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Comment by John Malone on September 11, 2013 at 4:28pm

@ Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. 

When my lettuce bolted at the beginning of summer and turned bitter, we couldn't eat it, so I pulled the plants and hung them in the fish tank for the tilapia.  Stripped the plants bare.

I also tried it with cabbages that didn't set a head properly.  The tilapia nibbled at those tough leaves over several days too.  Didn't eat them completely, but certainly put a dent in them.

If it's green, I think they'll have a go.

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on September 11, 2013 at 2:45pm

FYI. Tilapia eat lettuce.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on September 11, 2013 at 2:28pm

Pat, one more thought about bridge siphons. They're amazing tools when needed, but because they can flake so easily, I recommend they be avoided. This is a simple way to avoid the bridge siphons while keeping the beds at the same level (if I'm picturing your setup correctly). As water enters the first bed, it enters at a faster rate than it exits through the bottom, smaller pipe. The top pipe is at the highest level desired, and prevents any overflow. The water eventually fills the first bed, then the second, then the third, and then exits. You'd need media guards at each exit/entry point.

The drawbacks are that all three beds will have to be filled at the same time, so if you're using a timer it has to be set to fill them all, and you need enough water in the system. The benefit is that you will not have to worry about overflows and there will be peace in the home. :)

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on September 11, 2013 at 1:40pm

Pat, we have two 55 gallon aquariums in which we raise our fingerlings. They fill from the sump via the pump, and drain back into the sump via a system of bridge siphons. Bridge siphons are notorious for failure, so I have two in each location - a primary and a backup. The backups have saved us many times!

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on September 11, 2013 at 12:41pm

Does anyone have some duck weed they can spare? I need start growing it to help supplement the fish diet.

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on September 11, 2013 at 12:25pm

Found conditions identical to what you describe Randy. Looper poop.

Comment by Pat James on September 11, 2013 at 6:38am

Matt, I have a pretty good idea what you are talking about now. (Using direct overflow drains to go into the next bed.) I can see how you might even get the difference in flow to start a bell siphon, but it would take a very careful balancing act. I was trying to figure how to do it with regular siphons without the water level getting low enough and break the siphons.

Sheri..Yes, I have 2 bridge siphons connecting the first 3 growbeds with the last intended to be the drain back to the fishtank. Extending the drain pipe length slightly in the first 2 beds is how I can push as much water as possible with lower flow into each consecutive tank but still have each bed with it's own drain.

The radial filter that is ahead of these 3 beds was not working as well with higher flows. There was just too much turbulence even in a 55 gallon barrel.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on September 10, 2013 at 6:45pm

Pat, love your story, I got a chuckle with the "I was convinced I was talking to a moron".  Don't be to hard on her, I've tried talking my wife through some things, and I will get that blank stare back at me and I'm convinced she is thinking "You're an idiot".  

One thing that might interest you is something that is on my project list - it is a catastrophic failure switch.  It is basically a water sensor that you can place wherever you want (you would want to place it in an area where you do not want water to rise up to - basically an "oh, shit" spot).  if a siphon clogs and the grow bed keeps filling instead of draining, when the water level hits that sensor, it will send power to a relay that will kill power to the pump.  This is not a fix, but what it will do is stop your system from spilling out water everywhere until you are able fix the clog and restart the pump.  

Anyway I'll let you know when I finish that project and give you the specs on how to build one if you're interested.

Now the daisy chaining Idea isn't anything new the only problem with it, is that each bed will need to be lower than the next to drain into (think of it as stairs going down) so you need to keep that in mind and when you plant your plants -don't have tall growing plants in the highest bed!

 

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on September 10, 2013 at 6:38pm

Pat, look at the Member Map up there ^ and contact an aquapon near you who can check on your system while you're away. Also, you might want to draw a diagram with labels for your wife and anyone else who might be working the system.

I'm trying to visualize your system...are you using bridge siphons between beds? Do you have overflow pipes near the top of your beds in case your drains/siphons fail?

Comment by Pat James on September 10, 2013 at 1:24pm

Matt, i would like to see your plan to daisy-train fill and drain beds. Not only would I like to make this work, but it will dummy-proof my system.

I am using raft beds, but the first 3 beds in each row are connected. I start with a combo radial and swirl filter to remove whatever it will.  It goes to the first bed which is filled with bags of media. This is siphoned to a 2nd bed with more media filled bags. and then to a third bed with a couple bags...( I simply do not not have enough of the plastic media to fill all 3 beds.)

Now each bed started with the drain at the same elevation. So in the first I added a 1.5 inch extension and in the second maybe an inch or a little less. The 3rd bed remained as originally setup.

The idea is that the first bed has to fill beyond the higher drain stack before it drains on its own, The second bed will start draining if its drain pipe is exceeded.  This is to prevent an overflow if the drain in a bed downstream gets plugged.

I am using this system on the first 3 growbeds on each side of my pool. The other 4 beds in line have their own fill and drain.

Yesterday I was out of town and my wife called me to tell me the last bed in my system was overflowing She had no idea how to fix this. After a VERY heated exchange over the phone, I was convinced I was talking to a moron. "What is a ball valve and how do I take it off?" ...even though nothing is glued and if you wiggle the pipes they will almost fall apart.

When I got in at "0 dark thirty" I found some of my siphons had been pulled out. The wife saw pipes and pulled on them , not knowing what they were.
I am now going to add siphons between all those growbeds so that if any one drain gets plugged, the water will flow into another bed.

Especially since I will be out of country in 2 months and will not be able to  troubleshoot a problem over the phone.

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