PDA

View Full Version : Siphon Placement



Hotrodmike
09-17-2010, 01:50 PM
I'm back :twisted: .Since I have been, to say the least sick for a bit and not posting as I have not gotten much done the last few weeks . I am up to about 1/2 speed and trying to get back on things . I am getting the beds built and just was thinking (b4 I drill holes ) if it really makes any difference where the siphons get mounted . I have seen them mounted at the side ,in the middle and on the ends . Being the bed is flooded I'm not sure this makes any difference at all but figure I would toss it out and see ! So any opinions on where the best place to mount them or pretty much just on the bottom ;)

This also raises another question . On the fill side of everything I have seen single dumps at one end of the bed , T'ed with an outlet on each side and full ring with holes around the full perimeter . I really see no difference as long as the bed fills although the full ring looks fancy :roll: but I don't seem to see the point of wasting more pipe if there is no need .
Just for the record the beds are 3'x6'.
Have A Kind Day
Mike

badflash
09-17-2010, 02:32 PM
If you have a lot of solids in the fill it pays to distribute. If you are using the barrelponics flush then gravity drain, distribution is a must.

For the drain side I decided on bottom center to evenly flush everything to the drain. I can't say how much it helps, but it can't hurt.

Oliver
09-17-2010, 03:17 PM
Hi Mike,

As long as you are doing flood and drain, I don't believe it makes much difference how you fill the beds; for they will get the nutrient rich water throughout. If you are going with continuously flooded, however, it seems like an even fill around the perimeter would be best.

On our square beds we use a perimeter fill (extra pipe) with four openings, one on each side, and a siphon in the middle. On our elongated narrow beds (narrow so they can be reached across if placed against a wall) we placed the siphon as close to the end as the grow bed design would allow and feed the water in under the lip of the opposite end, which spreads the incoming water a little.

By the way, we used to have three inch outer shells on our siphons but found them to be a little too small to get your hand down in for root cleaning so we went to four inch shrouds. They takes up a little more GB space but I believe is worth the trade off to be able to put my hand all the way to the bottom when the stand pipe is removed, which is now much easier to unscrew.

The stand pipe can now be easily changed out and a shorter one can be inserted if it is decided to use that bed for root vegetables. It seems root vegetables don't like lots of water on the large part of the root and will put down a fine root to the nutrient rich water, which seems to suffice. We discovered this by accident when on our second planting the bed with our root vegetables had its inflow valve open to much and the siphon wouldn't break, so the water level stayed low. We didn't notice this until we had some of the largest and best tasting radishes I'd ever seen, and I normally don't like radishes. Our first root vegetable planting failed to create a large root mass as they were in the water a lot. Not sure how that all works but that is what we discovered.

These siphons are simply modified toilet flanges (the kind with no hole in the bottom) with an added hole for the bulkhead which passes through the flange, then the thick washer seal, then through the bottom of the GB and then the bulkhead back nut. This arrangement holds the flange in place as well as the shroud when snapped into the flange. The flanges are made to support either a three or four inch pipe, so the change was only to the shroud and its rubber cap. The shrouds have horizontal slits cut in them with a chop saw from near the bottom to the height of the lowest point of the desired flood and drain. It is not necessary to drain all of the water out nor is it possible. I believe that draining only half the water our with each cycle is ample. This keeps the fish tank water height from varying too much. All components can be purchased at Home Depot accept for the bulkhead.

Sorry for the ramble,

Oliver

Brier
09-17-2010, 05:40 PM
Mike, don't know if this helps, or even pertains to your question. But here is a brief description of my growbed plumbing. The center growbed is 3x6. Each side of that is a 3x3 growbed. They are all drained by a single bell siphon on the center bed. The inflow goes into all three beds. The three beds are linked by bulkheads, and pipes that form a U between, and underneath each bed. This U keeps an equal depth in all three beds. I tried using three bell siphons, but it was very hard to coordinate them all. So I turned the bell siphons that were in the 3x3 beds into standpipe overflows. These overflows also work very well for venting the drain system. The inflow in each 3x3 bed has a short standpipe. This seems to help regulate flow in that the center growbed fills first, and the U tubes distribute it into the smaller tanks. As the height of the standpipes is reached, and their is less head pressure on them, they start contributing to the flow, and help to overcome the water flow out of the bell siphon. As the water recedes, and it drops below these standpipes, the head pressure shuts the in flow to the smaller growbeds, and slows the overall flow which helps break the siphon. Hope that makes some sense.