Comment

Comment by Vince O'Connor on March 4, 2013 at 2:41pm

What a refreshing and comforting feeling it is for an AP newbie to have such experience available to them in the start up period. All of the advice and suggestions regarding the Affnan's bell siphon formula are welcomed and come at the appropriate time and as time permits, will go to it. If I had that valuable information several weeks ago, I'd already have it installed. Thanks to all for the help. 

Comment by Pat James on March 4, 2013 at 10:56am

Jim Fisk said: Hey, do what you want but I don't want to hear about problems if you ignore this proven formula. That vastly increased spillway 2" funnel makes ALL the difference in my opinion. 9 mos now of continuously running 5 siphons and not one glitch. I have 31 of them that I have sold now and not a single complaint.

No kidding. I don't know if I had already ordered my fittings online or if I h...

Having trouble finding those adapters in the big box stores here. The ones they have here are a different shape. Not the funnel like in his pics.

To change it around will cost a fair amount of money, but i might be forced into it.. (I'm a tightwad) And my wife is already giving me grief for all the money I have spent so far...and she doesn't really know how much that is....

Comment by Vince O'Connor on March 4, 2013 at 10:15am

Matt, thank you for the reply and the information about GB depth. Pictures will be posted soon. Most of our raised beds had 8 inch soil depth and they did ok and the bugs liked them too. Thanks fro remind me of the 2 inch cut off because I was planning on 1.5 inches but the setup is out in the open and after the last forcasted frost (April 9th) we will probably remove the plastic hoop tunnel.  So there would be sunshine on dem rocks.  We're using an old 6ft. square pump house (roof removed) for the set up and removed one layer of bricks to keep the GB from being so tall, but it is still kinda high.  The GB is setting on one wall and the other end is resting on a 2 x 8 which is also resting across the pump house and provides the much needed support. Had water circulating for about 4 weeks but the heater only operating for 5 days. So we figured the official cycle started then and 70* may still be a slow   cycle time. The weather is forcasted to be better here so clean up on that schedule.

Comment by Jim Fisk on March 4, 2013 at 10:04am

Hi Vince, I really recommend you go with Affnan's bell siphon formula which for an IBC is , once again:

1" stand pipe (down tube) with a 2" adapter on top. I do that with a 1" - 1 1/4" adapter topped with a 1 1/4" - 2" adapter from Lowes or such.

You then use a 3" bell pipe with cap and knob. Leave room for depth adjusting collars made from 2" pipe.

and a 4" gravel guard.I use a 3 rows of a spiral saw cut pattern which does really well with the gravel. Better than holes. Takes me about 1 min. on a chop saw.

1" male threaded plumbing adapter into a 1" female ELECTRICAL adapter and an "o" ring will get you through the bottom of the IBC cheap and in style. Again, never had a leak. Nice clean 1" hole please or you will have to go with a 10.00 wider flanged one.

Hey, do what you want but I don't want to hear about problems if you ignore this proven formula. That vastly increased spillway 2" funnel makes ALL the difference in my opinion. 9 mos now of continuously running 5 siphons and not one glitch. I have 31 of them that I have sold now and not a single complaint.

Your short GB should be fine. Save the carrots for your next deeper one Have Fun. I know I am. And remember: "Measure twice. Cut once"

And here's a thousand words:

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on March 4, 2013 at 9:21am

@Vince, post a picture of that bad boy!   About the 9 inch grow bed, I wouldn't worry to much, The roots are going to grow regardless, people just like to have extra room for them and from what I've read the average people want is 12 inches.  You may want to try planting something that doesn't have a huge root expansion (though I haven't researched roots on plants yet).   Just remember you'll need to cut off the water  two inches below the media so the top of your media wont be wet.  So you'll actually have 7 inches of root space.  You can also try raising the height of the GB by building up some type of walls to add a few inches if you are really concerned about it.

Comment by Vince O'Connor on March 3, 2013 at 5:45pm

I got an IBC tote that has been around a while and it's last life was to provide water for horses.  It was pretty well flushed out. I screwed up a little when cutting it apart to make the aquaponics system. I made the grow bed 9 inches instead of 12 inches so don't know what consequences that will bring. Made a bell siphon using 1" inside and 2" for bell, one ell.  Pump from Harbor Freight a 660 ghp and a 1 inch line from pump to the GB. Cycle time is about 10 min. The media in grow bed is river rock, lava rock, slate gravel, 1 1/2 inches of expanded shale on top. All of that is really heavy.  Water heater is home made 1500 watt 120 volt hot water heater element controlled by Ranco ETC-111000-000 Digital Temperature Controller. Maintaining 70* for time being. All of this is outside but short poly tunnel being worked on. Gold fish for this newbie. For aeration, using two 5 inch dia. stones each glued to a furnace brick and hooked up to a dual outlet air pump. (same air stone we use to keep live shrimp when ocean fishing). Been cycling at 70* for about 4 days, water is clear, Ph is 7.4 and ammonia 4.0. Looking forward to a little warmer March, been feeling like a mud dobber last few days

Comment by Jim Fisk on December 10, 2012 at 10:29am

And I still see no way of getting to page 2 from here. Am I nuts?

Comment by Jim Fisk on December 10, 2012 at 10:26am

OK, I found it. I added it as a page rather than a discussion. So it is on page 2

Comment by Jim Fisk on December 10, 2012 at 10:21am

Whoops. I just added a page on plumbing the IBC FTs and I have no idea where it went. I'll have to retrieve it and post it here somehow later.

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on December 10, 2012 at 9:54am

Arghh matey...run for it she's gonna blow! 

Glad to hear it survived.

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