This is five 30 gallon totes and a 6th control tote.
2 inch return pipe and one inch pipe on the pump side reduced to 3/4 at the tote.
The pump is a 370gph, its what it took to get all the ends to have the same amount of water.
I tried a 3000gph it seemed too much and emptied the control too quick.
The 250gph didnt pump the last tote with the same force as first 4.
The return has a movable pipe trap to control the water level in the totes.
Any suggestions on proven improvements is appreciated.
I need input on some things.
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What's the best way to introduce the water? I know I want to agitate and oxygenate should i just clamp the ends down and spray into the water? Or run the 3/4 line all the way across the top with a bunch of holes like a shower head? The reduced 3/4 inch just goes down into the tote at a 45° as of now.
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Why does it seem to not circulate?
Its making me think i should use the 3000gph on a timer or something instead of 370 continuous just to mix it up more. -
I made this to run 5 or 50 with one cut on each line and some more pipe and totes any suggestions are welcome as its an ongoing project.
But I want to get it going asap.
by Ex82nd
7 Comments
Did you already glue the pipes together?
Your outlet should be as far away from your inlet as possible to encourage water movement. Without that, just add air stones into every tank to encourage in tank mixing.
You may have a air lock use a hose to get it started should be OK.
You should be pulling from the further bucket to your reservoir. From there the water will automatically move from the reservoir into each bucket in order to equalize the pressure and since you are constantly pulling the pressure will never be equal so the water will continually recirculate.
So for the airation issue you can use a passive energy plumbing part called a venturi effect injector. It starts with wide plumbing, shrinks in size then grows in size creating pressure and suction. This allows the pipe to pull air from a opening specifically made to airate the water. Ex: https://www.amazon.com/Acogedor-Irrigation-Fertilizer-Injectors-Agriculture/dp/B07DPRQQX7
As far as the plumbing issue I would need to see a diagram with plumbing sizes, red sizes, and pump speeds. Maybe it’s a flow limitation.
Yes. You want to take the water that is further away from the reservoir and suck it into the reservoir.Then you need to dump the reservoir water into the other buckets
I made mine with basically manifolds. All lines were the same length. Two sets of two buckets connecting to a T. The two sets connect to a T where the third leg goes to the res.
https://youtu.be/o0dDcA-PUMI?si=lyDuT_O7PaXgOkuf