Tide simulation, looking for thoughts.

[Nont]

Thanks for so many thoughts!

This biotope idea was inspired by Cryptocoryne ciliata var. ciliata brackish or possibly saltwater habitat in southern Thailand. The plant was growing on land the first time I was there, the second time it was inundated, sadly, I didn’t take any pictures of the latter.

I discovered a research paper on constructing a tide simulator for Spartina using an auto doser. However, I find it hard to imagine because I have never used an auto doser before and being a non native english speaker. https://bioone.org/journals/applica...-Tidal-Simulator-for/10.3732/apps.1400058.pdf

top. When you want high tide, just turn on the air pump to force the water out, then turn it off to let the container fill. You can't use a non-return valve on the airline though, it has to let air escape, so if you go down this route make sure to place the pump well above the tank.

Yes, it would be great if it worked, no idea if a normal air pump is strong enough though. You could make it pretty simple, like this:
View attachment 223213
For best effect you want the opening to let water in the lowest spot, and the airline to end as close to the top as possible (to let all the air escape). You could then even add some biomedia to the container and use it for extra filer volume.

Coolest idea yet, how small do you think the opening would be?

 

[Nont]

A peristaltic would give you a nice slow even flow. What time period do you want to drain/fill over and what size tank are we talking about?

Around 6 hours, 2 drains and 2 fills a day. Tank size would be 36-45cm the smaller would be better to experiment.

 

[Tyko_N]

how small do you think the opening would be?

You could probably go pretty small, just so long as it's big enough to not clog instantly. Or, you make it bigger and fit a filter sponge to slow down the flow a bit more. A tall opening would limit the effectiveness though, with less height to work with for the "air bubble".

Tank size would be 36-45cm

Then this might actually work, had you said 100+ liters I would have recommended a sump instead. If you have an air pump lying around you could always test if it's strong enough beforehand; just place the end of the airline in a large bottle or similar that you hold under water, and see if it can fill it with air.

 

[SteveMid]

Tell us more about your vision for the whole here, livestock plans etc. Looking forward to hearing all about it!
My insane mind immediately jumps to trying to raise one in some way porous box mechanically out of another containing the water. Certainly not a rational approach, but could lead to some great side quests and one unique result!
Finding the right type of pump makes more sense. A peristaltic would give you a nice slow even flow. What time period do you want to drain/fill over and what size tank are we talking about?

I agree about potential of peristaltic on this. I had once thought about this as an project and thought of utilising a 6 line peristaltic dosing pump. I may have been over thinking it/over complicating it but my first thoughts were that you could actually simulate the rate at which the tide comes in and out by starting up 1 line, then 3 lines, then 6lines, etc. so sequence would be 1:3:6:6:3:1 over six hours for tide coming in and then reverse this for tide going out. Would give you the perfect rise and fall cycle rather than linear. I suppose there would be more tubes than tank by the time it was set up 😂

 

[castle]

I didn’t realise you wanted the tide to be gradual, you can definitely do this with something like this AU EZ3R16 | Verderflex Peristaltic Electric Operated Positive Displacement Pump, 1.26L/min, 1 bar, 12/24 V dc | RS

You could, attach this to a controller to program the rate, which would be 👌 I programmed my own dosing pumps it’s simple enough 👍

 

[Andy Pierce]

I'm not sure if it helps any, but you can get "ebb and flow" (also known as "flood and drain") systems for aeroponics <"Flood and Drain Aquaponics - HowtoAquaponic">.

This type of thing is essentially how the Shrimphaus river works, except I currently have it set for 20 minute cycles with 19 min of flood and a 1 min drain. It grows Riccardia chamedryfolia really well.