Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

eddie could you PM your number to get some help from ya? I think my terminology is off by the sounds of it.

I have a 6in pipe that is a media guard it is 1 ft tall then i have the bell it is a 4 in pipe that has notches cut out of the bottom and the lid on it its 9 1/2 in tall then i have the pipe that is in the middle of the bell that drains the water its a 2 in pipe with a lip on the top it is 9 1/4th tall. It seems to me that i need to increase the height of a pipe im just not sure what needs to be done at the moment. Can you tell me what height my pipes need to be?

So after some testing i got it to work kinda, it starts the siphon but never stops what do i need to do to get it to stop?

This isn't the right terminology - the standpipe is the portion inside the bell, the media guard is the pipe outside the bell that protects against getting media in. The media guard should extend above the media as mentioned. The standpipe on the other hand should not. It should be below the level of the media enough so that the water level reaches to about 1 to 2 inches below the surface of the media before the siphon kicks in. You don't want the actual surface to be wet because this would encourage algae growth.

Try reducing the flow a bit now that you have it working. That should help the siphon break. There's kind of a happy medium.

I would suggest about 4 to 5 times as many holes in your media guard with a nice row of them on the bottom to ensure you have good water flow when the siphon reaches the point it breaks.

Sorry I misspoke-Scotty is right. I meant to say the media guard - not the stand pipe.

So I changed the water level from open to almost closed and added more holes to the media guard and it still never stops the siphon.What do I need to do to get it to stop every time?

I would have to see a pic of your bell in order to comment. I looked at your other pics but only saw what I think is the bottom of the bell...

Based on the pics you sent me, I think you need to use a siphon tube - this should also help with the floating issue.

OK so what all do I need to do that? A air tube,a drill bit and silicone? Also where do I put the bottom of the air tube to?

Yes to all. Air tube would need to be anchored to the side of the bell(usually with zip tie or rubber band). You want the air tube to end where you want to siphon to stop so an inch or 2 from bottom of bell.

Off to walk mart I go ! Great reason to take the bike. Any size air tube or is aquarium air stone good?

That will probably work. Something with enough stiffness that it won't collapse too easily but flexible enough to bend well from the top down along the side of your bell.

viewtopic.php?t=26186

I think that most of us in Australia manage without breather tubes. Seems more popular in other countries. I was close to doing it in my desperation. But, once properly designed, my syphons have run flawlessly.

Suggest reading this thread from start to finish. The photos at end of thread should help. I've had no problems stopping my syphon since I cut slots in my bell like that. But it needs tuning of flow rates.

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Agreed on the breather tubes. I don't use them either but based on the sheer size of his siphon and the requirements he has - I think his best bet is a breather tube...

OK so after putting in the breather tube I got it to work but it was at the right stop level so I tried to get it to work until the sun went down.I think it will just take more messing with the water level to get it just right. 2 other questions for yall.
1.what water test strips do you use?
2. It seems my build is far from normal, I went with this size for easy wood cutting 4x8 grow bed and I figured bigger pipes would be better but from what yall's setups are it seems everybody goes 1 inch and below as far as pipes why is that?