Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Andy, from the landscape place opposite "B"/Macro warehouse Morayfield, I think it was about $45/metre and I got 1/4m (10mm drainage), there is some small stuff in it but when I was washing, it fell through the sieve so ended with pretty uniform gravel size

Pay that one Mon

PM and others, thanks for the support, becoming a "Backyard Aquaponian" is fun, enjoyable and very satisfying.

EB has started something that is gathering a roll faster than even he hoped for and I am very happy to be a part of it.

Les

Thought I would post this, one of the bean roots came through the slits in the 150mm pipe, it has reached the bottom and is curling (being sucked) up the siphon pipe - this is one root from one bean plant and is over 30cm long in only 2 weeks.

Will remove it when/if it becomes a problem, the brown stuff on the side is dead algae, it started to grow there so upended a pot plant to cover the pipe and cut out the sunlight and it is now dying off

If the roots become a problem you can just give the slotted pipe a quick twist to cut them off Ell... Except it may upset your small pipe a little..

circumcise the mongrels (bloody knife mate)

gosh

Hey Ell

Question for you on the siphon. If you were able to cut the height of the siphon in the bed down and then add a sink U on, would the added head of presure not allow the siphon to work just as well? Just been looking around at traditional bell siphons and had the idea. Give me some feed back.

JT

Hi JT, the siphon height in the grow bed can be any height, I just kept it under 30cm and then built the gravel up to above the high tide mark (30 cm is the optimum depth for gravel medium).

One of my tests was to put in a u-bend (same as putting in a kitchen U) under the grow bed, the water level in the grow bed increased too much before the siphon started and it wasn't as efficient in draining the grow bed - slower rate of flow through the pipe which meant air sucked in the air tube was able to flow against the current and cut off siphon prematurely.

Ell

An Update: Test results
Sprinkled grow bed with chook egg shells and PH has remained constant @ 7.2
Nitrate level increased to nearly 40
Water temp range 19-22C (one of the benefits of living up north)

Algae
Started to see signs of algae so placed a cover over part of the fish tank and covered pipe in grow beds – no more algae and no algae bloom

Dwarf Beans
Checked with ones in dirt, plant is much taller but has a thinner stalk, will watch and provide support if necessary, proof will be when both bear fruit and how much

Climbing Beans gone mad

Lettuce
growing much faster than the dirt ones, noticed one was not up to the standard of the other lettuces – wife admitted to helping herself to a few leaves (and she thought it was humorous me not knowing, so much for controlled testing)

Siphon – just chunders away 24/7

Now comes the next stage, a lot of preliminary work has been going on behind the scenes on a larger system for Ell (and his adoring wife) – will start a new thread shortly, hopefully doing as well as other forum members

Regarding the last picture Ell - Once the water dips below the opening at the top of the center pipe, how does it drain? I'm not seing the exit...

MF, I had taken off the siphon pipe to get a better picture of the stray root, that pipe is about 1-1/2" the siphon pipe is 2-1/2" and then the 6" whopper, here are all the bits

When you Aussie's say "siphon" do you mean drain??

With you now, the water rises between the 2 smaller pipes and when it gets to the top (high tide mark is the top of the cap on 2-1/2" pipe), the siphon starts and water flows down the smaller pipe (rapidly), draining the grow bed from about 12" down to < 1" of water left in the bottom - the outflow is represented by my twin exhausts "on song"

so this is very similar in concept to the center drain I have in my tank yes?

That's right mate - when you 1st put it up, I got both of them confused, you set your tank water level at that height where as I use that height to start my auto siphon and drain, we both use the centre pipe to extract the water

Ell

so by capping the center pipe (as opposed to my leaving it open) you create a closed siphon that extracts from the bottom, I think I understand the siphon now.