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It's ALIVE!!!!

I think my bell siphon is alive and mocking me. I can sit in the playroom where my aquaponics experiment is located all day long and it runs without a hitch. No sooner than I leave the room and the cycle gets stuck at the end of the ebb. The siphon won't stop. I unplug the pump, let the siphon burp, expel a few obscenities, then get it running again. Now I'm watching, intently. Of course as long as I'm there it will run without fail. I've even tried sitting just outside the room. Perhaps it won't know I'm there, now I'll catch it for sure. No. It knows. I don't know how but it knows. Let me walk down the hall, outside the house, or heaven forbid into the bathroom. Yup Stuck. I wonder is this a siphon trait, Do they mock us all, or do I just have a sinister one?

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Comment by Robert Rowe on February 23, 2013 at 9:18am: May be I can help.

The reason for your bell siphon is not turning off promptly is likely because it can't get air.

I have found that if the exaust leg of the siphon sits loosely in a larger pipe you get better vacuum release.

If you have 2 elbows at the bottom of the pipe, adjust hem so that air can get back up the pipe as the flow slows.

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on February 5, 2013 at 1:41pm: I'm no siphon expert...I opted for a nice clean hassle free timed flood and drain (since I have 8 media beds that would be 8 finicky siphons to deal with). I played around with some (I found that I really liked the "loop" siphon the best)...anyways...

You might want to install a ball valve so that you can regulate flow to the siphon. (Since most of the troubles surrounding them are related to flow). And flow will change over time...