Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

.....The BYAP shop sells timed flood and drain systems, so I'm guessing they found that method to be most reliable. After all they have to deal with after sales stuff so they probably know. .


But I love the bell siphon as much for the sound as anything so I'd go with that

And they are just such cool tech

My version of a glass bell siphon so I could see what was going on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 0Omet7IPSY

Bell siphons are 'way too much fun for me to not have them.

My (very new and as yet fishless and unfinished) system is CHIFT-PIST with Affnan-style bell siphons to make the grow beds flood and drain. I couldn't find the PVC 1" to 2" adaptors to make the wider top that makes Affnan-style bell siphons so trouble-free, so I used a heat gun and a metal funnel to flare the ends of my PVC standpipes, and it worked great! Cheaper, too, plus the bonus fun of melting stuff. (Deep down inside, I'm really still twelve years old.)

I used TCLynx's tip of putting 1.25" Uniseals in my grow bed drains. A 1" PVC connector will fit just right into that size Uniseal, and then your 1" standpipe is easy to remove and replace. That makes it a breeze to make adjustments to the depth of the flood, or to drain the bed to work on something, or to convert it to CF. TCL saved me a LOT of future work with that one, and also made it super simple to adjust the amount of water in my system as I add new components.

My build is going slowly because I've been working more than full time lately, so as I gradually build and add grow beds I just have to make sure there's no more water in the system than the total available sump volume. That's easy enough to do, with my handy-dandy TCL-inspired removable standpipes: First I pull the bells and let the beds fill completely, adding water to the sump as needed to keep the pump from running dry. Then I turn off the pump and pull each standpipe in turn, letting the bed drain completely, making sure the sump won't overflow when they're all completely drained. (So far I've got plenty of sump space, but I have another tank yet to bury and plumb in when it starts getting tight.) So I can sleep knowing that nothing's going to overflow and my pump's not going to run dry.

Those 3" Uniseals are $6-$7 each. Hmmm....

And it sounds as if your engineering background is serving you well in setting up your AP system.

And the cost is the least of it. The bigger the Uniseal, the harder it is to push pipe through. Anything 2" and up is pure murder to get pipes into! (I'd have blamed this on my wimpy girl muscles, but after enlisting hubs' man-muscles and watching the contortions it put him through, I know better.)


So far the physics is what's come in handy the most. When you've only got wimpy girl muscles to work with, it's good to know about levers and fulcrums.

Add human lube, and a T piece to the end of the pipe for leverage

And the cost is the least of it. The bigger the Uniseal, the harder it is to push pipe through. Anything 2" and up is pure murder to get pipes into! (I'd have blamed this on my wimpy girl muscles, but after enlisting hubs' man-muscles and watching the contortions it put him through, I know better.)


So far the physics is what's come in handy the most. When you've only got wimpy girl muscles to work with, it's good to know about levers and fulcrums.

There are a lot of options for pumps that I think will be better than a pool pump. A pool pump will cost a lot more to run, and I think they specialise in lots of pressure to get through filters rather than flow. You can buy pond pumps like this...

http://backyardaquaponicsshop.com/shop/pondmax-8000l/

That will be better I think, and cost a lot less to run.

keep in mind the head the pump has to pump up to determines the flow. Flow rates are shown at zero head unless you get a graph on the box showing different head to flow

Ooooh. You're getting me all hot with this talk about AP, lube, and all that rough bumping and slamming. Three of my favorite things all in the one post

This gets trotted out quite often... but I've only had about two occurances in 7+ years where the pump hasn't started when the timer turned on... and both were due to blown pump capacitors... (replaced, and still going)...

Likewise I hear about timers failing etc.... but if you search through the history of the forum(s)... you wont find very many posts about either occurance... other than perhaps by siphon lovers... who've nearly all.. always run siphons...

I've actually read probably just as many posts about pumps not starting.. when they've been turning off.. then back on... in siphoned systems.. including those of a most avid siphonator....

(Actually had me wondering if the u-beaut pumps he advocates... were actually that u-beaut... after all... )

You missed the point, which was that any of these failures could be eliminated. The pump capacitors probably blew out when the timer circuit tried to turn your pump on so this was likely a direct result of being on a timer circuit.