Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Cool! Now mind you, I don't think anyone -here- has actually done dual autosiphons. Make sure in your implementation that as one autosiphon drains that the other can retain its partial priming. Also make sure you have good access to the barrels for maintenance. You might just spread them out a little so they poke out from under the beds a little more. Overall, I think it's a nice tight design. Attractive and efficient. Go for it!

Got it. I'm not sure if I can separate them vertically, or if I have to do it horizontally. I like the small footprint, and I can get 18sq ft (2 sq m) out of it all. I know that the dual autosiphons are a new thing, and if I can't get them to work right, I can always take that top GB off, and split the stream. I really like the idea of having three GBs and only circulating 1/4 barrel of water at a time.
If this works, then my _NEXT_ system will....

We all have little unproven parts of our systems, and that's what makes this group cool. Everybody does it their own way based on what makes sense to them and what's available to them in materials, space, money, and fish. I love the diversity!

Love it G - hadn't thought of using autosiphons in your configuration but am very interested in the outcome :sunny:


its amazing - I planned my new system and started assembling and I am still asking the question "Why didn't I do it this way.........."
so, for my next system.........


Well planned G, go for it

We'll see what other ideas I get before I actually get the time and money to build. I just don't want to overcomplicate things. Like to keep things simple...and working.

Actually, I tried the dual auto siphons and they do work. Rather clever actually. You have to be quite exact in your measurements for height and even back preasures for it to work but it is not that hard to do.

I did it both with rigid pvc and with the hose autosiphons. I didn't need to use the configuration for my system but I tried it when I saw the post on one of the threads a while back.

Yahoo DT! Proof of concept.

Sign of a true convert, when you havent started building the first system but are already drawing plans for the second.

I will warn that it is much easier to do the dual autosiphon with the hard pvc since it is very touchy about everything being identical. What I did on the hoses was tape the hoses together so that the rise and curves would be exactly duplicated and then diverted the hoses to different tanks. If you do it that way then it will work either way.

As they say, The proof is in the puddin! It is some righteous puddin.

Okay, Tonight I made my first attempt at a dual alternating autosiphon.
A few observations from my attempt: 1- Important to break the siphon. I had several issues with enough air entering the upper tube to slow the siphon, then it would pick up again when it got a little higher. 2- Need to have the autosiphon input significantly lower than the output, or it doesn't cut off the siphon. 3- The legs of the siphon need to be well balanced. There isn't much difference in which one kicks off. 1 cm off, and it only goes one way.

I have a few more things to try before I redesign again, but I see it comming...

Love the way you are trying to keep it simple. I'm always trying to make less parts, less flow required, less costs and opportunities to screw up.

great stuff.

If you wanted to distribute to 4 different subtanks you could have 3 dual syphons, 1 in the main source tank, and a pair of small subtanks (small volume) slighlty lower attached to one each of the first. Similarly any power of two. I don't think you can extend the idea to more than 2 without separate intermediate tanks.

Never seen autosyphons before - a very cute idea, though they do look fiddly. I wonder whether building the dual version as a single unit would make it easier to balance.

that's my original intentions, then I get part way through and its "what the 'ell - let's see if we can make this thing really dance"

Greenedo you are doing well - keep it up (the work I mean)

As much as I admire the ingenuity of some of the flood and drain options....like autosyphons, etc......I'm attracted to the simplicity, cost effectiveness and low risk associated with using small aquarium pumps and timers.

My square metre gravel/clay ball growbed is fed by a tiny Chinese pump and a cheap Arlec timer (total cost $20.00). If I had more such beds I'd simply replicate this arrangement. It costs almost nothing to run, is easy to set up and, if it should fail, it only affects a small part of the total growing system.

This little pump operates on a 15 minutes on/45 minutes off cycle......extended to 2 hours off during the night.

I run a separate aquarium pump to my two 60 litre bio-filters.

The pumps total about 60 watts and either one is enough to keept the fish alive on its own.......should the other one fail.

I also have four small airstones running off an aquarium air pump....arguably the most important part of the whole system. Before I set up my current growing arrangements, my system was more aquaculture than aquaponics......and I believe that the reason nitrite spikes haven't killed my fish long before now is that DO levels are probably quite high.

For comparative purposes, I have 44 Jade Perch (currently about 24 weeks old) in about 600 litres.



Gary

njh- I did start with making them as a single unit. Unfortunately, that was part of my problem. I used a 6-gal (22l) bucket with a single 3/4 inch PVC outlet to penetrate the side of the bucket near the bottom. I immediately T'ed off and elbowed up. I did my first double-L about 6" (15cm) from the top of the bucket, then dropped down about 20-25cm below the bottom of the bucket, then came back up about 7-10cm below the bottom of the bucket. The siphon's alternated, and worked, but the water was practically spilling over the rim of the bucket before the siphon would initiate.
I took the contraption from the kitchen, to the upstairs bathroom where I could use the tub. I also pulled out a pond/fountain pump. I swapped the top and bottom legs of the autosiphon so that it would not overfill the bucket, and tried again.
This time, the siphon started, but the pump fed enough water that as soon as the siphon started to suck air, the siphon would hesitate enough that the pump would catch up and start filling the bucket until the pressure was enough to have the siphon kick in full blast again. Part of this is because the way I built the siphon, the air that gets into the system doesn't get to the top of the siphon, but only to the smaller air trap formed by the elbow I used to get the siphon to suck the bucket dry, and the angle that was formed by the weight of the pipes.

The two things I need to do to make this work are:

1- I think that if I take a little air line tubing and run it from near the bottom of the inlet up into the up-pipes of the autosiphons, it should break the siphons more definitively.
2- Make the total difference more proportional. I think I might study the dual alternating siphons at Janet's web site to see if I am missing a critical portion of the puzzle.

njh- I had planned on running 7 or eight beds in three tiers, top tier with one or two beds, (to ensure I have enough excess water to kick off the siphons in the subsequent layers), then dual alternating to two beds, then dual alternating to 4 beds.

GD- That's my next plan if I can't get this working right. I will probably stay with at least 2 tiers, because of the terrain I am going to be using on the southeast corner of my house (sunlight most of the day, here in the northern hemisphere). I have about 2m drop around the corner of the house that I have to terrace anyway, so putting in the GBs will be a natural thing. Since I need to have multiple terraces anyway, I figured that cascading GBs would make sense. If I do a timer, I will want to do a slow-drain system with overflow, but the problem will be getting it to soak each bed but not use too much water at once. If I can get the dual alternating siphons working that will give me the best of both worlds; one GB of water circulating, to keep the fishies happy, 7 GBs.