New Backyard system bell sypon won't break

[rangebob]

I started up my new garden last weekend. I had 2 concrete mixing tubs that I'm using for my grow bins. The one I was going to keep with water constantly in it and let it just drain out and the other was going to be a bell syphon. I had the bell syphon running with about 1/2 the pea gravel in the bin with no problems. Today I finished filling the bin and the syphon stopped working and the syphon wasn't breaking the sypon and kept gurgling. What went wrong since I added the rest of the rocks? This is the drain and syphon.

[bsfman]

I started up my new garden last weekend. I had 2 concrete mixing tubs that I'm using for my grow bins. The one I was going to keep with water constantly in it and let it just drain out and the other was going to be a bell syphon. I had the bell syphon running with about 1/2 the pea gravel in the bin with no problems. Today I finished filling the bin and the syphon stopped working and the syphon wasn't breaking the sypon and kept gurgling. What went wrong since I added the rest of the rocks? This is the drain and syphon.

Could be two things: #1 water input too fast. #2 the bell looks way too big for the size of the standpipe. This makes it hard for the little standpipe to drain fast enough to empty the bell.

[JCO]

Just a quick look from the photo, I think it has to do with the way you notched the stand pipe. Can't be sloppy. Sorry for calling attention to it and using the word sloppy, no offense meant. Aquaponics isn't rocket science but you do have to be precise in what you do for it to work correctly.

[bcotton]

JCO,

i dont think water cares if the notches in the stand pipe are square or jagged.

rangebob,

is the 4" tube free standing or did you silicone/adhesive it to the grow bed? My grow beds have a similar issue and i have attributed it to the fact that water level cant get low enough to break siphon. Hind sight i would cut slits all the way to the bottom of the pipe and wouldnt silicone the casing down, just secure it using the media so water could seep underneath the tube itself.

The short answer is what bsfman said, it is likely be a too much flow. The difference is the gravel. Water doesnt flow through the bed as fast. So it's slower to start draining and slower to stop.

If your bell isnt configured well your "working window" between too much flow and too little flow may be so small that it's difficult or impossible to achieve. I find it helps to have a little wider entrance on your stand like maybe a 3/4" to 1/2" converter at the top. Also, i cant see the bottom of your siphon but an elbow as soon as possible seems to always help.



brian

[JCO]

Speaking from experience about jagged and/or rough cuts, if the siphon can suck the slightest amount of air before it gets to the designed break point and the pump is pumping enough to compensate for it, the siphon will not break. "That's my story and I'm stickin' to it"

[bcotton]

JCO,

thanks for clarifying, I can see that as a possibility and could see it being at least be a contributing factor.

The fact it worked before the media was put in seems to be the hmmmm dinger.


brian

[rangebob]

I did another modification that I will be using on the remaining pipes. I placed a hole in the cap and placed a piece of air tubing in it and kept it at about 1" off the bottom of the bed and it is breaking now. The 4" does have cuts all the way down to the bottom of the bed and is about 1/4" apart from eachother and it is on 4 sides. The pipe isn't glued down it is just sitting there. I may try the stand pipe with horizontal slits on the next one first.

I had the same size stand pipe 2" with a 3/4" drain and I couldn't get that to sypon at all no matter what I tried.

I may try the same type of setup to see if I can get the 1st bed to start to drain. Right now it is a constant flood. The standpipe that I did on that one I did nice square cuts and made it look pretty and the second the sloppy look worked much better. I'll stay with the sloppy.

[Lordshandyman]

I just got my second growbed up and running and both beds quit syphoning. I had to switch back to the big pump that I had replaced in the beginning, as with only one bed, couldn't get the syphon to break (too much water flow) so I bought a smaller pump. But with two beds, the smaller pump just couldn't feed the water fast enough... Put the big pump back on, and bingo, both beds worked beautifully. Actually, the smaller pump would be just fine, except I plumbed my drains with 1 1/2" pipe, so it really needs the higher volume water flow. I might replace my stem pipe with 1" and see if I can go back to the smaller pump, as my system cycles a little more than I would like.

So for me:
No syphon, means not enough water flowing into bed,
No syphon break, too much water flowing into bed.

[keith_r]

Lordshandyman, you could just use the bigger pump, just divert some of the flow back into the ft, gives the benefit of adding aeration as well moving the water

[Bob Vento]

I have been using this quick and simple bell siphon flawlessly for over a year now. Thought I would share the video that inspired my use of this technique ...

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