Venturi Construction...

[Austrian Fish]

Hi,

I've recently built a biofilter for my pond, and i'm now experimenting with adding a Venturi to it to airate the water better.

I've already tried one design, a piece of notched hose pipe stuck into the water flow, that i found on a web site somewhere. This works, but it is not that good. It doesn't suck in enough air.

Does anyone have any other ideas for Venturi designs? Pipe diameter, notching, placement, restriction etc?

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[DrCase]

Are you trying to move the water faster ?
Or put more air in the water ?

 

[Austrian Fish]

I'm trying to put more air into the system, and i know it's a trade off, but i don't want to restrict the waterflow too much to do it, because the biofilter feeds a waterfall, and i want to maintain a good flow over that.....

I could put an air stone in there, but that's another electrical/maintenance item and the venturi is a better option.....

 

[poodles-ponds and gardens]

Do a web search on diy venturi. I've done some research on them for my filter. There are some sites out there with different plans. It'll just take some trial and error to find out which works best for your set up. Is this the site you went with? www.leisure.prior-it.co.uk/diy-build-pond-venturi.shtml From what I understand from my research on venturi's the big factor is the narrowing of the flow in relation to the air inlet.

 

[poodles-ponds and gardens]

I was surfing the web and found this page that might be useful...Venturi T's and inexpensive.

http://www.flexpvc.com/cart/agora.cgi?cart_id=9783.2906*8n7dz2&product=PVC-Venturi-Tees

 

[DrCase]

I like that..

 

[DrDave]

How about the geometry for a water powered vacuum head? Does anyon have a DIY link for that?

 

[aviator79]

Not sure what you mean by a water powered vacume head.
This place also has Tees:
http://64.92.109.198/prod160.html
Im going to get one.

And these things as I know somone just mentioned making a jet on his pump output to ove more water.
http://64.92.109.198/subcat149.html

 

[koikeepr]

Basically, you simply have to reduce the pipe suddenly at the end and that causes a push of water/air. For example, my piping is all 2 inches in my plumbing. At the end of the line I simply slapped on a 1" fitting, so the water is forced out quickly. The smaller the fitting, the faster the water will shoot out. My koi love it and always dance around in the jet.

 

[DrDave]

Not sure what you mean by a water powered vacume head.
This place also has Tees:
http://64.92.109.198/prod160.html
Im going to get one.

And these things as I know somone just mentioned making a jet on his pump output to ove more water.
http://64.92.109.198/subcat149.html

No that site had venturi/air injection fittings. I was looking for a vacuum fitting geometry to suck debries from the bottom. I think it would be easy to make them.

 

[aviator79]

why not use a chepoo pool vacuum just hooked to a pump?

 

[DrCase]

DrDave i went out to take a pic of my old... water powered vacuum head....
but i must of thrown it away...

 

[DrDave]

why not use a chepoo pool vacuum just hooked to a pump?

I have a nice swimming pool pump, hose and I could easily rig a vacuum cleaner head to it, I even rigged a 220VAC extension cord to the pump to run it. I made a stainless steel rolling cart to make it portable. Then I did the math and discovered that before I got half of one of my ponds cleaned, I would have pumped out most of the water and quite possibly some of the Koi.

The vacuum I want to design and build, would be easily made by anyone on this forum cost less than $50 to build, including the expensive drain hose they use in swimming pools. The fitting, head and pole would be maybe $10 to $15 of the cost. It will be powered by your garden hose so it is safe.

The adavantage to this is simple. It gives you a minor water change by taking bad water off the bottom, it doesn't suck up your Koi, including the big ones, it is easy to build and control and it would be my gift to this forum.

I design for a living, I have a Research & Development background in nuclear, chemistry, tooling, electronics and space technology. To me, this is just another challenge. Who knows, maybe even another opportunity.