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  1. #1
    Members Jeff's Avatar
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    PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    Ok, I am moving right along with my first aquaponics system! Tank and GB's have been bought. I am almost done with the placement of them in my yard (just awaiting some wood to sit the GBs on).

    Now I am planning ahead to my PVC purchases, and I am curious as to your thoughts on what SIZE pipe I should get:

    - from pump to GB
    - from GB back to tank

    Now, let me give a recap of my system. I have THREE 45 gallon grow beds. These are being fed from a 110 gallon tank, and a 500gph pump.

    My bell siphons are going to have 3/4" stand pipes.

    Given that information, should I use 1" pipes to both deliver water to the grow beds, and 1" pipes to return the water back to the tank?

    Or should I stick with a 3/4" size for the entire system?

    I would think that obviously the larger the outlet pipes are leading from the GB back to the tank, the quicker the water will drain from the beds. Likewise, the larger the pipe feeding the grow beds, the faster they will fill up.

    So with a 3/4" stand pipe for my bell siphon, what would YOU use for the rest of the piping, both for filling the grow beds and draining back to the tank?
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  2. #2
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    i'd use 1" for the supply, at least the supply "header", and use reducing tee's to each gb
    3/4" standpipe should be ok
    are you using a "common" drain"? if so, i'd go at least 3", but individual drains should be ok at 3/4" or 1"

  3. #3
    Members Jeff's Avatar
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    With my new setup, there will just be individual drains to the central tank. So imagine a tank, and then above that tank will be three beds: one directly above the tank, and one on either side of it.

    My plan was to pump water from the tank to Grow Bed 1 --> Grow Bed 2 --> Grow Bed 3 --> Run Off pipe back to tank (for aeration).

    Each grow bed will also drain UNDERNEATH back into the tank.

    So if you were to look at the tank, you would see one outbound line (from the pump going to the grow bed), and FOUR incoming lines: one from each bed, and an additional line that's putting back water from the line.

    Does that make sense? I am attaching a CRUDE picture. Could you tell me if that makes sense? The only thing I am not sure about is the final line coming back into the fish tank for aeration. Does that look like a good design?

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  4. #4
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    makes sense to me..the only thing i'd do different would be to put the tee for extra aeration before the supply to the growbeds

  5. #5
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    I followed the same size for my siphons at a half inch. the bed is about 50 gallons and takes about 5 minutes to drain flooded at 9 inches. stick with one size to keep things simple and be able to have more supplies in case of an emergency reconstruction. you never know when you might have to move things around and having everything the same size will be a big help. also, I doubt a 500 gph pump will lose efficiency if you use a size smaller. (could be wrong as I have no experience with 500gph pumps.) I say go with the 3/4
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  6. #6
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    Quote Originally Posted by alex281
    I followed the same size for my siphons at a half inch. the bed is about 50 gallons and takes about 5 minutes to drain flooded at 9 inches. stick with one size to keep things simple and be able to have more supplies in case of an emergency reconstruction. you never know when you might have to move things around and having everything the same size will be a big help. also, I doubt a 500 gph pump will lose efficiency if you use a size smaller. (could be wrong as I have no experience with 500gph pumps.) I say go with the 3/4
    I agree with Alex281, except that I think you will find 1/2" is perfectly adequate. I've used 1/2" for my input water with pumps as large as 1200 gpm. I probably had some restriction at that size pump, but for a 500 gpm, it's perfectly adequate - even up to 800 gpm, 1/2" is fine. Plus it's cheaper, lighter, and easier to work with too.

  7. #7
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    My entire blue barrel system is plumbed from top to bottom with 3/4" pvc. I really didn't do any specific calculations but I did have the thought that I would rather have too much capacity than not enough if I decided to expand the system. I also am very big on using a standard size across a system when ever possible to make maintenance and repair easier.
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  8. #8
    Members Jeff's Avatar
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    Quote Originally Posted by keith_r
    makes sense to me..the only thing i'd do different would be to put the tee for extra aeration before the supply to the growbeds
    I was going to do that, but I thought Oliver mentioned to do it the way above. I think it's easier for me to do it the way you describe, but I didn't know if there was a major advantage to running it off the third grow bed. If there is no significant difference, then I would probably prefer to run a T off the pump before the first grow bed to feed back into the tank.
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  9. #9
    Members Jeff's Avatar
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    Quote Originally Posted by alex281
    you never know when you might have to move things around and having everything the same size will be a big help.
    Good point! Thanks for the response, Alex.
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  10. #10
    Members Jeff's Avatar
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    Re: PVC Pipe Size - What to choose?

    Quote Originally Posted by bsfman
    I agree with Alex281, except that I think you will find 1/2" is perfectly adequate. I've used 1/2" for my input water with pumps as large as 1200 gpm. I probably had some restriction at that size pump, but for a 500 gpm, it's perfectly adequate - even up to 800 gpm, 1/2" is fine. Plus it's cheaper, lighter, and easier to work with too.
    It's always been a toss up for me between those two sizes: 3/4" and 1/2". I think the price between the two may be negligible, and I am leaning towards the larger size simply because, as someone else said, it may be more handy whenever I expand the system and move to a larger pump. In that manner, the 3/4 size would be less restricting.
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