Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

And it's draining my nearly inexhaustible patience.

I'm an eager AP newbie - with a bell siphon that expels water but doesn't fully drain. I've just built a basket to prevent the expanded clay pellets from stopping the siphon and ending up in my pond, and i've tweaked the PVC output to 45 degrees in hopes of creating greater pressure. I also tried taking some of the media out - to no avail. Any and all tips welcome, please! (The last posting on this topic is from 2006...) Thank you!!

Hi DevBee - Welcome to the forum.

If you have any pictures that might be helpful. Actually you may want to try this thread - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25648 it shows the components for one version of a bell siphon. You should also know that there are other options that don't require siphons.

For adding pictures -
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21754

Sounds like perhaps not enough water flow going into the bed.... But yes, really need to see some pics..

If only I'd been collecting a one dollar levy on every post devoted to syphon problems for the past few years, I'd be able to retire a rich man now

Maybe a entire sub forum devoted to siphons.

Although, truth be told, I remember starting a thread on siphons because my first one wouldn't work either.

i wish my questions would make you all rich...!

why are SIPHONS such a hassle at first?

i'm wondering if drilling more holes in the base of the siphon will increase the pressure - or will it just increase the amount of air, and continue to slow the drainage? if drilling new holes - is there a problem with creating too many at the base?

(also, i'm having trouble uploading images into this site from my phone. a bit of a luddite. tips?)

theres thousands of posts on syphons, use the search function to search the word 'syphon' then check the box to display the word in topic titles only.

and heres one on uploading images viewtopic.php?f=4&t=107

Also wrestling with getting more pressure into my small backyard system so that the bell siphon will drain properly...should i drill more holes into the base of the siphon, or should i buy a stronger pump to increase the speed of inflow?

Whats the size of your system, pump and supply pipes?

Pics tell a thousand words

Sorry, I didn't answer your question.

If it's half draining, you're probably getting air into the bell.

Glue the end cap onto the bell, it's probably sucking air through it and cracking.

pics will help a lot

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only person whose siphons worked perfectly the first time?

Nope!... I run workshops every few months in which we set up a small twin barrel system with two siphoned GB's. On each occasion I've set the water flow to about where I thought it should be and the siphons have worked every time. So at the last workshop I purposely set the flow to where I knew the siphons most likely wouldn't work first time, just so I could demonstrate how to tune the flow.

A well designed, well built siphon is very easy to tune, and extremely reliable from then on.

All these threads about siphon issues are down to either poor designs and/or overly complicated designs, or tuning of water flow.

Amazing...I've finally figured it out. Pleased to report that after nearly two weeks of tweaks (and nearly killing all 11 fish by almost draining my pond) my syphon is finally making that magical sound when it fires!

Now, is it syphon or siphon?!

Oh, and THANKS for all your tips and tricks!