Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello, I'm wondering if long drain pipe which is about 7 ft for bell siphon will work or not. I would like to put my grow bed about 7 ft away from my pond/fish tank. Can I see design of set ups with long drain pipe?

Thanks.

Yes you can have long drain pipes

I have one about 15ft long

They must slope down hill ALL the way this allows air to travel back up the line to help break siphon , so support drain pipe in a few sections

Another way is drop your siphon outlet into a bigger pipe that is not sealed and run the bigger pipe back to fish tank

Another option if your siphon wont behave is put a "tee piece" on the siphon outlet and take a second pipe out and up the side of your growbed to let air in at end of siphon .

This is done if you need to take your drain under a path for example and siphon will still work

Hi Terra,

Thanks for confirming and sharing the various options to do this. This is good to know.

Hi, do you have pics of how this is done? I tried to install a tee with 4" pipe but water came out. Do I need to install longer pipe at the tee?

Thanks.

Another option if your siphon wont behave is put a "tee piece" on the siphon outlet and take a second pipe out and up the side of your growbed to let air in at end of siphon

Couldn't find a pic so assembled some pipe and took a photo

Hope that helps

Water drains back to pond / fish tank and air can enter from the other side once water level drops and flow slows

If your water flow is too fast it wont help

Wow, really appreciate that you spent the time to put this together and share the pic with me.

I put a 90 after the stand pipe and then the tee with vertical pipe. I will try the way you suggested and reduce the flow to my grow bed as well.

Is there a length requirement for the vertical pipe? Does it need to be higher than the grow bed water level?

Thanks so much!

Yes the vertical pipe needs too be higher than the water level when growbed is full , also make sure it is SECURE so you don't have a massive leak situation.

Hi Terra,

Thanks again for your help. I finally got everything set up and it's running now. Now I need to put some vegetables in the grow bed.