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    Results 41 to 60 of 111

    Thread: Air-lift Components

    1. #41
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      The other type inlet for an upflow hub is like this half ball. If a filter has no seperation plate but needs the smaller holes to keep media out this will work.
      Since I stopped using moving bed media in my ADR it uses inner and outer seperation plates as shown in the drawing.
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    2. #42
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      one silly question... do you use any type of air diffusers on the air lift hubs???

    3. #43
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      The larger filters with the 4 tube units work like this. The first drawing is of a static trapping filter which could also be a static aerated media filter by leaving the cleaning rings on all the time.
      The second is of an Air-lift Dilution Reactor.
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    4. #44
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      hondataeg6;one silly question... do you use any type of air diffusers on the air lift hubs???


      Not a silly question. There is no easy way to use diffusers in these because of my intent to make them servicable. Also not having an airstone or rubber diffuser means they can never go bad or need to be replaced.

    5. #45
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      Quote Originally Posted by Kent Wallace View Post
      Luke, my first tests were with a Medo 120 lpm and a Hakko 60 lpm pump. I soon realized that air pumps like pond pumps widely vary in pump performance and efficiency. My goal at first was to mimic the performance of William's smallest pump, the Wave I 1 1/15 hp(3000 gph at 1.3 amps. The Medo pumps have shown to be the most efficient so far but I'm always looking for a better one. The Medo 80 lpm pump is the best so far. You can run two 80s for the same energy as a 120. The Hakko pumps are much less efficient. The Medo pumps are also piston and not diaphram. These are much more reliable. I've had several of these running nonstop on various projects for over 2 yrs.
      Zac, you're right on the set up. I just added a system to keep the test tank at a constant level contimuously. As you know, flow rates on air-lifts vary in a wide range depending on a number of variables with each installation. It will always be the case that with a little tweaking you can get more but my main goal was to develope a component system of interchangable parts that could be used and maintained easily by anyone. That also led to filter designes that accomodate air-lifts in a practical way.
      I am to a point now that a system could be built into about anything including an external tube setup that can be buried and still allow easy access. This would work with existing inground gravity flow systems such as chamber setups or a Nexus type filtration system.
      Chichi, Two things you can't run with an air-lift are seive screens and shower filters/trickle towers. I do have an idea for the shower filters though.
      My whole approach was to make air-lifts as easy to apply to a design and install as all the other pond equipment out there.
      Elaborate on this Kent Please ?

      Mine are in a Temp "Show Vat" with 23,000 litres of Hellish Decibels re Submersible Pumps running the Myriad appliances

      Anything whatsoever which could "Quiet" the Din Down would be Truly Welcome Indeed

    6. #46
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      You can't run a sieve with an air-lift because there is no suction pressure, or should I say vacuum, created. There is no way to evacuate the water level in a sieve to make the screen work. This requires a pump pulling directly from the chamber of the sieve to lower the water level.
      A shower filter requires the raising of water beyond what an air-lift can do efficiently. Air-lifts need to operate very close to water level and can only lift water efficiently up to about 6 inches. Higher than that and they require more energy than an efficient standard pond pump.

    7. #47
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      This is the Wave 36 tank version. The Wave 36 makes a great tank for air-lifts.
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    8. #48
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      Kent after reading all this, this is awesome that you came up with this design and gonna change the pond world. People concerned about electric to run pumps, this will be the way to go.

      I visited your website and was looking at the kits you have. Can you tell me what the flow rate is for each kit? I see one using a 55 gallon barrel and the other uses a 3ft wide barrel. Can you explain what the big difference is between them? Is there any pros or cons for using one or the other?

    9. #49
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      The parts should be up on the site this week. Each tube requires about 20 lpm of air at of 1.6 psi for the deep tanks. The flow rate is established by depth up to about 6 ft. Shallower depths will yeild less flow. A 55 gal drum application will yield about 450 gph for each tube so a two tube unit with a 40 to 45 lpm pump will flow just under 1000 gph. If you put that same unit in a 5 or 6 ft deep tank it would flow about 1800 gph.
      A 3 tube unit will be 1.5 times that flow and a 4 tube unit will be double the flow.
      Like I stated earlier it is installation specific so once you've decided the type of filter you need you can then determine the type of hub assy and flow rate based upon your tank.
      If you don't need a giant tank but still need the higer flow of increased depth I have these 6" flanges for extending a nipple deeper under the tank for the air-lift hub.
      Determine the filter type you wish to use.
      Calculate the flow rate you need through it.
      Match the parts that will make it work.
      Remember the flow rates are minimums and the flow can also be increased with more air for a given hub.
      You can always call, PM or E-mail me and I can help you work it out.
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    10. #50
      Paultergeist is offline Senior Member
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      Kent, I cannot over-state what a great contribution I feel you are making to the pond-keeping world. As electricity costs become increasingly expensive, your efforts to consider water flow with respect to using the least electricity possible (a la airlifts) is fantastic. It is also very good of you to be so open in sharing these developments with all of us.

      I have a question regarding the (submerged) depth of the airlift tube: Based on your work, and also the investigations performed by Zac, I am left with a sort of "deeper = better" sense regarding water depth. While this makes sense, the deeper injection points would also require more pressure from the pumps. I am wondering if there is a point of depth at which you are finding diminishing returns, beyond which it doesn't make sense to go any deeper? Also, I wonder if this optimal depth might vary somewhat from one brand of air pump to another?

      Paul

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    11. #51
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      Thanks Paul, I'm sharing this with all of you first because of the interest and assistance people on this and other boards have shown and because it's going up on my website this week anyway. This info will be on my wesite also.
      The optimum depth I've experienced is between 55 to 60 inches. Above that the amount of energy required starts to exceed the requirements of the most efficient external pond pumps I could find. This might change over time as technology moves foreward. My goal was not to produce more flow but to initially match their performance. The real long term savings is the double use of the air pump. Normally you would have a combination of standard pumps and air pumps. Using air-lifts effectively is about eliminating the need for the standard pump and using the air pump to both oxygenate and move the water. I still install air domes on timers for back up and increased intermittent "in pond" circulation though.

    12. #52
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      Since I mentioned the tank extensions, here are my drawings of a couple of ways to use one. I often take a 200 or 300 gal water tank and cut it in half making two smaller tanks. This gives you one flat bottomed tank and one semi coned bottom tank. I take the large access cover and ring off the coned area that was the top. Then I screw and seal a plastic disc to it making a large flat area in the center of the cone.
      This is a good option when you need a tank that's not deep or not a huge volume. It's a good surface for the extension to be mounted to.
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    13. #53
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      With a 55 gal drum or flat tank and the two tube hub with 4" center down tube (Static tank), you must place the tank drain in the side of the 6" cap.
      The 6" cap becomes the bottom of the tank in this application and you need to be able to clean it. This way the entire 4" down tube and air-lift can be pulled out for service.
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    14. #54
      Zac Penn is offline Supporting Member
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      Kent,
      What brand of flexible diffuser tubing are you using for the cleaning rings? I have been using the blue striped diffuser tubing from AES and it starts out great but then begins to clog within a month or so. I haven't pulled mine out just yet to try and clean it but I have seen about a 8 lpm reduction in air flow in just two months. This diffuser tube has been running 24/7, and I can only imagine how clogged it would be if it was only used for cleaning.
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    15. #55
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      Zac, I haven't had any problems yet. What are yours clogging with. I do know you can clean them with the same solution that you clean spa filters with. It's anti-bacterial so after soaking them you need to rinse them. Is it a chemical buildup like something in the water or organic?

    16. #56
      Zac Penn is offline Supporting Member
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      It is organic growth. I will get around to cleaning mine soon enough and see if it goes back to normal.
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    17. #57
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      kent
      Mickey spoke admirably of you today
      i sent him these pics and he gave me a call
      it is a gast 1/8th HP regenerative ring blower
      1.8 amps at 110volts

      the pipe is 1.5 inch diameter and i drilled thirty-three 1/4 or 5/16 holes in it. at a depth of twenty inches all the holes steadily blow air, and move some serious water...the small bubbles that are in sharp focus are actually bubbles that are going down with the current generated by going up against the window that was a foot away.
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      "Those aren't poodles. They're Dobermans with afros."

    18. #58
      Kent Wallace's Avatar
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      Thanks, Very cool. 1.8 amps.

    19. #59
      gOOse is offline Senior Member
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      Lukes thing there is close to what I have had in mind for quite some time. Its a bubble wall about ten feet long, full depth (ok60") but it is your bottom drain. Its one long slot along one wall created from a thin second wall in the pond with the bubbles inside. This moves the water up and over the edge on the pond , maybe four inches? Then it cascades over a four inch X ten foot long piece of wedge wire (sections of wedge wire). This collects large debris and it houses boiling media under it, then on to SC/dwell time and out to highflow stream/fish treadmill. I should model it up sometime for Koiphen, but this is Kents thread.. so ..

    20. #60
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      Thanks for sharing this. I have to give this a try, I have a AV-50 air pump I could use for 300 g quarantine...

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