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  1. #1
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    help with flood drain design

    I reckon that my questions are redundant to you all but here goes and sorry if they are.
    The first would be is there a simple design that does not need a elevated flood tank, that is not problematic in operation i.e. good ratio of flooded
    to drained bed time? if so can someone describe it or send me a drawing? I have built a 60sf growing bed over 4 -120gal fish tanks, now I need
    to figure out how to design the flood drain mechanism hopefully without grid power input. I've toyed with the Bell siphon but I hear that they can be difficult to make work reliably??? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks Eric V.

  2. #2
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    How will it drain if it's not elevated? Gravity pulls things downward not upwards.

    There are other system designs that work. What exactly is your criteria that requires the bed to not be elevated?

  3. #3
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    many folks pump directly into their growbeds, using pumps on a timer, say 15 minutes on and 45 off. i have a "flood tank" based on the barrelponics manual, and my pump is running 24/7. i think you first need to determine how much water it takes to flood your growbed, how deep is your growbed? what will you use for media?

    regarding drains, i hear great things about the afnan siphon, takes a little work to adjust from what i understand, but very reliable. will you have one large bed with multiple drains/? or multiple beds draining into a header or something that drains into the tanks?

    i have 3 55 gallon tanks on the floor, with one growbed draining into each of the "outside" tanks, with the pump in the middle tank. i'm using a no-holes-overflow between the two pairs of tanks

    details man, we need details!

  4. #4
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    I find that I am too old for Email conversations, too many misunderstandings (I do appreciate the help)
    I am trying to eliminate the need for a third level i.e. 1- low, fish tank, 2- middle, grow bed, 3- top, flood tank (maybe I'm using the wrong name for it).
    As I said in the first post I have grow beds over fish tanks already, just don't want to go any higher if possible and still have good function.
    Can you all steer me to a reference source to save me from my poor typing/computer skills.
    If anyone has information and likes to talk on the phone my phone is 417-366-0999and I am much better in that medium. thanks Eric V.

  5. #5
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    This is the system I chose for my back yard system. It seems to be working well and the bell siphons were easy to build and adjust. Its still new so I can't attest to the longevity of the system. But I can't see where the problems would arise either.

    http://www.ecofilms.com.au/2010/10/28/a ... 2-revealed
    Lord, grant me the ability to change the things I can,
    The tenacity to change the things I can’t,
    And the ignorance not to know the difference...

  6. #6
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    Check my greenhouse build in Backyard Systems. I pump from the fish tank to the growbeds. I have 10 barrels and only 1 drains at a time, so there is very little level change. Having the fish tank level go up & down a little hurts nothing. Check the Barrelponics model. Pretty much the same thing.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  7. #7
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    ok, can't talk on the phone from work, it sounds like you are looking at the barrelponics manual..

    you can have just a fish tank, and growbeds, pump the water up to the growbeds with a pump on a timer (after you figure out how long it takes to fill the growbeds) and set the growbeds to drain back into the fish tank

    if you have many growbeds, and not enough fish tank, you will want to use a sump, and do a "CHIFT PIST" type system
    and a sequencing valve, i know TCLynx on this forum is using them and may be a distributor -

    thats Contant Height In Fish Tank, Pump In Sump Tank... set up an overflow from the fishtank into your sump, pump the water from the sump up to the growbeds, drain the growbeds back into the fishtank, fishtank overflows ino sump.. (a solid lift overlflow or SLO in the fishtank will help with solids removal)

  8. #8
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/e...rel-ponics.pdf

    You could also tell us what you want it to look like, and most of us here could likely tell you how you can make it work and any cautions therein.

  9. #9
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    Hay Urbanfarmer as I have said twice before, I want and in fact have grow beds above fish tanks! The beds have pea gravel in the and I am now
    ready to hook up pump (up) and drain (down) system.
    My objectives are.
    1-water pumped up with solar power if possible.
    2-the most simple and reliable mechanism to drain 56 s.f. of growing bed.
    3-have conditions where plants grow and don't rot or face other growing problems that I may not even be aware of yet I.E. bed drains too
    slowly or fills too slowly or too fast etc. etc.
    4-to do these things with as little fuss as possible.
    5-To do these things with out having to install a over head flood tank, if possible.


    As I have said before Email is slow and difficult for me, I do appreciate any help but it seems to me as if you haven't really read my previous posts
    Eric V.

  10. #10
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    Re: help with flood drain design

    i may have some time this weekend to give you a call if you are still interested... you don't need a flood tank..just size your pump accordingly, you want to move the volume of your fishtank at least once an hour through the growbeds.. the s.f. doesn't matter as much as the volume of the growbeds. how deep are they?

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