Six vertical flood tables on one pump?

I have two walls. Each wall has 3 flood tables(2'x8') as shelves, one above the other. The first shelf I believe is 5' high and the last shelf is 12' high. I have a 115gallon res below the shelfs and want to set up a flood and drain system so all the shelves can self water and flood back into the same res. I already made the system but I'm having problems with pumps. No pump at the hydro store will go higher than the first shelf. I went to harbor freight and bought a 120$ sump pump with 25' head height and it will do the first two shelves and barely trickle out of the highest shelf. Here's the deal, I'd like to connect one single pump for the entire building aka both walls. Is there a simple way of doing this? I cant imagine, for such a small setup, just because I'm going so high I need to buy a 300-500$ pump which probably takes 1-2k watts everytime I feed? I see some pics of vertical farms with 10-20 racks high of flood tables, do they have a million dollar pump to get the water to the top flood table or is there a better design for vertical growing rather than having a res and pump at the very bottom of the system?

Raise your res up too 6 ft maybe?Idk.

How many HP is your sump pump?

For many large commercial grows high volume high HP inline pumps are used to move water around versus submersible sump style pumps.

I believe its 1/2 horse with 25' head height. I also tried a pond pump with the same 25' head height and they both work pretty much the same. Barely trickling out on the top flood tray.

I was reading how skyscrapers deliver water to the top floors and they seem to deliver water to the middle first, then to the top as it would take too much energy in a pump to pump from ground level all the way to the top. I could put a flood "box" halfway up that would have a pump deliver to the top flood tray... but that seems like a lot of engineering to get water to a flood tray 12' in the air?

Just for reference check out this pic I've attached... how in the sam hell do they get water that high up to the top trays? Million dollar pump?

Something like this will get water where you need it. Not a million dollar pump but you may spend $300+ depending on volume and hp/ speed of water delivery.

Are you using rigid lines like pvc or sharkbite?

I’ve seen these inline pumps supply water up mountain sides as well as through entire facilities with many legs on the manifold.

What would a home pool pump work in this situation...or a hot tub/jacuzzi pump ?
They seem to have a lot of power. I have never worked on them, but curious if anyone knows how much they can push and how high.
See them online a lot for cheap.
Only other thing I can think of is split the res into 2 and put one res half way up to top tray. 2 pumps where floor res pumps to upper res then 2nd res pumps out to trays then the trays drain back to floor/1st res to cycle again
Hope that makes sense...lol

Have you tried a 12v RV pump?They have a lot of pressure but not sure on height,worth a look into.That sure is a lot going on in that room.

Thanks dakindgrind I'll look into those type of pumps. I think I'm mainly looking for head height which I think is pressure? I know the 1/2 horse pump I'm using, we used to water the field and would give great pressure at 150ft but as far sending water into the air, it only goes so far. Something tells me I'm really just looking at more horsepower. I keep seeing systems like this online but they dont tell you your going to need a massive motor for the system to even work!

I'm looking at paying a commercial consultant to provide me with answers so I'll let ya know what they say when I do

This was on the farmtek spec sheet and should give you a better idea of what the hp is capable of.

Also if you’re not using rigid line-sets your flow capacity will be less than what it’s rated.

tyepoe said:

Just for reference check out this pic I've attached... how in the sam hell do they get water that high up to the top trays? Million dollar pump?

Click to expand...

A big ladder and a garden hose?lollol

It would be a bitch to plumb but a “well pump” is the first thing that came to mind. Ya be even to much pressure and head tho

This is the pump I am using. Quite, 3 gallon/min @ 65#'s

SHURFLO 4008-101-A65 New 3.0 GPM RV Water Pump Revolution, 12V

This is the converter I am using.
C to DC Converter, HOTOR 8.5A 100W 110-220V to 12V Car Cigarette Lighter Socket AC DC Power Adapter for Car Vacuum and Other 12V Devices under 100W,

This is the setup.

@gr865 Not sure if you found the answer but - You need to build it like a gravity fed plumbing system. You want a pump which can pump to a larger head of water(Height). So pump all the way upto 12ft without feeding and trays and then the water is fed to the trays via gravity basically. By feeding the trays first your water is losing the pressure being built up so it cant get to the top trays.

Are you reducing your pipe size at each level of trays you feed going vertical ? Or valve your branch runs back till you get equal flow to each level .
You could also pump the water straight up to the highest point into a resivour and let it gravity feed down to each tray . Less work on the pump and may get better more even water drainage through the trays .

Use FlashFloodTables That work on Air Pressure not water pressure.
One Pump can easily flood 50+ 4x8 tables
snbrandcommercial.com

BigBudOntario said:

Use FlashFloodTables That work on Air Pressure not water pressure.
One Pump can easily flood 50+ 4x8 tables
snbrandcommercial.com

Click to expand...

exactly

A centrifugal pump is the wrong way to go for this application due to cost. A small positive displacement pump would be a better choice and can pump to great heights.

For a small volume and a reasonable height look at the small diameter airlift pumps that are used on the diy aquaponic window gardens. Think 1/4” tube with a real light stream of single bubbles that follow the inner diameter of the tube. You have to play with resovoir height, lift height and bubble speed. Very cheap and reliable.

The shurflo posted above is a small positive displacement pump. They have a low duty cycle I think 10% so 1 minute in 10 to make it last.

You need flow restriction on your lower tables. You can use valves or plugs with various size hole drilled in them. Try plugging all your lower tables and see if the sump pump floods your highest table.