Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all, Ive found many great ideas in the threads here.
This is my system under construction;

Hi Brett... welcome to the forum....

If the pump's a bit strong or the flow rates too high.... plumb in a return bypass just after the pump, with a ball valve that you can adjust....

Just return it straight back to the tank.... will allow you to adjust your flow rate and provide extra oxygenation.... plus you can just cut the flow to the beds all together if you need to do maintenance.

Good on you Brett, well done
Faye

Yep.... I would do exactly as ROZ said.

Would seem you now have your pump running "reliably Brett (other thread - looking for Perch)..... what did you end up doing to slow the flow?

Looking at your pictures it looks like you are filling all 4 barrel growbeds at once and then draining them via a siphon in the last one back to a "sump" tank.... is this correct??

Yes thats right, I didnt end up using a return bypass because the auto siphons work better at fastflow rates and I want to keep the electricity bill as low as possible. I found a glob of glue in one of my pipes was causing most of the water backup and am putting over flows into the grow beds to help. Ended up using two auto siphons (I cant post pics because the batteries are flat on my camera but will soon)

Overflows are a good idea in case the auto siphons don't activate or only semi-drain... especially with two barrels connected together.

Pics would help when you get a chance....

What have you decided to use for media in your growbeds?

Ok camera working again.
Its pea gravel in the growbeds, expanded clay looked too expensive

Take above, and accompanying photo, to mean that you still have a greater inflow into the first one or two barrels than can naturally be balanced by the 25mm joiner tubes. And that you have "bridged" the two existing bung holes between two barrels to provide an "overflow" between one into the other.

So, am I right that you now have two sets of 2 barrels fed by seperate tanks each with a bell siphon?

Or are you using a single siphon in the tank and branching to the two sets of barrel growbeds?

Still have some concern as to what might happen if for some reason the auto-siphon in one or both sets of the growbeds fails to empty the growbed(s) completely....

Presumably the sump cutoff will stay shut due to lack of water flowing into the sump.... and the tank level (except for maybe a single cycle) will fail to supply the growbeds, because level will be below bell siphon trigger due to no return from the sump?

So the only concern might be loss of water from growbed overflow?

Got it right Brett???

When the fish tanks are full, the bell auto siphon releases just enough water to fill the grow beds. It does this very fast (1m drop / 25mm pipe) There is probaly some gravel in the 25mm pipes connecting the growbeds (underground) so the water level does not equalise very fast, hence the overflows. They were also the low point of the grow beds so I wanted to plug them. I know im missing an over flow in the middle beds, Ill do it later.

When the grow beds are full, the fish tank bell siphon stops flowing and the swan neck siphon (which flows much slower) kicks in and drains into the sump with the pump with the float switch whick goes back to the fish tank.

The growbeds cant overflow because the fish tank bell siphons outer pipe is only just long enough to fill the growbeds, but yes the system will stop completely if for some reason a siphon fails (eg kids "posting gravel" or low water level) Checked 10hours of power off though, and it restarted itself fine.

With you now Brett... new photo gives a better view... sounds like you've got all the angles covered

Interesting... some slightly different approachs to things than others have used..... be good to see how it all goes over time...

Interesting system Brett, can't wait to see it with some plants growing..

One minor concern Brett, it is better not to wet the top of the media as it promotes algae growth...better if pipe end submerged or use a grid to disperse the water.

Like the system - neat and tidy

thanks EB, that tiny parsley plant isnt impressive but its alive! and thanks Ell, Ill see what I can do without affecting the siphon function.

any change of distributing water to each bed via a T piece?

i know all the beds are connected but that center bed might clog compared to the others