Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Firstly resize your pictures to 800X600, remeber it is best to copy your original then resize the copy so not to mess up your original.

-then-

When you open up a post you see the section below the text box titled "upload attachment" you need to click on the "browse" tab which will launch a search function to find your pic, select your picture then click on the "add the file" tab. Your picture is now loaded to the post, you can do this 2 more times for a total of 3 images per post.

Now when you submit your post the pictures will automatically load up, or you can add them inline with the button at the left bottom of the text box.

Hello! Last week i biult up my "Mini-mini" flood&drain system on my balcony. The first bell was insufficient, the second bell works better, but once a while the vacuum doesn´t build up and the water is just dripping out. No problem when i´m near, but to leave it alone for a while...hm.
I think its a problem that i haven´t too much flow in the growbed (it hold only 6 liters with between the clayballs) - i reduced the flow to the max to have some time between the drains (2:50 min. at this time).
I think will increase the flow to stabilize the bell siphon.
I also struggled with the backpressure on the drain-pipe. It is a flexible PVC-pipe with 12 mm diameter (which is on the lower end - i know). It worked best so far when i leave the end of the pipe in the air, but have some water left inside the pipe between the drains.

So - maybe someone has some ieas to improve my Mini-System :-)

Hello everyone - greetings from austria.
I think i got my siphon working. Since my system ist that small and the used pipes also it was a bit tricky. The siphon worked for a while then started dripping (the amount of water that was coming in) and nothing more. I read that other people who had similar problems had rather long pipes after the siphon. Obviously this should be avoided. I cut down my drain pipe 1/3, but then i had no more backpressure to create the suction. So i inserted a smaler pipe at the end (drain pipe lenght - about 110 cm, inner pipe 20 cm). That creates the backpressure, but only when water is coming down. When the growbed is drained, the siphon stops emidiately.

Hello...it´s me...again. I wanted to tell you that i solved my "siphon-problem". I cut down my drain pipe 1/3 (i´ts now about 3 ft long) and made it go more vertical. But then i had no more backpressure and the siphon didn´t start. Finally i tried inserting a smaller pipe at the end of the drain pipe and that was it! Now i have a quick drain, the siphon starts quick and stops quick. I first was concerned that the fish would be irritaded by the (now) very fast water-jet, but actually they have fun catching bubbles and playing in the stream.

So finally everyone is happy!

Finally i changed the standpipe in my siphon from the end of the pvc-hose to a real pipe - the hose position was too unstable, it tilted with temperature changes. I cut a funnel to the upper side of the pipe to get a sharp edge (see picture). With this pipe and the smaler hose in the bigger (about 20 cm at the end of the drain hose) the siphon worked for 3 days without dripping or stopping.