How To Choose Pond Pipe Fittings And Pond Tubing
Choosing the right pipe fittings and the whole issue relating to fittings and pond hose selection can be somewhat of a confusing issue at times! To complicate the matter further, fittings and tubing sizes are often in metric when you want them in imperial and vice versa. This of course usually depends upon where you live.
Why Do I Need Pipe Fittings?
The vast majority of water gardeners will have at least 2 pieces of equipment that they need to interconnect; a pump and biological filter, for example. In some instances they may have many items of equipment that need to be connected together.
TIP! There are a myriad of reliable, energy efficient pumps available to the water gardening market, these days. Many of them are sold with the relevant fittings included.
As water flows from the pump through the tubing it will often need to change direction. In order to reduce flow restrictions and save on energy consumption use a fitting that has as smooth a bend as possible. No matter what pump model you use it will loose a bit of flow, for each and every piece of equipment that is connected together. This is known as pressure drop.
Many pond keepers use what is known as a T Piece to split the water flow between 2 pieces of equipment. This is a very bad idea! The 90 degree change in water flow causes significant pressure drop and flow restriction. The golden rule when choosing fittings is to always to choose the widest diameter you can; this once again is to lower the pressure drop and therefore maximize the possible amount of flow. Using a Y piece to split flow minimizes friction losses or pressure drop and is a far better choice.
Which Pond Hose Should I Use?
It is better to use opaque plastic tubing because clear plastic allows sunlight to penetrate it. Algae will grow on the inside, providing there are nutrients and sunlight present. The algae colonize the inside of the hose, reducing the internal diameter through which water is pumped. This yet again causes a pressure drop. Opaque tubing makes it very difficult for sunlight to penetrate and this in turn makes it difficult for algae to grow.
Very often you will want to bend the tube and this is the second reason why transparent pipe is normally not the best choice. Ribbed flexible pipe is perfect for 1000 water gardeners as it does not kink when it is bent. The majority of transparent hose kinks very easily and the impact is a lower water flow to your waterfall or fountain. Whichever type you decide to use should be as short as possible and should be as wide as possible.
When you attach hose you will often use what we is known as a Jubilee Clip; ensure that you use stainless steel, so as to avoid rusting and corrosion.
By: Sean Roocroft
I ran my new 30-gal bio-barrel for the first time and the waterfall is about one half the speed or power as my old little box filter set up.
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