by monica
water flow problem & natural fertilizer question!
8:49 am in made from scratch (without a kit), Nutrients, Nutrition, pumps, questions, Seeking Advice, Water flow by monica
Hi!
Ive been having problems with my water flow lately. I started my (home-made) window farm a few weeks ago with just one bottle on top of my water reservoir, and the water flow was excellent, a real continuous flow of water pouring down. Yesterday, I decided to add two more bottles to my system. Now with the added height, the pump does not seem able to send enough air pressure and the water never reaches the top: it simply spurts up up up, and then back down again, just before reaching the curve in the tube that would send it trickling back down. I am using a “Marina” air pump, model #75, which has a 50-100 L tank capacity. There does not seem to be an air escapement from anywhere. There is only occasionally very little bubbling in the reservoir. I don’t understand what is causing this problem.
Does anybody have any suggestions?
Also, we have recently switched from using a conventional, all-purpose plant fertilizer to using an organic one from fish and seaweed. Do these fertilizers provide enough nutrition to my plants? (basil, coriander, parsley, hot chilies). Is there any downfall to using these? I noticed quite a deposit of it sticking to the tubing, and am worried that it might clog up somewhere eventually. Does anyone have any experience with these natural fertilizers?
Thank you so much!
what is the diameter of the tube (4 mm inner-diameter in my case)?
Maybe you need a valve (or two) to reduce and adapt the pressure.
So did I – have a look to http://windowfarm.tk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Ventiltechnik_1_ml.jpg .
This construction transports the water in a hight of 2 x 180 cm with a 2 watt (10 – 60 l) airpump.
ciao, joha
Hi Monica, I made my water flow more effecient with making the supply tank deeper. I have no air bubbles going the wrong way now. Just a thought there. Good Luck from Manchester Indiana USA Sylvia
I’m trying out something called compost tea. I’m using dirt from my worm farm to make it, along with a concentrate from boiling seaweed water down to a dark liquid, and something sweet (molasses/honey) to promote growth, but in principle I think you could adapt this for brewing all kinds of “liquid dirt.” I think I need to pay more attention to the nutrients in the dirt, but so far so good, and no sticking, or any signs of clogging at all. Hasn’t been run long term yet though. The dirt itself seems to make plants explode.
You make the tea by bubbling air through the mix in a filter bag. Use the bag to take out the solids after it get’s frothy and plant more stuff in that if you’d like. I used a 5 gal (~20L) bucket, an aquarium air bubbler, and a filter sack for paint. Cost me ~$20 for the setup, and although the worm farm may take a bit of work, you could probably just use well fertilized dirt and be fine.
Here’s a playlist on some nutrient stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL65A97AE205A27FDE