apparently I can’t build an airlift system
3:31 pm in Getting Started, made from scratch (without a kit), posts with pitcures!, pumps, questions, Seeking Advice by JulySundryGrandeur
Help. 
At first I was building it my own way, which had its own gigantic problems. But then I switched to something that looks basically identical to how the kits and kit instructions work. (The current ones with the long instructions — V 3 modular if I’m not confused.) It managed to get a tiny bit of water going up the system, but mostly it’s just bubbling at the bottom. I checked and there’s no leak that I can find. The water is just coming out the air needle, going down the tube somehow, and bubbling out the little gap at the bottom where the air’s meant to go in. I made sure the whole thing was as straight up and down as I could get it. I originally had a straw around the tube holding it straight (with its own angled bottom to let water in), but the bubbles were pushing water up that instead, which was just insulting.
The “add media” option isn’t cooperating with my computer, so I just stuck these on imageshack. Hopefully that’s not a problem for anyone.
You are looking at:
-1 basketball inflation needle
-2 segments of standard aquarium tube — I have no idea where you get the rigid stuff
-1 joiner/adapter thingy that goes between mini and normal aquarium tubes
-1 useless blob of silicone caulk
Ideas what I’m doing wrong?
It might be a combination of low water pressure coupled with a too small tube or opening that will allow enough water to get by the air that is coming in. In my set up, the lower part of the lift system has a 3/8 inch inner diameter tube that is about 6 inches long attached directly to the rigid tube that leads air to the top of the system. The air needle in my system is inserted about 4 inches from the bottom end of the 3/8 th ID tube. This allows enough water to enter the lift system and has enough space between the water entry and the air needle to prevent air from bleeding out the entrance of the tube.
I was originally using a section of 3/8 pipe, with some more aquarium tube around the needle so that the air came out about four inches up. That just sputtered a lot and made literally one drop every several seconds. I left it on for half an hour and only half the pebbles in my top container were even damp. Lowering the air pressure just made it bubble. So I switched to this because I thought the pipe was too thick, so water bubbles couldn’t stay together in it and be pushed up.
I’ll see if I can find something to stick on the air needle to make the air come out higher.
EDIT:
I plugged it in again with the parts in the pictures above, to try and experiment. With some wiggling of the tube, it started putting water out…but just sputters like I was getting when I has the 3/8 in. pipe setup. It put more water out than it had with the pipe, which tells me that switching to thin tube the whole way up was a good choice. But then I switched the air to a different set of pipes for a bit to experiment with them, and when I switched back–without even touching the previously almost-working bottle–it went back to just bubbling.
Pulling the water tube up and down slightly to make a bigger gap for water to get in doesn’t have any effect. When I was using the 3/8 in. pipe, I actually drilled holes in the sides about an inch up (the air was coming out 2-3 inches above the holes) and they made no difference at all.
I’m using a bottle the same size as the instructions call for, and it’s full. But just to check, I held the whole assembly as straight as I could get it into a container of water twice as high and a bit thicker. It had about a foot and a half of water above it, and still bubbled. That’s as high as I can possibly get the water pressure, and it’s 2-3 times what the instructions call for.
Haven’t found anything to stick on the needle to make it taller yet. I was thinking coffee stirs, but the only store I’ve been to didn’t have any.
I had to spent several hours trying to fix a similar problem. These are my findings
From your pictures, I’m assuming you’re just sticking the needle at the end of the tube right? In that case, it is easier for the water to come out from the bottom instead of from the top. There’s is simply too much water push on top then at the bottom. Nature is a bitch, it will always try to find the easiest path. What I did was have the small tube connecting the pump to the needled go through the water bottle cap, then have the needle puncture the tube higher, 2-4 inches below the water line.
If you still have water coming out from the bottom, tape the hole, and puncture higher until you don’t have bubbles anymore. Once that is done, the air should be able to go up the right way, although it might not push the water up to the top! In this case, just stuff the tube + needle deeper in the reservoir. I know it kind of seems redundant to place the needle up, then push it down, but it’s all about finding the sweet spot. If you’re using the water bottles from the 3.0 instructions, the nestle ones, I found it easy to stuff the tubes in the water bottle because of the edges on the bottle’s wall would hold the tube.
Now, if this didn’t work, you might want to play with the air pump. At first, I was like DUH if I stick 2 needles connected to my 2-outlet pump inside the tube, there must be enough air to push the water up right! WRONG, the air was too powerful and would “break” the water beads before it reached the top. I simply removed one needle, and the water climbed up the whole tube!
Basically, just play with these 2 factors:
1. needle sweet spot, there must be a more water below the needle then above it, but a decent vertical amount of water above it ( I have around 3 inches I think ).
2. play with the air pump output. Since my pump is not adjustable, my mistake was to connect the 2 outlets to the tube, while it only needs one.
(3.) adding this little extra problem I had. Make sure the bottom of the tube isn’t sucking the water bottle’s wall. Position it to make it suck the more water possible.
Hi July,
Sourcing a 3/8″ outer diameter / 1/4″ inner diameter rigid water tube is critical to having frictionless waterflow. You can order this tubing from mcmaster.com. The part number is listed in the parts PDF in the How-To instructions (http://our.windowfarms.org/instructions_dev/parts_list.pdf)
Once you get that type of tubing, read the troubleshooting tips belowThese troubleshooting tips are pulled from our kit setup guides (http://www.windowfarms.org/kits-guides-home)
1) Seat your tube. The base of the water tube needs to be completely seated over the top of the air needle. This means you want the tip of the air needle as deep inside the water tube as possible, creating at least a 1 inch ‘overlap’ between the tip of the needle (where the air bubbles are released) and the base of the tube (where the water enters the tube). This distance helps prevent the air bubbles from escaping. You may need to use tape or the plant strips to keep the base of the water tube seated, preventing it from ‘scooting up’ and reducing your overlap distance. NOTE: You do not want the base of the water tube to be completely obstructed by the air needle. Doing so would not allow water to enter the tube! There should be a small gap at the base of the water tube that allows water to enter the base of the tube.
2) Keep the water high – Keep the water level in your bottom bottle reservoirs high. As the water level drops in the bottom bottles, the pressure on the water column reduces. This situation increases the likelihood of air bubbles escaping from the base of the water tube instead of traveling up inside of it!
3) Adjust your pump – A proper air flow rate is critical to provide enough force to carry water up the water tubes. If the air flow rate is too low, the air flow will not be strong enough to overcome the weight of the water in the tube. In this case, and no water will travel up the tube and instead the bubbles will escape from the bottom of the water tube. To adjust the output rate of the air bubbles, use the knob on top of your pump. NOTE: There are factors that influence the required power setting of the pump, including the length of the airline tube running between the pump and the bottom bottle. Shorter lines are more efficient and will generally require a lower power setting. Avoid having significantly different lengths of airline running to the same pump.
4) Straighten your water tube – Maintaining a straight, vertical, plumb water tube is critical to efficient water flow up the tube. Use tape and/or the plant tape strips to straighten the tube.
Have a leaky reservoir? Tighten the plastic nut on the bulkhead as much as possible without stripping the bulkhead. Consider using small pliers to help create a tight seal. Read more here. Make sure you have a 1/4″ diameter hole in the center of the bottom bottle reservoir cap. If there is already a hole in the cap, make sure it is 1/4″ in diameter (you may need to enlarge it). The edges cannot be rough or have debris. Both will prevent a good seal. The hole must be 1/4″. If it is too small, the bulkhead will deform the cap and prevent a good seal, and will leak. If the hole is too large, it will leak. If all else fails, use silicone caulk. If you mess up, use a new cap.
Not sure if you fixed this problem or not yet, but I found that if the air pump was set to high, it just gurgled and didn’t work.
Must have had something to do with breaking the tension created by a steady stream of bubbles running up the tube. Too much air created too much chaos and just gurgling.
Also, to get a better lift, I used 4″ PCV pipe as my resivoir and the simple T fitting connection on the bottom. With a resevoir of about 2′ long I get nice lift up about 7′ to the top of the system.
Thanks, Nicolas, for your reply, as it helped me out with my problem! All I was getting was bubbles out the bottom of my tubing, but once I drilled a hole (~3″ up…..you’re right, seems to be the sweet spot!), and inserted the air needle there, I got fantastic flow! I still had to play with the air manifold I’m using (darn air pump doesn’t have an outlet flow adjustment!!) a little bit, but I went from not moving any water up my column at all, to actually being able to blow air out the top, if I don’t throttle back the flow!
More on my hybrid system, once I get some plants going in it. Luckily, I have some 3″ tall spinach plants that have been aching for a window farm to grow in, and they’ll get transplanted tomorrow!
Thanks again!
Nice work, guys! Is anyone else getting the 3″ sweet spot?
I’m at about 4″ from the bottom, I’ll try moving mine up too. Really, what seems to be the larger issue isn’t getting columns of water to go up, but to get them past the first 28.5″ section. Where the two section connect the column seems to break up. Anyone know why this break exists and there isn’t just a single non-broken line of tubing from bottom to top?
My solution to the bubbles in the bottom is to upgrade the reservoir bottle. Instead of using a 1.5L bottle use a 2L bottle. The weight from the extra water creates enough pressure to make sure the air runs up the rigid tubing – enough pressure for my setup consisting of five 1.5L bottles above the reservoir bottle.