Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

For the SLO is it just a 90" bend + pipe + T piece?

If i dont drill a whole the T piece will be sticking out of the FT? How would that work?

Also for the loop siphon should i have the bulkheads at the bottom of the barrels or on the side of the barrels? How big should i have the tubes for the siphon?

Im going to be using a 2500-3000L at 1m head.

The only way to avoid drilling a hole... and overflowing over the top of the IBC... is to use a "bridge"... or "no holes overflow"... do a search....

As far as the loop siphons are concerned... use 25mm soft PVC tubing... hydro stores, or Bunnings are your best bet... and plumb through the bottom... although through the sides wont matter that much, it's just a cleaner siphon break through the bottom IMO...

Do you mean this? how much space does people usually leave at the top of T to the top of the FT?

I cannot see how this contraption can possibly work.

A water bridge only works because no air can enter the bridge, it needs the pipe to be submerged both sides of the tank wall i.e the bridge goes over into a second tank.

Water cannot magically run uphill inside the tank and stay at a lower level just because there is an open T piece on the inside of the tank. Wouldn't the water would just fill up over the T piece, up to the top of the tank, and overflow over the top

Apparantly some people have used them so that they haven'y needed to drill their aquariums...

But yes, they need to be "primed"... can lost that "prime"... and can be troublesome...

Just drill a hole... and get a Hanson tank fitting, and a faucet/socket to suit the pressure pipe you're using...

Chift Pist systems abound... have a look at F&F's system...

Would this work better?

I think i will keep it simple and just drill a hole lol. is there a certain amount of "head room" above the T piece or below the top of the FT?

Should leave some space at the top of the T so that if things block up the bottom, water will go over the T and down rather than over the side of the tank...

Rather than overflowing the tank itself...

would say 3-4cm from the top enough? I just want to keep as much of the FT area for the fishes

50 60 is better

If i were to cut down the blue barrels to about 30cm (from 50cm) that would reduce the "volume" of the GB right say from 100L to 60-70L effectively giving me more grow room for my now smaller FT of about 500-550L after taking 5cm from the top?

So say the FT it was 600L now i normally would only fit 6 half barrels, but now if i remove the extra height of the GB i could say fit about 8 grow beds for the same FT?

Why bother... you'd still have all the same problems.... just go with what you've drawn....

Build it... you can always expand later... or just keep it... and design your second system... like the rest of us have...

Would 500L - 550L and a 400L be enough to fill 600L worth of GB?

Can i ask as well for the FT hole and the loop siphon hole, what "circular drilling" bit do you guys use? Is there a pack with different sizes or something?