Res and pump size for a 4x8 flood table

What size res and pumps (both air and water) would one need to sufficiently run a 4x8 flood table?

Can only tell you that I have a 3x4 foot table and I have a 20 gallon res that works just fine. My surface area is 12 square feet but yours will be 32 square feet. Sooooo, I would start with at least double of what I have which is 40 gallons. A lot also depends on how many pots you will be using, fill height and so on. As for the pump, I don't remember how many gallons per minute it pumps out but I'm sure it would run your table as well. I'll post again when I go outside and look. I also purchased an air pump with two ports from Walmart for like $20. I put two air stones on that with a one way valve so it doesn't siphon back into your pump during power failure. On the air pump you should hook up a double stone to each port and have at lease four air stones going. Hope this helps.

The math is fairly easy.
48 x 96 x 4 (depth) divided by 231 cubic inches per gallon equals just under 80 gallons.

I'd say a minimum of 100 gal res..probably even bigger.

You're going to want a honking big pump. A 1200gal/hour pump will pump 20 gal/minute or roughly 4 minutes to fill tray. You could go with something a little smaller but not too much smaller. Maybe half that capacity.
JD

PS Get a good quality multi outlet air pump and maybe have 4 stones.

Thanks John Dee, I was floundering on this one but.... doing your math it says I need roughly a 30 gallon res??? I am using a 20 gallon and when it starts to hit the overflow I still have about 4 inches of water over the pump......

Learned something from your post and thanks!!!

Some thoughts. A gallon of water weighs in at just over 8 pounds. So you're talking about an incredible amount of weight on that tray. I'd go with three 3x3 or thereabouts and set up a perpetual harvest system. Everything will be easier and smaller and generally more manageable...plus the benefits or a harvest every 3 weeks. Just a thought...
JD

Best advice I heard all day!!!!

IB,
So many variables. Like whether the tray measurements are inside or outside. Number of pots, depth of flood. It's always nice to have an oversized res so you can let it go for a couple days.
JD

I totally agree because I have to keep up with mine on a daily basis!!!!!

For a 4 x 8 flood tray, depending on how full it is and flood height you will need a 70 - 120 gal res.

Nice avatar Illegalbreather. I know who she is.

Mithrandir420 said:

For a 4 x 8 flood tray, depending on how full it is and flood height you will need a 70 - 120 gal res.

Nice avatar Illegalbreather. I know who she is.

Click to expand...

Only the hottest hottie out there!!!! She is truly my role model!!!!!