Linked Bell Siphons?

[wh33t]

Hey all,

I have 4 independent flower beds which periodically all flood and drain randomly, independent of each other. I'd like to clean up the mess of tubes and pipes underneath the table into one big pipe but it occurred to me that if the drain pipes are all linked to each other the siphon might not work.

I just drew out a diagram and it appears to me that it would still work as the siphons still have to suck water in through the upstands, but it never hurts to ask right?

What say you?

[Bioritize]

Put a drain hole at the bottom of each grow bed. Then link each grow bed together using a common manifold or pipe below each of your growbeds. Cap one end and on the other end use a 90/elbow upward and create your water level height with the pipe. Use 2 more 90/elbows to come back down, creating a "U" into the fish tank, reduce the size pipe by 1/2 and you should get a good siphon. You can use this method to set whatever level you want as your water height. This is Affnan's common drain, cannot find the exact post. You can check it out here.

http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/

The beauty of this is you do not need any upstands or stand pipes in the grow beds.

Edit: Found it (http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/2 ... photo.html (http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/2009/06/swivel-valve-photo.html))

Siphons:(http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/2 ... rt-ii.html (http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/2009/06/aquaponics-siphons-part-ii.html))

On the left he uses an downspout with a small hole in the bottom to help with systems that cycle their pumps. If you leave your pump on continuously then you do not need this.

[wh33t]

I'd love to find that entry on his blog as I really don't understand what you are talking about lol. I checked out his blog. I basically read every post in his Siphon category and didn't see any linked siphon techniques. Would you mind sketching me a quick picture in paint or something? I'd be ever greatful!

Edit
Nevermind I see you found it!

[wh33t]

Put a drain hole at the bottom of each grow bed. Then link each grow bed together using a common manifold or pipe below each of your growbeds. Cap one end and on the other end use a 90/elbow upward and create your water level height with the pipe. Use 2 more 90/elbows to come back down, creating a "U" into the fish tank, reduce the size pipe by 1/2 and you should get a good siphon. You can use this method to set whatever level you want as your water height. This is Affnan's common drain, cannot find the exact post. You can check it out here.

http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/

The beauty of this is you do not need any upstands or stand pipes in the grow beds.

Edit: Found it (http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/2 ... photo.html (http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/2009/06/swivel-valve-photo.html))

Siphons:(http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/2 ... rt-ii.html (http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/2009/06/aquaponics-siphons-part-ii.html))

On the left he uses an downspout with a small hole in the bottom to help with systems that cycle their pumps. If you leave your pump on continuously then you do not need this.

Very interesting ... I'm not sure how I feel about it right now. Have you made one? Does it work well? I have a hard time picturing them all draining together correctly with out upstands in them.

[swamp creek farms]

i let them drain when they want to, all different times, i set it up to drain in a 4" NFT pipe, that flows back to the FT, the NFT has water flushing through it constantly.

why not use you drain pipe to grow more plants? i do

[Bioritize]

No I have not used this myself but I do not see why it wouldn't work. I was going to setup my next system using this valve design. The beds should all fill at the same time to the same level even if you are not pumping the same amount of water in each bed. Then when the water height reaches the "U' and begins to drain, it will certainly create a siphon with the reducer.

I like this idea and do not see any reason for a stand pipe, unless it were only a 2" pipe, then this would keep a small amount of water in the bottom of each GB.

[badflash]

I use a common drain pipe, but be sure that it is BIG. If you don't they will interact and some will overflow waiting for the others to drain. Also vent the drain like a toilet vent to about 12" above the surface of the growbed. I have 10 interconnected bells and it was a real headache stting it up. I'll be re-doing it with a 6" drain pipe shortly.

[cedarswamp]

I would interconnect all the beds and drain with a single external bell siphon ala Olomana Gardens

http://www.olomanagardens.com/aquaponicsyoutubes.html

[Oliver]

When testing out a new multi-grow-bed system, for the first time we connected three grow beds to the same drain pipe. Previously, we had only connected two grow beds to the same drain pipe. These drain pipes always slope downwards to the fish tank from the grow beds. With two connected, we had no problem with them doing their siphoning when needed, regardless of timing. But, with three connected we found that they interacted, thereby preventing all three from cycling at the same time. At first I thought that we would have to either provide a separate drain for the third grow bed or increase the size of the drain pipe.

The smaller drain pipe helps pull the water from the grow bed during siphoning, so I didn't want to increase its size. I then realized that this was a blessing in disguise, as it didn't allow all three grow beds to dump their water into the fish tank simultaneously. Once the first grow bed to siphon was finished while the second grow bed was still siphoning then the third grow bed would start its siphoning action. They all just synchronized up beautifully, each taking its turn with only two grow beds siphoning at any one time. The third was just queued up ready to began its siphoning action as soon as the pressure in the drain pipe was reduced by one of the other grow beds completing its siphoning action.

Oliver

[urbanfarmer]

I would interconnect all the beds and drain with a single external bell siphon ala Olomana Gardens

http://www.olomanagardens.com/aquaponicsyoutubes.html
I got the DVD a while back. It's not a "how-to" video (not that I care), but some people seem to expect that. Anyway, good video. I was definitely inspired! :lol:

[badflash]

That is a great solution! I am embarrassed I didn't think of it. That will allow you to cut down on the flow considerably and use less power and increase cycle times.