Hydroton causing waterflow slowdown

[spaz2nite]

It seems that as I add the Hydroton, then it fills up faster and even trying to control the flow will not allow me to get it longer than about 6 total mins for the cycle.
I believe that is going to waterlog the plants.

[Oliver]

I calculate your tank volume as 8.8 gallons. With a 70 gallon tank, I found that using a 1/2 inch stand pipe I could get a range of about 10 to 20 minutes on the siphon cycle by varing the input water flow. That was before adding the Affnan funnel.

That translates into about 1.5 to 3 minutes with your system using a 1/2 inch stand pipe. Obviously, you have achieved a longer duration. Are you using the Affnan funnel?

I have been able to make a 40 gallon system cycle at 15 minutes without the funnel while using that same pipe.

The problem here is two fold. First, your grow beds are not the best depth for an aquaponics system. They can be used, but deeper would be better. Second, the Hydroton displaces about 50% of the water thereby requiring half the flow rate you had when testing the grow beds without it. It will fill faster and it will drain faster with the Hydroton installed.

Going smaller than 1/2 inch is problematic. This is due to the fact that at some point in your grow cycle your stand pipe may become clogged and the smaller the stand pipe the greater the chance of that happening.

In the end, there really is nothing wrong with a fast cycle. It will work, so move on to the next stage of your development.

Oliver

[spaz2nite]

Thank you again for you reply
I did add a 1 inch to 1/2 reducer to the top of the stand pipe.
I have it set to 4 inches because the bed is about 6 inches total. I may go with either netty pots or possibly use tumbelers for now to hold the plants and hydroton.
I am using some of the deepiest "sterilite" cheap containers I can find for the space I have. I will let my wife know what you told me again and let her know.
Thank you and pray you have a blessed day for all your help.

[cedarswamp]

It seems that as I add the Hydroton, then it fills up faster and even trying to control the flow will not allow me to get it longer than about 6 total mins for the cycle.
I believe that is going to waterlog the plants.

With a growbed that size don't worry about cycle times. I have a small bed that has a 1:45 min fill, 30 second drain and it has performed flawlessly since around February. I also have two small beds and some buckets that I run continuosly flooded and they actually perform better than the flood and drain. Your fear of water logging your plants is unfounded.

[spaz2nite]

Thank you for the reply
I worked at a nursery for about 6 years from the time I was 17 until 23.
We used misters and timers and watered the other plants only 2 times daily.
The misters only came on about once every 2 or 3 hours. That is why I was concerned.
I thank you again and will keep watch to make sure it at least does fill up and flush and not just dribble.

[spaz2nite]

Oliver,
My wife and I were wondering if you don't mind sharing your "how-to" on figuring the size of bed volume and the flow rate via pipe. I heard there was a site that has this type of info via wiki, but have not been able to locate it.
Thanks again.