Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

You may still need the air tube. I have three almost identical siphons, two of them break without the air tube and one just won't. I am not convinced that the length of the drain pipe effect the breaking of a siphon as it is my shortest drain that will not break without the air tube and my longer ones (3 metres long) break without it.

The most important thing with my siphons is to have the drain pipes rising up a little, about 3/4 of the diameter of the pipe. This allows them to fill with water and seal at the high point to create the siphon, if I have them higher or lower then they won't work. Having them only 3/4 means that as the water flow decreases air can rush back in from the sump end to break the siphon. They do slurp for a while during the break but the ones without the airtube are very quiet. The one with the airtube makes a racket but does break faster.

I spent about 1/2 and hour fiddling with the amount of rise on my pipes before I got it right and I think it is dependant on flow rates. I think the higher the flow rate then the less rise you need because the water will completely fill the pipe anyway. Less flow needs more rise otherwise it will just keep trickling out of the pipe without sealing and siphoning.

Anyway experiment away, that is half the fun.

Fixed the problem! I added 2 small pin holes in the air tube and now the siphon breaks. So now its cycling and I've added some plants to the first bed. As soon as the urine is aged I will start adding some for ammonia.

Here are some picture updates of my system. I have planted both beds and the bacteria seems to be growing much faster than I anticipated. 5 days ago I had a ammonia level of .50ppm with both nitrate and nitrite at 0ppm and today I have an ammonia level of 0ppm with a nitrate level of 0.50ppm and a nitrite level of 6ppm. I don't know where the ammonia came from as I didn't add any pee yet, but I suspect it was from the soil that was hanging onto the seedlings roots. Anyway, take a look at my pics and let me know what you think. I've also included a shot of my most recent flush of oyster mushrooms, as I thought some of you might get a kick out of um. Its the second flush and its been really hot lately so they are a bit small. Enjoy!

You're on the way Issac....

Yeah! I feel like I am and I've even got a toes photo!

So now for a few more questions. When can I add fish, and how many should I add? I know there is for sure bacteria growing because I can see it on the bell siphon PVC. According to the water samples I've been taken its been breaking down ammonia into nitrates/nitrites. I want fish! I am thinking I'll start with feeder goldfish so in case something goes terribly wrong... well you get the idea.

Love your mushrooms Isaac.

Why thank you! That's my other hobby.
Here is another pic just for you:

any chance you can tell us more about your other hobby. How you do it and what environemt you keep them in ?

Very very basically... you take a mushroom culture, grow it out on sterilized grain then use the grain to inoculate paper (or something else, depending on what you are growing). Once fully colonized you put the block of colonized paper in a high humidity environment and it will sprout mushrooms in about 2 weeks. Pick, cook and eat!

I used a mini-greenhouse with a humidifier in it for the first oyster picture and a tub with the lid off (and lots of misting) for the second picture of the king oysters. I have lots of experience and can go into much more depth about how its done, but I usually save that for the mushroom forum.

If you're really interested in growing your own, shoot me a PM and I can tell you anything you need to know.

Its been a while, here's a little update. I've had this system running for quite some time now, I initially transplanted some kale seedlings into it and they didn't seem to do that well, which I attributed to the system not having been cycled enough. Their leaves seemed to curl up a bit. Then I had a bunch of strawberries in it which were actually producing quite a bit of fruit, but because of neglect they siphons weren't really don't their job too well and most of the plants died.

Now I've got a little more time on my hands so I figure I will try to get this working properly. Currently I only have 1 of the 2 beds going because of problems with the bell siphons. When I have both beds running it seems like there is either not enough or too much water running through the system and they get stuck in either a full, or empty position. Right now I just have one bed going and everything seems to be working properly. Just planted the bed with some radishes, a few kinds of kale, some cilantro and the few strawberries that are still alive from the last failed attempt. I'll get some photos up soon. Does anybody have any insights into why my siphons might be acting so finicky?