Bell Siphon

[Christopher Brickey]

 I have been trying to get this bell siphon to work for a week now. i have 2 2'x3'x9" drain tables and according to this pdf doc.: http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/BIO-10.pdf I have the measurements right. It works fine without the media in it, but when I add the gravel the siphon will not break. Any ideas? I am at the end of my rope and have seriously considered taking the saws-all to the entire system.

[Christopher Brickey]

 Thanks alot for the info, very cool. do u have pics? i will have to look and see later.

Connie Christians said:

Sorry- I couldn't find a link... I saw it on the Aquaponics Secrets video by Murray Hallam. The snorkel extension I am talking about is on the drain line to the fish tank. I have 3 gravel beds all draining through 1" pipe into a 1.5" main return pipe back to fish tank. On the 'uphill' end of the return pipe, I attached a 90 deg. elbow and a 18" length of vertical pipe- this acts as a breather for the bell siphon on each bed to work more effectively. It really sucks- but in a good way!

I don't subscribe to the piece of tubing (normally referred to as a snorkel) attached to the bell siphon as helpful. I omit this piece and just have a 1" stand pipe, 2" bell siphon with 2- 1" notches cut in the bottom and a cap on top, covered by a 6" gravel guard which is big enough to see the siphon and get my hand inside. The beds I have are approx. 9' long and 2' wide- I used 3- blue barrel halves screwed together to create the bed. 3 of these units are end to end and filled with C gravel: 1/2 - 1" river rock media.

I find that adding a breather or snorkel to the drain line and the pump tee helps our design with draining and aerating.

An added note about your fish fry: a friend of mine sinks a plastic bucket with holes drilled in the sides for the little fish to hide in. Works really well for catching fish, too.

[Tom OBrien]

Christopher,

 

I had a link to the bio-10 .pdf document in my comment on page six. I think I just searched "Bell siphon" to find it but it looks like the link still works.
 
Christopher Brickey said:

 do u have a link for the bio-10 doc. thing? i tried to google it, but got a bunch of irrelevant bio-engineering stuff. thanks.

[Tom OBrien]

...And you had the link in your original post.

[Bob Vento]

Try this... I did and it works flawlessly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDzcKgWLRf0

[Christopher Brickey]

 yea, i have heard that before, lol. jk. thanks for the link i will check it out.

Bob Vento said:

Try this... I did and it works flawlessly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDzcKgWLRf0

[Rick Malley]

I had a similar situation. I resolved it by putting a reducer on the end of my drain pipe - just something to slightly restrict the flow of water into the reservoir. Now the siphon works perfectly.

Suzanne Carter said:

Does anyone have any suggestions how I could get this bell siphon to work? I attached a video to give an idea what it is doing... if I don't touch it, it will just empty at the same rate it is filling and not activate the siphon. If I lift the bell or add more water from a pail, it will trigger and empty just fine... please help!

[Rob Nash]

well the link wont work,,, arrr....

[Rob Nash]

http://community.aquaponicscommunity.com/forum/topics/how-to-build-...

maybe this worky work??