Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am fairly new to AP and will have about 6 or 8 small grow beds, each with its own affnan bell siphon. I'd like to be able to monitor their performance without having to study each bed closely. What I am thinking is installing a small piece of clear acrylic tubing vertically, poking down into the hydroton. In this tube, I'd place a float, or perhaps a styrofoam cylinder, or the like. The tube would be open both top and bottom. The brightly colored float should rise and fall with the water level. I am currently gathering parts.

Anyone done this and can offer advice ?

Richard

done it on water tanks on boats, never seen it done on GBs though. we put 2 90degree bulkdhead fittings onto the tank, then clear pipe inbetween

Can't say I've ever seen anyone do it, but there is no reason why it wouldn't work

Sounds like an interesting idea, might have to be careful if roots get into the tube they may block it.. Definitely need to keep it in the bed, or at least covered from the light.

I just look down in the gap between the media guard and the bell siphon to monitor the water depth:
Put a fishing float in there with the bottom leg cut off, a bit of lead on the bottom and stick the top up through the media guard lid; instant depth gauge!
Of course you can use something other than lead to balance the base of the float, if you're worried about toxins.

Cheers IanK

2 of my beds i purpose flood 1/2 over the media and you know what they are growing the same as the others and theres no slime just the rocks are a dark green color

I got a offcut of 40mm pipe shoved into the media of one growbed I had troubles with the siphon on.
works well and you can see exactly what level the water is at currently plus the highest point from the biofilm.

I would think an external clear pipe would become unreadable from algae.

Hubby says:

What about a cork and a piece of wire down the pipe instead of a float? The wire could have a mark on the wire to show height levels... or you could just have a little flag on the end of it... would be a fun feature to watch little flags rising up and down! Just thought it might be a cheap option - less work too

Also remember the external clear pipes are in the dark dingy hold of a boat :.....

Um... I was actually referring to putting them into the GBs freoboy - wouldnt need clear pipes either if you had little flags... Pirate ones would be nice I think... but it could be a nice feature in a dark dingy hold of a boat too I suppose...

... or maybe not...

Haha no I ment if they are in sunlight algae will grow, they stayed clear because they were in they dark

This is what I have in mind. I have a whole pile of corks, I just need to get a tube that will be a loose fit around it. Here is a picture.

Be sure to post a YouTube video of them going up and down, I'm sure we'd all enjoy watching that!

Would you drill holes in the bottom half of the clear indicator pipe? Your sketch just shows the indicator pipe pulled up off the bottom a little way. I guess you might be able to get away with that? What do you think? Are you going to build it this afternoon, Merk? I can film it for you after we pick up my FT from TSC.

The tube will not stay clear.

You will get either algae growing inside it from condensation, or sunlight discolouring it.

I have been toying with a similar idea for my big fishtanks, but decided to go with electrical float monitoring.