Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi reading all about auto siphon whats wrong with the one in the backyard aquaponics dvd seems so easy to build 2 pipes inside each other one with 6 m holes cannot flood timers are cheap











my other hobby is making and drinking home brew beer

F&F, you are a legend

I was about to write back and say that the reason i liked the auto syphon is becasue if the "flow" of the gravel beds drops in relation to the pre-set time intervals then you can have flooding and then i realised two things.

1) if the syphon blocks then you have the same problem!

2) there is no problem at all becasue the larger diameter pipe forms the over flow which is the "safety net"

DOH! I strayed from the KISS path. Happy to say so.

LOL

Oh, except that the auto syphon is a great idea for a system where you want to run the pump continuous

You may want to do this becasue you can get away with a smaller pump on all the time versus a big mama that is being switched on and off.

I knew there was a reason..............7000 posts ago

Thanks f&f & steve, I was hoping the process was to establish AP for dummies of which I am one.
KISS first then ask questions!!LOL

Yes - running a small pump continuously is the major reason. This is waht I want to try because the small pond pumps run in this way seem to go forever without any probs. Also, they are cheap and the option is there to run a seperate pump for each bed, bringing in an element of redundancy and also the potential to have them running out of sync so that when one bed is flodding, another is draining (therefore less loss of water from the fish tank ).

And if i may pipe in, smaller pump i hope equals a cheaper way to set up solar power for said pump.

Too right. I have a 20 watter here, will run a 1.2 x 2.4 growbed easily.

How many litres per hour is your 20 watter AA.

1000.

I'll take this to systems, some specs on these wee pumps.

One thing with smaller pumps though, they clog easily if you have fish of a decent size, or leaves that fall into your water...

I have an 18W pump in my barrel ponics and it works a treat being under the verandah with very small goldfish in it, never gets blocked.. My new barrel system has had leaves get into it, and it's got a couple of larger silver perch in it, this pump is 60W but still has quite small inlet slots, and clogs with leaves, poo and duckweed on a reasonably regular basis which is a pain...

Dirty water pumps, I have never had to clean once, ever....

OOpps, I've got a little off topic...

I have housed my pond pump in an upturned large aeroponics basket (with holes made for pipe, cord etc). I have also removed any filtration and even the grid from the pump, as the fish cannot get near it because of the basket. This should solve any clogging issues. Before I did this, I was catching a goly or 2 every other week .

The thing I like about the siphons is that they allow me to water the entire bed evenly (via flooding it) using only one outlet per bed and I can easily adjust the level/height of the flood as I have used soft rubber tubing for my siphons which can be repositioned.

With many small seedlings in a deep grow bed you would need to have a lot of fittings and piping distributing water across the bed to ensure there are no dry spots. This piping gets in the way and takes up growbed space, can get clogged (as the holes are small and roots like to grow in them - check out EB's video). My 2c

Newbies could be getting quite confused reading this topic – due to its title and the ensuing discussion (I have now taken the liberty to change the title).

Relevant points are:

1. Ebb and flow / flood and drain systems do not always use siphons. This is because timers and/or water level switches can be used instead of a siphon if this meets the users requirements.
2. If you are intending to run your pump continuously – as opposed to having it switch on and off, and want to use flood and drain (as opposed to continuous flow), you will need to use a siphon. This is why there is considerable interest in siphons.
3. The pros and cons (in a flood and drain system) of using small continuous pumps as opposed to larger pumps which switch on and off are stated in this thread and elsewhere.

EB’s big system uses flood and drain but does not use a siphon. The flood/drain cycling of this system relies on a number of things being:

1. the use of a float switch on the fish tank so that the water stops pumping once the level reduces to a certain level (the reduction would pretty much coincide with the amount of water needed to flood the beds)

2. a standpipe which has lots of holes drilled along its height. The flow through these holes is less than what is coming in through the inflow, meaning that the bed will fill during the pumping cycle. To stop the bed from overflowing, a big piece is cut out of the pipe at the desired maximum fill level, meaning that the bed will not fill above this level. Once the pump from the fish tank cuts out – due to it dropping to the switching level, the flow to the beds stops and they gradually drain through the holes in the standpipe.

EB’s system drains water from beds to a sump, which in turn is pumped back to the fish tank. This has no bearing on this discussion.