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Thread: Going to attempt an air lift
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23-05-2018, 04:03 PM #1
Going to attempt an air lift
After a bit of discussion with various members on here mostly Trace and Brandlin I thought I'd have a go at making an air lift.
Surely it can't be that difficult as at the end of the day it's just some pipe some Ts, an air stone, air line, air pump and water isn't it.
Attachment 23724Attachment 23725
A couple of very rough ideas of what I'm thinking of trying.
Just need to get all the parts together and give it a go.
Got the pipe, Ts, stop ends and couplers this afternoon just waiting on the air pump etc which should hopefully be turning up on Friday.
To start with I think I'll try to have it mounted in the pond and hopefully if it works and I can get it to lift more than a few inches from the water level I may have it feeding a DIY two barrel filter system. If I can only get it to lift a few inches - steady on now I am the wrong side of 40 and age makes fools of us all sometimes then it may have to be mounted outside of the pond to add to the length of the drive pipe?
Just gone for 40mm pipe with push fit fittings so I can adapt as required and maybe go solvent weld or compression fittings once it's working properly.
Question is will it be like a geyser or an old gezzer ???
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23-05-2018, 08:19 PM #2
Good luck.
In your first pic, you dont need the part labelled T4 if you leave the top of T3 open to atmosphere.
In your second pic you dont need the top 90. also you need to be sure your horizontal pipe is inclined down from horizontal - just a little to prevent back pressure.
Other than that as we discussed by PM I'd guess you should be ok.
Your limiting factor will be your submerged length of pipe. That will be the thing to increase if you want more flow at lift above surface level.
Keen to see how it goes.... not actually DIY'd one myself yet.
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Frimley Koi keeper Thanked / Liked this Post
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23-05-2018, 09:01 PM #3
Thanks again for the helpful input.
The 40 mm waste pipe is a bit more flexible than pressure pipe so it should be easy to put a slight downward slope.
I thought the elbow on the top of the drive pipe allows the foam to be piped to waste or would it be better to have the foam coming out of T No. 4?
Was thinking of extending the pipe out of the top of T No. 3 by the length of a coupler.
Anyway as I have got push fit I can try it with or without the extra bit of pipe on top of T No. 3 and with and without an end cap.
I already had a small amount of 40 mm waste pipe which I can use for the short sections between the Ts and elbows etc. then save the full length for the drive pipe and horizontal pipe.
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Brandlin Thanked / Liked this Post
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23-05-2018, 09:08 PM #4
From the point of view of hydraulic performance it wont make any difference as you're just open to atmosphere. My comment was more a case of saving you buying fittings.
How much spill you get will depend on how aggressive the surface is at the top of the lift and that will depend on how much air you feed in. Trace has much more practical experience there. Good idea not to waste any potential spill though i think.
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Frimley Koi keeper, Trace Thanked / Liked this Post
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23-05-2018, 09:31 PM #5
On the version Trace made she put a bit of foam from a garden kneeling pad which I assumed was to stop water splashing out of the top of the drive pipe?
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24-05-2018, 03:27 AM #6
Aha .. this is the first chance I've had to see this post .
Yes the garden kneeling pad (one of my favourite fix all materials) ... the pad discs were to stop water splashes and it's used on both vertical ports see here at the top of the pic:
... if I had made the top tubes longer then I wouldn't have had the splashes but I have a lid that has to close on the filter house and that was the longest I could have them. The kneeling pad works great and of course both have holes in them to let air escape. The smaller holes does not affect the water flow.
I like your first design with the T4 better as although it's not required I have a second port on mine and you can actually feel more air escaping from the second vertical port ... and that's with and without the kneeling pad plugs..
Since I fitted the air lift I've never actually had any problem with foam ... I did get it with my water pump before but after going all air it seems to have all but vanished ...
So how long are you making your drive pipe?
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Frimley Koi keeper Thanked / Liked this Post
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24-05-2018, 07:40 AM #7
Thanks Trace,
As I wasn't sure whether the foam would be escaping from any of the vertical outlets I thought the first drawing was more likely to work as it is very similar to your one. The second drawing I thought would be an option for diverting any foam that gets produced to waste rather than just on to the ground. Looking at various designs and videos etc a lot of air lifts tend to have a secondary function of being a foam fractionator so that may explain why the foam you had disappeared?
I was either going to raise the pipe up about 3" from the top of T No. 3 and use an end cap on it then drill a hole for the air line to go through or just put the end cap on the top of the T and do the same with the air line. Then any foam will come out of T No. 4?
To start with I will try a drive tube length of something like 90 to 100 cm and see what happens.
The air stones I have ordered are 30mm x 80mm & 30mm x 130mm so will try the smaller one first and go to the bigger one if needed. Going for 8mm air line so will adapt the air stone to suit. Can't remember what size air pump I've ordered was either a 35 lph or a 65 lph or something like that.
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24-05-2018, 10:52 AM #8
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24-05-2018, 11:23 AM #9
OK I will try to answer your questions if I can.
There is foam on the surface but not the same amount all the time. Seems to be more the day after cleaning the easy pod. Which could have something to do with the K1 not matured yet - only put a fresh 30 litres in when I fitted the easy pod on the May day bank holiday although I did put in a pure pond bomb the day after fitting the easy pod. Sometimes most of the surface is covered in foam maybe 75% covered other days there is may be about 10% covered.
I wasn't overly worried about removing the foam as the main feature of the air lift just thought it was an additional benefit of the air lift due to how they work?
The pond is not that big as it's currently now a bit of a temporary set up until we decide to move or not in the next year or so. It's just over 1000 gallons.
As for flow rate, I am not sure but if possible something similar to what the pump is producing at the moment. The pump is 6000 or 6500 lph - was a while ago when I put it in the pond. I'm guessing with the pipe work, uvc, easy pod plus the height gain from the bottom of the pond to the easy pod the flow rate is probably something like 3000 to 4000 lph - never actually checked the actual flow rate out of the easy pod. So if the air lift could match that it would be good but if it can better it, that will be a good result.
I went for 40mm pipe as the fittings are easy to get hold of plus it should give a reasonable flow rate?
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24-05-2018, 11:42 AM #10
If I can get it to work on the current pond I would then try to scale it up for the next pond.
Was thinking of making a DIY 2 barrel filler to be used with the air lift depending on how heigh I can get it to lift above the water level.
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24-05-2018, 12:36 PM #11
I know where you might get a really good two filter DIY design if you are interested...
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Frimley Koi keeper Thanked / Liked this Post
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24-05-2018, 12:49 PM #12
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24-05-2018, 01:14 PM #13
Just an observation regarding the question - why use 40mm pipe?
Pipe sizes are a strange thing as some places call 40mm 2 inch while others call 40mm 1.5 inch when in actual fact it's about 1.75 inch. Also the sizes vary depending on it being waste, pressure or soil pipe due to the thicknesses of the wall of the pipe as the measurement should be the internal diameter which is odd because 1.5 inch waste pipe fits perfectly inside 1.5 inch pressure pipe. How can they both be classed as the same size? Could it have something to do with metric and imperial measurements adopted by the pipe manufacturers in the past? I know that electrical pipe changed from imperial to metric so 3/4 inch became 20mm as that is measured using the external diameter and as a result you need a reducer to go from 20mm to 3/4 inch. But I suppose to save recalculating and rewriting all the pipe specifications for flow rates etc. for plumbing the imperial sizes where possible have been converted directly to metric in most cases?
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24-05-2018, 05:59 PM #14
grr wrote a long replt and its lost in the aether
in summary
metric good, imperial bad.
I blame america.
industry has the same problems.
all it does is cost more money
one system always better than two competing ones.
right i'm off to have a quick almost one half litre...
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24-05-2018, 06:04 PM #15
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25-05-2018, 06:27 AM #16
I just found that out yesterday. I have just fitted a 15000 new pump.
First off tried 3 different pipes. Pressure pipe. That had different inner diameters. 2 types of this. And then normal black stuff. All 1 1/2
Inch. Bought some hosetails to fit.
And they would nt fit in any of the pipes.
I was throwing stuff all over the place in temper.
Them my female screw on to the pump would nt fit. So tried a 2 inch rubber straight boot woild nt go over.
As a few have done it this way.
So e mail darren absolute koi the pump. Size thread is 63mm. How the hell is that 2 inch. He said have you tried a 2 inch boot. Reducer to 1 1/2 inch. Looked at my waste from sieve. Thought right freddyboy. Lets try this.
Low and behold. It fitted. Married up to the straight 2 inch boot and the straight boot looked more like 1 and a half inch. But it had 2 inch wrote on it. Does my head in. So now its temporarily done with rib hose.
My water is now 2 inch higher in the pond. So it looks like i have gone backwards. As i believe the inner hose and tails are smaller them the pipe i had on in the first place.
The only good thing is no leaks haha.
So the moral of the story is your spot on. Imperial sizes and old sizes. And different thickness of pipe. And companys making money.
Are there to do our f______ heads in
Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk
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25-05-2018, 10:20 AM #17
Well put Fred.
I think we have more in common as things have a habit of flying around the place when I get the serious hump
Normally I have to patience of a saint but every now and then when I'm having a really bad day and things come to a head........
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25-05-2018, 12:13 PM #18
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Ajm Thanked / Liked this Post
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25-05-2018, 12:42 PM #19
I haven't had the air pump and air line etc. delivered yet so not made a start on it as they weather's not great down here right now.
The delivery should be here sometime this afternoon if it's the delivery I hope it is.
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25-05-2018, 12:59 PM #20
Bah! Any excuse!
The Daily pond temp thread
Still at around 17C, know what you mean about getting the covers off though :D it will be really...