by Jan C. Aynes
Revisions, Revisions…
9:05 pm in Getting Started, Materials and Resources, posts with pitcures!, Projects in Process, questions, Version 3.0 Modular Airlift Columns by Jan C. Aynes
So, this has been a focus for me over the last few weeks, thinking through how to set everything up. So, based on what everyone has been sharing, the following ideas have been put together…
Setting up the column(s). I would prefer not to suspend it from the ceiling. I think the metal columns look more structured, which is very appealing. Also, there are a lot of opportunities to grow vining plants, and upon obsessing on how to manage creating this look, the following items have been picked out:
- Welded Wire Fencing, that can be shaped in a wave pattern; meaning that it would curve to the south on one side and then curve to the north on the other side, making semi-circular curves in which to suspend the bottles on one or both sides. The way the fencing is, it would be so easy to use plant tape to train or trail the plant, make a modular system and it would keep the tubing very straight.
- Acrylic Rods, 1/4 inch, 9″ wide to slide through the bottles and suspend them on the fencing.
- 1/4 inch rubber gaskets, on the inner and outer side of the fencing to keep the rods from sliding around.
If this idea gels, pictures will be posted, but the materials have been purchased…
The only other change made was purchasing the proper pumps, because I didn’t realize how they were supposed to work, so we’ve reverted to the Petco four outlet pump.
For airlift pumping, I think that 1/4 inch or 3/16 inch internal diameter is most suitable. I pumped 13 ft high with 3/16 inch tubing! (Some people cannot even pump 2 ft high.)
3/8 inch internal might give you too much backflow from your plugs of water going up (which means less water pumped).
My video explaining airlift pumping is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKtB1YKoMxk
I think it is pretty important to stick to something close to the 1/4 inch or 3/16 inch internal diameter range for the airlift section. Some of my video’s are crappy rush jobs but I think that one is great!
An important thing to note is that new tubing has some sort of coating that repels water. This means that you need to either wash out your new tubing or leave it sit (filled with water) in a bucket of water for a day or so before using it. (Windowfarms needs to include something about this problem). In my video, this may have been what was wrong with my blue tubing.
Another video worth watching is about the petco 4 port pump and it is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JqaQV48KFk . The guy takes apart the pump, shows how it works and shows the extremely low electricity consumption too!
Hi Brian, thanks for the video link. It helped me explain things to my boyfriend. Yes, the tubing is .25 I.D., so it will work well. I’ll be sure to rinse out the tubing before hand too.