Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

We've had our system setup for a little over a year and after about 5 months of functioning bell siphons they quit working one day. We've been fighting with them since last summer but I think I've finally come up with a solution and thought I'd share with the group. The issue comes from the rounded bottom of the grow beds. We tried rounding the bottom of the outer pipe but could never get the curves right so went with flat bottomed outer pipes. However, that has meant bits of gravel in the bottom of the inner part of the pipe.

I took a cap the size of the outer pipe and drilled a hole through it with a hole saw the appropriate size to fit over the standpipe & bottom fitting. Then I set the outer pipe into the cap so that creates a nice flat bottom for the bell siphon. And, amazingly, the bed seems to drain down almost as far as it did before. The first test siphon has been working for almost a week now with no further adjustments and I converted three other beds two days ago that are still working.

Cool. Got a picture.

I knew that might come up. I'll take some when I do the next set of beds which will be in the next couple of days.

As promised, here are the pics of the adapted bell siphon bottom.

AAAAH I see, good idea Took a few looks to figure out what was going on...

Yeah, it was challenging to take pics that showed the best views since these are beds already in use. But, another week down and they are still running great. I have 6 out of our 11 beds converted. A couple will have to wait until the vegetables in them are done but overall, I've just been making it happen. It seems worth it since it makes the bed run better and maybe the plants will be healthier overall now.

Next challenge... slugs and white fly.