Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey all
I'm brand new to this and trying to get my head around a first DIY system. I'm wondering if anyone can point me at some instructing to make an autosiphon?


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-30.517247,151.649843

Hey Glenn, you don't need a siphon necessarily, check out this thread comparing different methods..

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8621

Then download this and read it too... viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10126

That will give you a bit of a basic start..

I am moving away from autosiphons and am loving it. A cheap timer for your pump and you have so much more control on when the pump runs, and how often.
And no fiddling required to get things working. That said, my small system in the green house, with no sump, has autosiphons on three beds and constant flood to the biggest bed. This gives me control over the small 500L fishtanks levels.

Well, on this website there are lotsa details on autosiphon - http://www.affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com be prepared for lotsa reading

IMO you can always start with a bell siphon, and with Affnan's design you can easily turn them to function as a standpipe when you remove the bell...

wow guys, thanks for the resources. affnan eh? what a guy. thats *just* what i was looking for (and more! ) thanks mahfudz_mm. Thanks for those vids too earthbound. Im notionally aware of the different approaches, but with no experience, just picked one that looked cool, I mean the whole auto/bell siphon thing is pretty cool. I was also keen to avoid the sump, it just seemed like an extra container of water i'd have to deal with in a limited space. Fair call though the fiddleyness of the siphon may offset that. Mantis, so are you implying for small systems, a siphon is the right way to go? (I'm thinking of kicking off with 2 bathtubs basically)

We don't have siphons, and don't have sumps either... I don;t really like chift pist systems for small systems because you need the extra sump, you can have a great system without one, for less cost.

EB, how do you compensate without using a sump? Is it the timer F&D method? Or spider valve?

Glen: I am attracted to siphons because when the kick off, a lot of aeration happens in the tank. But like I said, the design is very versatile, you can change it from a siphon to a standpipe simply by removing the bell part of the siphon.

I realize this is quite an old thread, but I wanted to let everyone know I finished the how to guide for the auto/loop/hoop siphon. It's available at http://wiki.midatlanticaquaponics.org/B ... oop_Siphon