We hadn't bought new lamps for our bedroom yet because of how proud retailers are of decent looking lighting Meanwhile I had planned on removing the bedroom lights and put them in the closet before the organizer gets installed. That plan relied on have new lamps on hand. I expected to pay at least $50 per light and we would put off getting good looking lights until later. The later part of the plan still holds.

The other reason for the quick trip to the hardware store is the RFF build.
I found the ring to bring 2" down to 1 1/2" and eight 1 1/2" forty-five elbows to create all the gentle turns associated with the inflows and out-flows.
I ordered the Periha 1600 super water pump before I left after speaking with my wife and getting a big okay from her.
While I was at the hardware store I remembered that the new pump has larger diameter plumbing fittings.
I have been thinking about dividing the flow from the new water pump between the pipe which came from the old pump and a new circuit. Where to run the second flow to is still up in the air. One thought is blast it into the trout tank to create more current.
A lot depends on how much flow I can get through the new RFF.

For the new pump I'll use the second 1 1/2" Y on the inflow and reducers to 1" on the other two. Finding the 1 1/2" to 1" reducer answered a long-time question of mine, "Can you switch from S&D PVC to 1" PVC which is used for pressurized systems?" Yes.
However, if I send half the water to the fish tank for circulation that means the SLOs will need to take that much more water or I'll be right back where I was with half the flow from the pump will hit the overflow (skimmer) requiring I continue to clean sock filters at that point.
Does that makes sense?
Brian

Progress thanks to Adam Brittany and Nell

Pretty good instruction manual for the closet organizer plus it is bound.

The outlet on the RFF looks the goods and should work well.

Thanks Joeblow. We did a good amount of work yesterday. I just wish my joints didn't hurt so much. I'm considering calling the Rheumatologist on Monday to ask for and increase in dosage. I need to keep moving forward.