Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I got the the system to work. I modified the airtube and added a pipe to stay underwater so no air enters so the siphon will start. Will the system how I have it rigged now work in the long run? It seems to be working now.

Also I had to lower the stand pipe. I have a uniseal so I just hit it with a mallet to lower it a little. Seems to do the trick. What kind of fish could I use? Im going to buy 3 bags of hydroton soon.

Bell siphons tend to be very reliable once you get them set right...

The water level will go up and down faster once you get the media in the beds, so if it seems to be having trouble stopping it will get worse after the hydroton is in there.

...or maybe not, since it is going down faster as well as going up faster, it probably balances out. It will just cycle in less time than without media in it.

Excellent, I have ordered uniseals just for this purpose, I was hoping to be able to adjust my standpipe

if your siphon works once, it will work everytime, unless your flow changes. Sometimes valves can get gummed up, and slow the flow. This will mean your siphon wont start properly. To fix, open the valve full for 10 seconds then reset back to the restricted flow, the gunk will be jettisoned.

I've had the air tube get gunked up before on a bell siphon but blow it out and all is good again.

With the loop siphons I've found the biggest problem with them is if the flexible tube kinks or flattens out too much at the top of the loop. I only have one loop siphon that gives me trouble that way while I have given up on a couple bell siphons so at this point in time I am running 6 loop siphons, one bell siphon and one FLOUT.

Once your bell siphon is working like clockwork, it should be good long term. However, if it is still having trouble starting or stopping properly, you want to get that sorted out as it will only get worse as flow rate fluctuates.

Now that I added hydroton Im having trouble getting my siphon to stop so the bed will fill up again. When it is done draining the bed. The Air tube kicks in and just slurps air in for like 30 seconds then stops and water just keeps draining and the bed wont fill up again.
This is how I have to rig my drain pipe. I tried adding more airlines without success. also a .5" airtube. Still it just slurps for a little and keeps draining water like in this picture below.





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at the moment theres a .5" air tube on the side.

Did the siphon work before without the water trap elbows? If so then I'd get rid of them, the reason it is still going is because the pipe is so long that the mass of water leaving the end of the pipe is creating vacuum (I think). If that chain of moving water were shorter the little air tube should be able to break it.

Also you might try moving the end of the air tube down into the cap more, until it enters the down pipe.

Can you adjust the angle on that last elbow?
I have mine set to somewhere between 15° and 45° from the horizontal to the waterline, depending on the flow rate of the bed. This adjusts the back pressure needed as well as maximizing you flow rate.(I haven't glued mine for this reason)


about half way down the page for a pic of what I mean.
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2269&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30

H.

Try the suggestion of sticking the air tube further down into the standpipe first (easiest to try). Then if still no go, my suggestion is to make the crenelations bigger at the bottom of the siphon pipe or use a wider siphon pipe. From the pictures provided, it appears as though there may be too little space between the two pipes to break water tension.

I had the same issue when my siphon pipe just barely fit over the standpipe. Don't waste time doing this but as a quick check: if you can fit two standpipes (side by side) into your siphon pipe, then the siphon pipe is a good size, and slightly bigger would be okay as well.

I got it to work. I had to level out the drain pipe and angle the last elbow about 20%. Thanks everybody.

When can I start planting the bed?

You could probably plant the bed anytime.
Now if you are going to fishless cycle, you can add a source of ammonia. Could be pure ammonia (no detergents or soaps added), or urea fertilizer (careful how much you add since it is way easy to overdoes), or fish food, or the free source hummonia (pee, also doesn't require much.)

Do you have your test kit yet?

well there are better time to plant...
But if you got some Digger or other heirloom seedlings chuck them in.
Do me a favour, wash the soil etc off before you bung em in.
Then there is no chance of adding thrive or other stuff, without intention.