Japan Aquaponics DIY Aquaponics Guides

Plumbing Part 1

Plumbing your aquaponics system will require a careful through a small pipe - and this fact can be exploited when
consideration of many different factors and will depend on you plumb your system.
your own design and situation. Nevertheless we will try to
outline several important things to be aware of to help you. Another thing to consider is gravity. Gravity (in a simplified
Plumbing is an integral part of your aquaponics system and explanation) will exert a constant downward pressure on
so should be considered right from the very beginning - the water in our aquaponics system - so if you are using a
don't wait until you have the fish tank and the growbeds in pump to move water up, then you need to be aware that
place before you start to think about how to actually gravity will be fighting against that movement. This means
connect it all together! that when you are working out how to move the water,
and the rate that the water is flowing through your system,
Before we talk about how to put the plumbing together we you need take into consideration difference in height
should look at what is most commonly used for the between the different components of your system -
plumbing - and the easy answer to that is PVC Pipe. You basically, how high do you need to pump the water. We
will sometimes see debate about whether PVC pipe is safe can also use gravity to our advantage and use it to move
to use, but there is very little evidence to suggest that it is in water around for us with the minimal of mechanical
anyway harmful - and it has been certified as safe for use in intervention. If we have a fish tank that it higher than a
drinking water plumbing, by agencies the world over. growbed then we can have the water overflow out of the
Because of this, it is almost universally used for aquaponics tank and flow down to the growbed - purely by gravity and
as it is has several beneficial features: a well designed system.

PVC Pipe is almost universally available So where do we start?

PVC Pipe is usually extremely cost
effective (read cheap!) We can start by working out how much water is going to
PVC Pipe comes in standard sizes be in our system in total - how many growbeds do you
worldwide have and what is their volume? What will be the volume of
PVC Pipe has a wide range of adapters your fish tank and / or sump tank? Put it all together and
and connectors available now you have an idea of the amount of water that needs
PVC Pipe is easy to use, cut and adapt to be moved around your aquaponics system. As a general
PVC Pipe is durable and long lasting rule of thumb you want to move the entire of your fish tank
volume each and every hour in order to maintain good
For the purpose of this guide we will be assuming the use of water quality for your fish. You also need to work out the
standard PVC piping in your aquaponics system. It is worth 'head' of your system - that is, how high do you need to
noting that whilst other piping could be used (such as pump the water? Finally, we need to consider whether you
agricultural pipe, flexi-pipe, bamboo, hosepipe etc.), you will be running your pump continuously, or whether your will
must make certain that it is safe for use in a system that have a timed flood and drain system. All of these factors
grows produce for human consumption - and also consider together will give you an idea of how much water needs to
whether it will be toxic for your fish or plants. As an example be moved around; how much time we have to move it,
you should steer clear of metal piping - especially copper and therefore how we need to configure our plumbing.
piping, as it can be highly toxic to your fish. If in doubt, I
would probably not use it, and instead settle for standard If we take an example starting point of a 1000 litre fish tank,
PVC pipe. with 2, 500 litre growbeds positioned above the fish tank.
Water will be pumped from the fish tank 50cms up to the
Plumbing Fluid Dynamics growbeds, and will then directly return to the fish tank via
the outflow pipes in the growbeds. Assuming that we are
Just briefly it is worth noting how a fluid actually flows running the pump constantly then it needs to be powerful
through a pipe - there are a couple of small things to enough to move at least a 1000 litres of water 50cms high
consider that will influence how you plumb your system. The in 1 hour. However, if you are planning to run a timed
pipe itself provides friction to the smooth movement of the flood and drain system, then you need to allow for the fact
water, and so you actually find that as water flow through that the pump may only be on for 15 minutes every hour. If
the pipe, the water in the very middle of the pipe goes just this is the case the pump needs to still move the entire
a little faster than the water that is touching the sides of the volume of the fish tank - but it needs to do it in only 15
pipe. The difference is tiny - but it exists nonetheless. minutes... and so you will need to use a much more
Similarly if you look at the flow rate through a straight length powerful pump to allow for this. In our example above, the
of PVC pipe, and through a pipe with a series of bends - pump would need to be able to move at least 4000 litres of
the water flows more quickly through the straight pipe, as water to a height of 50cms in 1 hour.
you would imagine. There are some complicated
equations to work out exact flow rates - but for the purpose The pipes need to be big enough to also handle this
of this guide it is enough to just recognise that there will be volume of water and we need to have various controls and
some factors that will determine the flow rate through your safety measures in place just in case there is any problem.
aquaponics plumbing, and which will influence your
decision as to what size diameter piping you should use.
Simply put, in a given amount of time you can move a
greater volume of water through a big pipe than you can
The Pump example, in a 20mm diameter pipe a 90-degree elbow
fitting is the equivalent of an additional 0.5m of pipe – a 90-
The pump is quite literally the degree Tee fitting is the equivalent of an additional 1.4m of
beating heart of your aquaponics pipe. In a large system this may have a significant impact
system and it something that you on your overall flow rate.
should not buy cheaply - it is well
worth paying for a high quality The Connectors
pump as it will pay you back in the
long run. A quality pump will not There are several commonly used types of connectors in
break, it will not leak any aquaponics and we work with both threaded connectors
chemicals into your system, and it and slip connectors. Threaded connectors are ones that
will often use less electricity than a screw into one another and are designated as male and
cheaper, less well designed and manufactured pump. female. Slip connectors as the name suggests, just slip into
Don't scrimp on this component of your system! one another. In order to preserve pipe diameter you will
find that most connectors are female, and the male pipe
You need to check two things with your pump... its flow
rate and it Head pressure. The flow rate tells you how much
water the pump can move in litres per minute or per hour.
The Head pressure then adjusts this measurement based on
how high the water is being pumped. Every pump will have
a chart similar to the one here. Check this carefully to see if
it is capable of moving the amount of water that you need.
It is better to UP-size your pump as you can always adjust
the flow if it is too high... but you cannot increase the flow if
it is too small. A slightly bigger pump will also allow you to
increase the size of your system if you want to expand it at
a later date.
simply fits directly into it. Examples of connectors are:
The Pipes 90° elbows
45° elbows
There are two types to consider – those delivering water to 90° Tee fittings
the growbeds – and those removing it from the growbeds, Ball Valves
and as a general rule of thumb the pipes removing water Bulkheads
from the growbeds may be larger than those taking the Reducers
water to them in order to ensure that the beds can drain Couplings
properly and not overflow, or at least able to adequately
handle the volume of water being delivered to the Fitting Pipes through the growbeds
growbeds.
When we need to put a pipe through
Which size pipe diameter to use will depend on your a growbed or a fish tank then we will
circumstances but once again, as a general rule you usually use either a Bulkhead fitting, or
should aim to use a larger diameter than strictly necessary. something like a Uniseal. The
If you have a 1000 litre aquaponics system then you should bulkhead can either be a purposely-
probably use 20mm piping as a minimum, and anything up designed adapter or it could be a
to 40mm or 50mm would be fine. There are a number of fairly standard male and female
engineering type calculators online that can help you work adapter with some rubber washers. Bulkeads come in a
out the ideal pipe diameter to use and we recommend very wide variety of sizes and shapes, but can be easily
taking a look at one of these in advance. Flow rate also assembled from parts readily available in any homestore.
decreases as the length of pipe increases, so if you need to The bulkhead is a good, sturdy option for plumbing through
consider this when you work out your flow rates. the bottom of the growbed when you are using a
standpipe
Bear in mind that over time debris may build up on the
inside of the pipes and this will affect the rate of flow in the
pipes. Pipes may need to be cleaned every few months in The uniseals are rubber rings that fit into
order to ensure a constant and unimpeded flow of water. the holes that have been drilled into the
The necessity to clean some sections of your plumbing tank. They clamp around the hole
should also influence your decision as to whether you need making a watertight connection and
to glue your pipes together… in our opinion this may not be then the PVC pipe can be slotted into
necessary for most aquaponics systems as the water the seal. The seals usually allow the pipe
pressure is not so high, and the piping can be pushed to be installed in only one direction, thus providing a
together firmly enough to avoid the need for PVC glue. watertight seal between the pipe and the connector.
Uniseals are a cheap and easy method of putting a pipe
Also note that joints, and bends in your plumbing will through a tank, and they can also be used with rounded
decrease the flow rate of the water. If you have lots of surfaces thus making them particularly useful for plumbing
right angle connections in your design then you will need to into barrels and other such rounded containers.
confirm the final flow rate once you have laid everything
out. Every bend is the equivalent to an additional length of By Aragon St-Charles
pipe (and consequent reduction in water flow). For www.japan-aquaponics