rojotierra
Member
I am building my first hydo system after years of soil growing. I have put together a 16 site, 5 gallon buckets w/ net lid, plumbed together with 1/2 inch
PVC. There are two rows of 8 with a 5 gallon control bucket at TOP middle of rows. Each row is about 15 feet from first bucket till last in row. Airstones in all. At the end of both rows of 8-the pvc comes out of bucket-and travels to a TEE in middle of rows. (think Under Current design) Water then returns to control bucket through a 1200 gph mag drive pump INLINE. It has about 14 inches of travel UP over 4 feet to return to control bucket. In the control bucket i have a matched pump submerged and pumping to the head of each row of 8. Both pumps are running at same time. Here is problem. I turn on both pumps-the control bucket begins to fill from return line thru mag drive pump-the submerged pump in control bucket begins pumping OUT of control bucket to TOP of both rows-only the first of 8 buckets on each row fill at first-the magdrive pump returning water begins to get air and sputter, then return water stops flowing-control bucket empties. At that point I have to turn off both pumps. It seems the water gets STALLED in first buckets in each row. once I turn off pumps-it takes about 3 minutes for ALL the buckets and control bucket to level off. Not what I was hoping for. I had planned on having pumps on all the time for a current in all buckets. Is diameter of PVC too small? Should pump be at water level, ground level or above water level? Any ideas or help is soo much appreciated. I am going to take pixs now. and will post very soon. Thanks for looking!!!
PVC. There are two rows of 8 with a 5 gallon control bucket at TOP middle of rows. Each row is about 15 feet from first bucket till last in row. Airstones in all. At the end of both rows of 8-the pvc comes out of bucket-and travels to a TEE in middle of rows. (think Under Current design) Water then returns to control bucket through a 1200 gph mag drive pump INLINE. It has about 14 inches of travel UP over 4 feet to return to control bucket. In the control bucket i have a matched pump submerged and pumping to the head of each row of 8. Both pumps are running at same time. Here is problem. I turn on both pumps-the control bucket begins to fill from return line thru mag drive pump-the submerged pump in control bucket begins pumping OUT of control bucket to TOP of both rows-only the first of 8 buckets on each row fill at first-the magdrive pump returning water begins to get air and sputter, then return water stops flowing-control bucket empties. At that point I have to turn off both pumps. It seems the water gets STALLED in first buckets in each row. once I turn off pumps-it takes about 3 minutes for ALL the buckets and control bucket to level off. Not what I was hoping for. I had planned on having pumps on all the time for a current in all buckets. Is diameter of PVC too small? Should pump be at water level, ground level or above water level? Any ideas or help is soo much appreciated. I am going to take pixs now. and will post very soon. Thanks for looking!!!