Well well well, something happened to my system that would have spelled disaster had I put my pump in the pond. The system is flowing non stop summer and winter. The other day it was so cold that as the water flooded the grow beds some of it froze to the clay balls. With each flood and drain a bit more water froze until not enough returned to the sumps and therefore not enough to the pond to make it overflow at the correct rate. This resulted in the pump tank level dropping 25cm. This drop therefore increased the pump head height and reduced the flow to a lot less than normal. Luckily the pond level stayed the same. (I prepared for that in my initial calculations, although via blockage and not freezing). This meant coming up with a backup system to cover a drop in head height no matter what causes it.
I took my level laser pointer and worked out at what height I could drill a hole in my rainwater bucket that would allow water to flow back into my pump tank when needed.
Next I drilled and fitted an outlet, connected it to a pipe and run the pipe underground to the pump tank.
In the pump tank I fitted a float valve.
I then set the height of the water to be just below the overflow so now if the level drops the tap opens and tops up the pump tank the same way a toilet refill works before shutting itself off.
Float and laser pointer
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Float fitted
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Pipe about to be buried
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Pipe covered and just waiting for the grass to grow back
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Backyard Aquaponics
