Bell siphon inquire

[Leo White Bear]

Morning-
  I am a new-be to aquaponics and was wondering if it is imperitive that the bell drains totally or not and why?  I have made a small "barrel-ponics" system utalizing an 8" cpvc stand pipe and a clear food-grade jar for the bell.

  The unit cycles great but the bell only drains to 1" below the top of the stand pipe.  When the unit fills again the siphon works great and drains the resivour but the bell remains filled to within 1" of the top of the stand pipe.  Does anyone see why this would be detrimental in any way.  Thank you.
Leo White Bear

[Travis W. Hughey]

There are a few things you could do to improve your system.  First of all install a balance tube between the growbeds halfway up to allow any water to balance between the two beds.  Also, there is a very set of specific reasons I designed the Flood Tank the way I did.  While on the outside one may think it is more complex, the truth is it is far simpler to operate and is adjustable to a wide range of parameters (not to mention capable of operating on 10gph flow) which allows one to acount for root grwth and biomas buildup.  The volume of water required to flood a system changes over time.  It looks like you have the Barrel-Ponics manual.  Too bad (for you) you didn't build the whole thing.

Trav.

 

[Leo White Bear]

Harold-

  The outlet pipes on the grow beds are 1/2" cpvc and the pipes from the flush tank are 1" cpvc.  With this arangment the grow beds drain slower than the flush tank filling them.  This design, from Travis Hughly, is a simple design with complex hydrodinamics, very ingenious.  I take no credit for the design, I only followed Mr. Hughly manual and used barrles that I had on hand.

  I am searching for the 55 gallon barrels that were used in the original design and until I find them, these 30 gal ones will do just nicely.  Being that this is my first attempt at aquaponics, I didn't want to go too large a system and run into major problems.

  The grow beds fill just fine, if you look at the pics I posted, you will notice the pipes coming from the flush tank are at an angle.  I did this because the right tank (as viewed in the pics) was filling too high and flooding over the gravel.  With the pipes askew as they are, the left tank gets more water than the right.  A simple law of physics, water flows down hill.  More water goes into the left tank as it has to rise in the right pipe before it empties into the right grow bed.  The amount of angle determines how much water fills the right grow bed, I had to play with this angle a bit, but it works.  Must be that the sandy soil compacted more on the right thus leaving the unit tilting.  We just received 3" of rain and I assume that the soil will compact even more.  Time will tell.  Be well.

White Bear

[Alpine Aquaponics]

Whats up Travis!! I have a deep respect for your work man, and Im glad to finally understand why you designed it like that.  It really is genius.  Thank you!

 

Leo I don't know where you live but if craigslist is used in your area check that, there are 2 suppliers for used barrels in San Diego that charge $15 a piece

[Leo White Bear]

ALPINE-
  It seems that $15.00 per barrel is the going price around here in Central Wisconsin also.  When you are on SSI and living on a limited budget, $15 is still $15.  I do have a friend that will sell me the 55 gal ones for $10 but getting to the end of the month in winter is a bit rough sometimes.  It is either feast or famin, but that's OK, I'm retired and doing great.  I will get my hands on some relitivly soon and will construct a few more systems.  Thank you and be well.

White Bear

Alpine Aquaponics said:

Whats up Travis!! I have a deep respect for your work man, and Im glad to finally understand why you designed it like that.  It really is genius.  Thank you!

 

Leo I don't know where you live but if craigslist is used in your area check that, there are 2 suppliers for used barrels in San Diego that charge $15 a piece

[TCLynx]

yea, I think your first step will be getting the pump running on this first system.  I've used a little harbor freight pump before and I'll recommend it for your tiny barrel system fountain pump These little pumps don't move a hole lot of water and you will have to clean it regularly but they are durable little suckers, fish safe, energy efficient and for the price, a pretty good deal.

Hopefully it's strong enough to operate your siphon.  Otherwise you might need a cup dump.

Tipper

[Leo White Bear]

TC-

  Thanks for the tip, I have my eye on a couple of fountain pumps for the systen.  They both will pump water to 7' + so they should by strong enough to handle my needs.  It seems that every time I post, I come up with more questions, what exactly do you mean by a "cup dump"?  are you refering to going out and doing it by hand?  If so, I'll have to invest to buy stock in mosketo spray and citranella candles.  Man they are nasty this year.  Thanks for your answers and have a safe memorial Day.

White Bear

TCLynx said:

yea, I think your first step will be getting the pump running on this first system.  I've used a little harbor freight pump before and I'll recommend it for your tiny barrel system fountain pump These little pumps don't move a hole lot of water and you will have to clean it regularly but they are durable little suckers, fish safe, energy efficient and for the price, a pretty good deal.

Hopefully it's strong enough to operate your siphon.  Otherwise you might need a cup dump.

Tipper

[TCLynx]

You probably missed the link to a video I put right at the end.  This should help clear up what I was talking about.

Tipper video "cup dump"

[Alpine Aquaponics]

We'll be here to help you along the way Leo.

 

nice vid TC what a great idea!

[Leo White Bear]

TC-

  Thanks for the explaination of a tipper cup.  Yes, I agree, it was a great video, well explaination of what happens with the various flow speeds.    I appreciate all the help from those that responded to my inquiry

Be well

White Bear

 

TCLynx said:

You probably missed the link to a video I put right at the end.  This should help clear up what I was talking about.

Tipper video "cup dump"

[Jane]

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJctwA54Cj0&feature=youtube_gdat...

check out that link on bell siphon

This should help answer some questions and there is a part 2 video also Good luck

[Wil Miles]

hey there Leo i had a similar problem i solved it by putting a larger bushing on top of drain ppipe to make the edges tighter it will create a stronger vacum and complete the drain ,In other word your intake must be larger then the stand pipe and drain pipe ,simples way is to heat the tip of the pipe with pipe heat gun and mold it to a larger funnel shape if you can understand that lol

[Wil Miles]

  this is the best picture i could find real quick for example hope this helps did help me