Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The other thing I haven't mention which may be a factor is that the pipe from ft to the gbs is under ground.

I'd heard that a minimum of 300mm in height difference between ft and gb but this will vary with pipe sizes etc to produce the head pressure to drain into the gb when running underground. It's the height I've used and it suits my purpose and works well.
I'm not a fan of ft water going directly to my sump so if I was putting an overflow in it would be bypassing the rf and going to the gb's. My small system has similar flow rates as yours and I regulate the flow by using a tee off the pump discharge line back into the same body of water with a Venturi to increase the oxygen levels in the water.
Slo= solids lifting overflow.

Hello from Murwillumbah in Northern NSW. I've just purchased a place with my partner that has space for a system but being completely new to aquaponics I have no idea where to start. I'd love to contact and meet up with locals ie Tweed, Byron or Gold Coast who are into AP and have systems up and running. Cheers Jock


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This is how I have my overflow back to the sump tank, the overflow only picks up from the top of the fish tank so there would only be very minimal solids if any going into the sump. My water is very clear and I can't see any solids in the sump and it has helped with my over-sized pump.

Hi jock, I'm in the northern rivers area but yet to build my new system yet as the missus has got me busy doing boring unpacking type things. Happy to help out wherever I can though mate.

Thanks for the advice people's, has been most useful. I have put a T on the pump outlet with a tap and now can reduce the flow into the ft, I think I'm going to have to lift the ft with a few IBC bases and rejig the plumbing, drop the water level and then put an overflow in , I'll have to fill grow beds and sump up to the top and let the rest of the water go.
Well got the water circulating nicely and the couldn't get the siphons to turn off, had find the drill and keep drilling holes up the stand pipe to break the siphon, this takes time..
Could keep my wife and daughter out of it, they've plant veggies already and I'm still trying to get it right.
Still want to clad, got get some alucabond from work.

Also having a bit of a blow out on the ends, have to put another row of timber as the blowout has lowered the level of the media

A few more pics

AAAAAhHHHHHh , damn siphons are driving me crazy, four gbs all with exactly the same stand pipes, same bell housing, same cover. Two work perfect, one works sometimes, one just doesn't want to work. Bell housing starting to look like Swiss cheese. Strand pipes are 25 mm, bell is 50mm, media guard 100mm.

Hi JohnnyK

I found that the clearance above the standpipe in the bell can cause issues. I have 40mm stand pipes and 150mm bells but had to tune the clearance above stand pipe. But they do run with a very slow flow and still turn off at high flow.

The size I run works for me and my system but you should have no more than 50mm clearance above the standpipe.

How closely does each bell siphon measure up for size.

One other point is the length of the drop below the GB. My standpipes are a total of about 700mm from top to bottom straight down, then they empty into a 100mm common drain.

Are there any differences in each of the pipes draining from the GB. Maybe an extra bend or length of pipe.

Hi Johny5, I'll have to measure the distance between standpipe and bell, it was about 50 mm but I have since trimmed stand pipe as water was too high, I thinking perhaps I should up the size of the bell to 65mm or 75mm. I'm thinking there may be some capillary action . All gbs have two 90 bends.takes about 4min to drain

Another day with the aquaponics, household chores all but forgotten, added a 50mm overflow from ft to sp but
to do this had to raise ft by 150mm, used one of the bases from IBC I'd cut up. Still having trouble with my siphons so trying all different things, turned down the flow into the gbs and this seemed to help the siphons turn off, but reducing the flow to gbs caused the ft to back up flowing back to the sump. When I raised the ft meant the overflow was above the blue filter drum causing this to overflow, sssooo I had to empty the filter drum and raised it so the top was above the overflow.
All good now I think
Have wrapped the ft in aircell and will soon clad with alucabond.
Better do some chores

Add a Venturi to both ft and sump

More pic

You will find it is a never ending list of jobs, but fun. I am relocating my RFF so decided to use a blue barrel and weld up a conical base for it. So the fun begins again.