Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

With a bell siphon do I need to break the down pipe or can I have one pipe as in the drawing below? Also if I place a small drain hole in the base of the pipe will it cause any problems?

If you stick a "drain hole" in the inner siphon pipe..... then it'll drain... continuously.... will never siphon....

Well unless the flow rate is so high..... that it fills the growbed and initiates the siphon... chances are it might then overpower the siphon....

What was your reasoning for the "drain hole"

I was thinking a small drain hole would more completely drain the bed between refills, also if something interrupted the fill partway the GB would still drain.

Probably should work Novaris, it would be covered by water and suck in water as the siphon kicked in...just make sure it is not too large that it prevents the siphon from kicking in tho...and not too small it blocks up

I can't see a benefit for it tho - no real reason to drain GBs completely (no harm tho :shrug: )

Novaris, one bed will work fine with that setup, but if you add another bed it will need a breather or the siphons will get all confused.

Beds can stay flooded for days at a time, and no real harm happens. They just need to be dried out eventually