by Brian White
Vertical pallet planter, slightly different Airlift method.in a 14 inch high bucket and pumps about 4 ft high
5:01 am in Education, Featured Post, Getting Started, Help the project by testing this, How-Tos, made from scratch (without a kit), Materials and Resources, Uncategorized by Brian White
I am doing a couple of vertical pallet planters and changed the airlift to suit the planters. In this case, the next planter will have 2 wooden legs in plastic buckets. The water will drip down the legs and back into the buckets. I usually use the t joint method outside the bucket but I also appreciate that not everyone has room for a u tube that is one ft lower than your T joint. I tried a few different methods and this one works.
This way uses all the depth of the bucket and you might get a little bubbling when it restarts for a few seconds but usually not. Note that once again, I got a few days where the tubes acted funny before they behaved themselves. Pretty sure it is whatever sheen or grease is on new tubes. I think all new tubes need to just sit low with nutrient running through them for about a day before you put them up in position. There is almost zero drainback in new tubes and that is what is causing the problem. Newbies are going to be very confused by this.
My pallet planter project is at instructables A very interesting aspect of this (for me) is that the air pump is 120 ft away from the planter. (It still works and pumps the air through 1/4 inch tubing all the way to the greenhouse). Brian
@gaiatechnician Hi Brian, I like your idea. After a long bout with the flu I got back on the WF site and described how I was dealing with my windowfarm at present. It was good to see you on with your work and experiments. They are great. I look forward to getting my aquaponic setup back up.
:Sylvia Indiana USA
I don’t think it’s for pallet planter only. I’m definitely looking for replacing my t-valve system, combining it with the vertical farm implementation of Urban Green Survival from 2010, posted recently by @hardwarejunkie. I want to design those colums as throwaway-friendly as possible, because those 1/2 L bottles are not that sturdy, and it’s a pain to replace plants.
Hello,
This looks really interesting. How exactly is the air tube joined to the airlift tube that takes the water up? I am a complete beginner, so explain please explain in as much detail as possible
Thanks
Hi, Noomil, I used a soldering iron. Just melted a small hole and pushed the smaller tube through the hole. Then quenched it right away. I can also do it with my “bung borers” from my days as a lab technician but I don’t think anyone sells bung borers (for a reasonable price) anymore! I got mine about 25 years ago. 75 dollars for the ones at the link! ( Which look very much like my set). http://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-12-Cork-Borers-Drills-Cutters-for-Science-Lab-Bungs-Stoppers-066605-/120990586517?pt=UK_BOI_Medical_Lab_Equipment_Lab_Equipment_ET&hash=item1c2b99d695
Brian
Hello again,
I have just set up my window farm with this type of air lift. I used a screw driver to make the hole in the tube in the end. I just heated it up with a lighter. It seems to be working as long as the ‘water in’ tube lies flat to the bottom of the bucket.
Yes, Noomil, I found that too. Lately, I have attached the tube to stiff wire with elastic bands and bent the wire so that the tube stays where it should be! Before that the darn thing would occasionally blow back and with murky water you could not see what the problem was. If the tube still tends to “blow back” when you have it on the bottom, your constriction at the end needs to be made smaller. I thought the little hole letting in water at the very bottom would cause problems by blocking but so far it has behaved very well, even with my cruddy pallet garden water. Quite honestly, this thing has worked way better than I had ever hoped it would. Brian