search on koi bito forum 'air lift' look for aquatechnobel's inputs
search on koi bito forum 'air lift' look for aquatechnobel's inputs
Constructing 3 and 5inch system for my pond
You might get a little better performance if your "T" were a long sweep T.
Your design is very similar to two that I built and got great results with.
I am aware that the short, angled T poses inefficiency :
1. Some possible leak of the air bubble
2. Abrupt bending of water flow
But what can I do.. it is not so easy to find it in our local stores.
Similar to this one, yes?
I wish there was more interest in airlift. I like were you are going with this, please keep up the posts. I want to design my pond to be all airlift.
What type of pond return are you going to use? Are you using your airlift after your filtration or before?
Chance
It will be after the filtration, to bring back all the water back to the pond.
Pond and filter are of the same water level, so I need and must keep draw down effect to minimum.
To achieve this I have a rather excessive connecting capacity inbetween every filter chambers (equal to ten 4" pipes) and making sure my bottom drain and side drains are all sufficient (4" bottom drain and another 3" side drain and one more spare 2" side drain)
The pond is 12,000 liters
The filter is almost 5,000 liters
I will only use a normal and smaller pump to bring water to the bakki shower, which is far too high for any normal airlift to operate efficiently.
You can stop by the construction thread to see the process, as well as updates and mistakes I have made
Very nice setup. I will follow along.
This is the tee I used in my DIY airlift test.
member
Nice Tees
Wish our local stores carry them.
Already a 5inch simple T is hard to find (and not so cheap), not to mention gradual long Tee.
Most what they have are 4inch and under accessories
Maybe I should try industrial hardware retail center one of these days.
So here is what I got on the 3 inch system.
There is still so much of wasted air. I reckon with valve and monitoring the airlift can be run with just 20% of my 100w aerator airflow capacity.
I also need to add another T just before the outlet to make it somewhat flow smoother and less bubbly on the way out.
I havent yet fully tested the 5 inch system after making diffuser to it, but after installing the mounting in my pond, the test video will be up for viewing.
It would be interesting to play around with the height of your pond water. Outflow might be nicer if your pond were even one inch more full of water.
That is right sirrr...
I purposely set the testing to simulate the least flow I can get when having a bad drawdown or after doing massive backwash.
On testing the height difference to rim of pond is 23cm.
The actual setting to normally run to 99.9% of the overflow is only 15cm.
Just to be very safe.
Did something to the system to refine it.
Im not done yet, but so far I am very satisfied.
Now the flow is far less lag-ish (even flow pattern) and significantly less bubbly so I can enjoy the pond even more of the see-through water surface
I simply add in one more of the outgassing Tee and elongate the plumbing.
I did tried to bend the flow 90 degrees but the backpressure is too much and it gushed out from the outgassing Tee, requiring it to be connected to extension tower pipe.
This is not pleasant to see and hinders the coming filter wooden plank covering later on.
The result however, is insanely almost bubble-less just like conventional pump.
Aaaand... by daylight the new pond has already cleared significantly after a full long day of cycling via 3 inch airlift.
One more trick from under my sleeve...
If you hate sprouting water gushing all over from the relieve port of the airlift, I have tried a simple solutin by making a deflector shield/apron for the problem.
Works rather well I'd say.
In my case I need to avoid water wetting the filter wood cover which leads to everyone walking over it will be stepping wet around the house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4mepPF5FSE
Hey guys, it's been a loooong time since I've posted. I have 2 - 4" airlifts that are submerged 7' and run 60lpm air on each (40lpm probably would have been plenty)
These things are awesome!!! They move a lot of water very cheaply! I have them set up after all of my filtration. They return about 4" below the ponds surface and I use them like TPRs to create current directing water toward the skimmer.
I believe someone was asking about submergance. Depth definitely makes a difference the link below explains the principal behind airlifts.
https://youtu.be/03EmME_OB-s
Also, someone was asking about airlifts that will pump to higher elevation. It can be done with limited volume.
https://youtu.be/RccAa_qrPA8
https://youtu.be/2F5QtDo243Y
I too wish more people would take interest in airlifts
Latest tweaking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X1yLaPUrpI
Got rid of all outgassing pipes from the pond and move them to inside the filter instead for cleaner look.
The output has also improved and is clean of bubbles.