Grow beds Not Draining Enough, Please Help!

[Gregory J. Showalter]

Can anyone tell me whats going on? I'm in my 2nd year of aquaponics. Last year was a disaster but learned a lot. I have a flood and drain system with bell valve auto syphons. No fish yet (5/6/13). still cycling the 3,000 gal. pond. I discovering that the bell valves seem to have a mind of their own. they will work great for days then start acting up. i'll adjust water flow or add an elbow to the drain or lengthen or shorten the pvc discharge and its back to normal, or so i thought. while adding plants to one of my grow beds i notice the the flood and drain will work (turn on and off) but the grow bed is not draining fully into zone 3. I have a dry top 2 inches but the water lever only goes down maybe another 3-5 inches before the syphonb shuts off.  I have 11.5 inch deep grow beds. Thanks for any advice!

[Gregory J. Showalter]

I will do exactly as you say Mr. Sukhbir. 20 fish. Thank you for the advice, I'll take any I can get! Thank you for the kind words. The whole project was birthed out of a medical diagnosis my wife got about 3 yrs. ago now. I think it's been therapy for me as we'll. trying to figure out a way I could keep this going thru the winter with the temps. Here in Buffalo. I better just focus on getting it going for the normal growing season for now. Thank you again Sir!

[George]

Fine hole, sir.  Good luck.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Gregory,

Please, we are very informal here on the forums, its nice to go by our first names, if that's OK with you Sorry to hear about your wife and i do hope everything work out we...   Good luck and please keep posting as I've already learned so much AP from you.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Some parts of my post are being deleted and I see some blue highlights. Sorry but I'll try to reply tomorrow.

[Gregory J. Showalter]

Sure thing Harold! Wife is doing great. she is pretty much organic in her diet, I'm maybe 75%. From chemicals in our drinking water to GMO foods it's amazing what the food industry is selling to the public. We are just trying to do what we can. We really believe it is the cause of a lot of the health problems.

Harold Sukhbir said:

Hi Gregory,

Please, we are very informal here on the forums, its nice to go by our first names, if that's OK with you Sorry to hear about your wife and i do hope everything work out we...   Good luck and please keep posting as I've already learned so much AP from you.

[Gregory J. Showalter]

4 years in the military taught me how to dig some pretty holes in the ground George...then fill em back up again! 

George said:

Fine hole, sir.  Good luck.