Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If a siphon isn't breaking it is usually because the water flowing into the grow bed is too fast or the design of the siphon drain doesn't let the siphon get a good gulp of air. First step is to try reducing the flow into the grow bed.

Normally siphons are for systems where you leave the pump running constantly. If you are going to run the pump on a timer anyway, it may just be easier to put in larger weep holes so that the bed will drain in during the "off time" of the pump and simply remove the bell and run timed flood and drain.

A challenge with barrels cut the long way is that since there is a varying volume depending on depth, it can be really hard to get siphons to balance out right in barrels cut that way. Since at the top of the flood the barrel has a larger volume for that top layer where you need enough flow to kick the siphon in but then near the bottom where there is a small er volume per depth that flow that was needed to start the siphon is often borderline too fast to let the siphon stop. I know it is possible to get siphons to work in barrels cut the long way because I know of people who have managed to do it. I personally have never managed to get them to work for me in barrels cut that way and I usually just ran them timed flood and drain. If you are turning your pump on/off anyway, running timed flood and drain will probably be the easiest/quickest way to get your system flooding and draining reliably. If you just really want to get the siphons working Just because, there are lots of threads and "improvements" people have attempted to make on siphons which you can try.

I was planning on running continuously after I got the bell working and added bells to my other GB's. I have tried slowing the flow but it still won't get that gulp of air needed. After seaching for a few days the only thing I can come up with is the air from below is not enough. The GB's might need to be raised and inch to get a better slope on the hort drain coming out the bottom.

Yea, unfortunately that may be the case. I think where I had the most problems with my half barrels I tried to do siphons with is that I didn't have enough drop under the grow beds.

I have no problems with my barrel siphons. In fact, on the rare instances when I do have a hiccup, it is in the barrels cut the other way. When I look at your media guards, I still think there is not enough flow through them. There should be more gap than PVC. Well, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but I still don't see enough gap.

I'll side with the honorable pirate on this one... and venture a guess to say there isn't enough space between the expanded top piece of the standpipe and the bell piece of the siphon. You certainly have enough room inside that media guard to have a larger bell pipe.

And/or is it possible to get a slightly smaller diameter top piece for that standpipe?

And I agree the media guard needs to have ALOT more holes for the water to flow through. Cut out the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket and slide it over the existing media guard so you don't have to dig all that stuff out. Then take that media guard out and pop a bunch more holes in that thing.

Only then I'd mess about with the water flow.

Yea, not enough flow under the bell or not enough flow through the gravel guards can cause issues.

Thanks. I just got back from 2 weeks hunting and working on family farm. I will try more holes in GG. The water inside and outside the GG are the same. I will also try a 3 in bell. I tried just a 3/4 siphon tube without the 1 in expansion and it didn't work either. Meanwhile I have to process a doe for the freezer. I still have to harvest another doe and a buck to fill my tags. Love that venison!

The system is still running even after many nights under 20 deg f. I lost the tomatoes and peppers but everything else looks good. I still have chard, kale, lettuce, broccoli, celery, onions and herbs growing in the GH. The lowest I've seen is 29 f in the GH. The last few days it has been low 30s and it was up to 77 in the GH. I keep telling myself to shut it down before it freezes up but it keeps on going. My goal was to try and make it to Dec 1st. I have learned a lot and next year need to start fall crops earlier and quit trying to hang on to toms and peppers that take up too much room. In the meantime I have stoked the freezer with 100 lbs of venison between a doe and a buck. Still have a doe tag to fill but a 100 lbs usually lasts me until next season. Anything else is jerky, salami, snack sticks and summer sausage. I just want to thank everyone here for adding to my self sustenance in the veggie department. I could not have done it without the knowledge I gained from this website.

He will feed the family well.

Hey Rairdog, I don't know how this happens but several times I miss an entire thread for some reason. I love your deck greenhouse, how about some pictures for what it's looking like in this cold weather?

Also I am not sure what fish you have?

You don't need to go to a bigger bell. Make the inlet gaps at the bottom of your 2 inch bell wider to allow more water flow into them. I learned this by accident one day when cutting the gaps. My bit got bound and broke a piece out about half the diameter of a golf ball. I threw it in just to see what would happen and the drain flow was much stronger than my others. I found with the stronger outflow pressure it helps to break the siphon when needed. When I make bells now, I make the gaps so wide that there are only 4 1/4 inch pieces on the 4 sides of the bell to keep it off the bottom of the growbed.

Put as many holes in your gravel guard as you can and still keep the media out of the bell. This will allow maximum water flow into the void area near the bell and not hinder the bell from inlet pressure.

Edit: My drain lines are almost completely horizontal, with very little slope.

Thanks. I will try that. I kept going back to the saw and making them larger but it didn't seem to help on the bell. I will try enlarging them. I also plan on adding some more slots to GG. My media has a a lot of small particle and I have had some get in the pump and stop it so I was paranoid. I have since put panty hose over the return to tank to keep them media out.

My drain froze up so I shut it down for a week. We had an unusual cold spell. The temp in GH got down to 21f but mostly hovers around 30 at night and 40 to 60 during the day. It made it for a couple weeks because everything is sloped and self drains. The ice build up finally caught up I guess. The only thing I lost was celery. All the chard, spinach, lettuce, broccoli and herbs looked wilted in the am but bounced right back when the sun warms it. All were started from seed in late Oct. We have a warm front coming through and I just turned the pump on for a few minutes. I am very new to this and there is not alot of info for (our) winter growing. I was going to shut it down but its hard when plants are still looking healthy so I just let it run it's course. There is still some ice build up so I am slowly melting it out.

I have bluegill and they continue to eat when the water temp was at 37. I don't feed them but every few days while the pump was down. I did loose a few when the temp went from dropped from 60's to 30's. The tank is indoors, 100 gal and temp changes rapidly.

Here are a couple pics. Kinda sparse when I pulled the celery.

Similar cold spell here, I expect nothing to happen good until February when the sun might out pace the cold nights.

I had a small shed roof greenhouse kind of like yours except the FT was the floor under it. I added a 300 or 400 watt aquarium heater and it stayed about 45 at the coldest but that Winter was relatively mild. Things don't happen much until you get to 50, don't feed the fish much when the water is below that because the bacteria won't be working well then.

Thanks. I will try that. I kept going back to the saw and making them larger but it didn't seem to help on the bell. I will try enlarging them. I also plan on adding some more slots to GG. My media has a a lot of small particle and I have had some get in the pump and stop it so I was paranoid. I have since put panty hose over the return to tank to keep them media out.[/quote]

I drill small holes in my GG's instead of cutting slots so there is less chance of media getting into them. It takes forever to drill a bunch of 1/4 inch holes but I never have issues with media getting into my siphons. I do them the full length of the GG.

Just an opinion, I think the opposite. Holes in the GG will invite the media to plug the holes, whereas the cut slots are long and harder to plug up.

If you pull the bell off the standpipe when the bed is full, right before it drains, and leave it full on the colder nights, the plants should have enough water to carry on with their growing. Just turn the pump off so you don't kill it. When it warms up enough, turn the pump back on and away you go.

Sounds like you are a good candidate for a Rocket Mass Heater, or at least a Rocket Heater without the mass. There are some good threads on this forum regarding RMH's.