Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hiya all !

Just in the last few years i have learnt to do what i can well, and get other people to do the things for me that i don't have a knack for.

My strengths are fixing (anything ) lateral throught, analysis, and some times design.

Actually building things i tend to procrastinate on unless i have people around me

I know there are far more qualified people with auto syphons than I , so i'm going to take some piccies of my system, and i'd like some people to design me the quickest, easiest & most reliable autosyphon for my system (if that exists)

I REALLY need to convert to flood and drain ASAP, and i have the next 4 days off, today included. After that i'll be lucky with a sunday off!

Pics to follow as soon as the boss gets back from wedding shopping

Thanks in anticipation

Of course Steve, I forgot you were planning/participating in a very expensive party! Are the fish getting an invite? Or are they just expected at the bonfire?

mmmmm, bonfireeeeeeeeeeees.

they are iminent. dyas are longer +1 (daylight savings) weathers warming, grass is drying, price of petrol is falling............... LOL

So here are the pics.

i have been looking at the latest siphon posts, and i think the tube in tube might be the go.

The current stand pipe is 50mm dwv and is just "sitting" in the 50mm drain of the bath. It has 180 degree slits the whole way up.

So should i replace this with say slotted 90mm pipe (lying on floor in photo back ground ) and use 20mm center pipe with crels. and 50mm outerpipe?

Steve, pm'd ya

Hope you told him to stop being bloody lazy and have a think about it himself .

been trying to ignore him but he keeps persisting, will see if he wants to "modify" to what I do or wishes another solution

:-)

I will be going the way of a pipe within a pipe steve - seems the easiest way to go!

Steve's just gotta finish RTFM on his camera and will post pics - he has sussed it all out

How much fun are syphons!

I watched it for easy one hour

Ok, i took HEAPS of pics and measurements, then just as night fell i realised that my inner tube was longer than the outer tube!

explains why it would only work in one configuration!!

Have made some more mods and will take more measurements early in the morning, i can't believe that i'm getting up early on a sunday to play with a syphon!

just beofre i came in i modidied it to the correct lengths. still working with no air line or trap, but it seems to be only 1/2 drainging before breaking syphon. Figured out (with a torch) that the far outer tube (the one that holds the gravel back) does not have enough slots cut in it, hence when the syphon initiates it drains the space between the third and second tube slightly too fast. the syphon breaks then the outer tube trickles in more water but its too late.


Man this is FUN, why have i waited soooo long

Thanks again Les, will post heaps tomorrow, just want to have it all straight so i can explain it!

Yeh Steve, that is going to be one of the biggest problems with these Syphons - the water not draining from the gravel into the outer pipe quick enough to keep the syphon going. For this reason the outer pipe needs to be pretty wide - which I guess is not a huge issue if the bed is a big one (I'm thinking of space wastage. Alternativelly, just need to make the syphon tube not too big. I'm inclined to try a 25mm syphon inner tube. I reckon that will still dump the water plenty quickly enough and maybe I can get away with having a 90mm diameter outer pipe.

DOH! I posted the following about 4 hours ago, buit i must have forgotten to click "submit" ARGH!

For some stupid reason i decided to cut the drain slots in my outer pipe differently to my continuos flow one. The original had far superior flow, now when flow is really needed i change it to a dumb design. Figures!

For the record my pipes are; (from inner to outer)

50mm
90mm
100mm

The irony of the thing is that the hardest part of implementing les's suggestions was inseting the 10mm outer pipe into an established system! Now i gotta fight the collapsing gravel again when i pull it out to make more drain slots in it. DOH!

Wil post lost of pics and info by midday sunday at the latest.

Steve

Mate, that sounds not so right to me. If you are using a 20mm pipe for the inner, wouldn't you want something more like a 40mm or 35mm for the middle and then a 90, 110 or 150 (depending on what you need to get enough supply to the syphon) on the outside. Will wait for Les to comment on this - he can do the maths.

VB, "right" is the scrap pieces of PVC i had lying around! LOL

I may have stumbled onto something though, mines working with no "trap" and no syphon break air line.

Seems to be draining quite well now that i've modded the far outer tube. I'm just about to take measurements and pics to post for Les to analyse

I also found that if i put a 90 degree elbow facing UP on the 50mm outlet pipe AND wighted down the sealed second tube, it would flook slightly higher thatn normal, and give distint "burps" befor initiating the syphon. Once again for les to analyse LOL