Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

ok so ive got some trout coming at the beginning of next week eek having built my own bell siphon and tested it it seemed to work like a dream. tho i wanted to drop the standpipe level by about an ince and so cut down the siphon by the same amount and drilled the same holes as it had before. but for some reason its no longer working. its possible for me to remake the whole lot to how it was before but id rather figure out what the problem is. and my second question: ive just got clay pebbles for my growbed but theyve coloured my tank water a mucky brown. is this a problem? do i need to change my water? would it harm my trout? what should i do?

Hi,

Is the siphon not starting or not stopping? Please provide some more information about your setup and what the problem is.

You'll probably need to use some kind of filter medium to filter out the fine dust particles from the clay pebbles that is now in the water.

Cheers,

Mon

Try and extend the outlet and see if your siphon will work properly

The fine dust particle will eventually settle out in your growbed and on the bottom of your tank. Just stir up the bottom of your tank every few days until it is clean. Or leave it and your trout will do it for you

Welcome in the AP forum, the problem with siphon it's mainly a question of pump flow, pipes size, outlet back pressure create from bends and length.
They are tricky to master but I've personally enjoy my syphon sudoku!
If you can provide photos an info we can work it out, as for the clay sediment no worries, it will eventually settle.
No harm in some inorganic mineral in the system.
What type of veg do you intend to grow?

May I ask why you altered the bell part? I'd have thought all you needed was to cut the standpipe and put the bell back in place. Just curious as to what your reasoning was for altering both.

As above, more info is needed to work out why it stopped working. But check you don't have the bell top too close to the standpipe now. Also look for air leaks that might have happened while you were remodelling.

to be honest i cut the bell part because i felt damn lucky to build my first ever syphon and it work right off the bat that i figured i had the distance between the top of the standpipe and bell right and wanted to keep that the same. when i tested it it had no media in and the pump tbh isnt up to the job so im plumping with the flow rate not being high enough to start it. ive got a much better pump coming today so im hoping that might solve my problem. ive got a 300ltr gb with a 700ltr tank (i intend to add another bed soon) the standpipe is 3cm diamiter and stans 16cm from the gb base with a bell 20cm long with a 7cm diamiter. i then have a 18cm diamiter pipe with slots cut in it as a media guard.

it was the flowrate the new pump arrived and its working a treat now. im getting a fill time of 17 mins and a drain of 3 mins the existing bell siphon is working well its been at it for a couple of hours. thaks a lot for all your help guys

Siphon problems are always a flow rate problem...

Siphons are a problem

You might as well add water, fish and plants the the problem list as well...

Nah... I've never really had any problems with water, fish or plants...

Well not with siphons either.... coz I've never used them....