Hello from Southern California

[Riverside]

Sorry, badflash, can't visualize it; any chance of a diagram?

[davidstcldfl]

In the (admittedly) rough sketch below

LOL Riverside....it looks pretty good next to mine. Ex-wife took my drafting board....tilapia are taking my money I was saving for 'cad'...
If I can draw it...I can build it. My building is better then my drawing. When I'm in the field ,doing construction work...we're happy if we can find a cardboard box to draw an idea on...


If I understood Badflash correctly.....the 'tee', outside the tank, establishes the height of the water 'in' the tank.

[Riverside]

thanks, davidstcldfl; now I really feel dumb; after I saw your illustration I remembered that just last week I found a design for a "box-less" overflow design:

As Homer would say, "D-oh!"

[badflash]

Yes, that should work but davidstcldfl is closer to what I build. It is hard to get started unless you have two people or a plug. What I do is have a hard pipe going down to the sump from the T. I put a cork in it at the lower end and fill the line with water through the stand pipe. Put a plug in the stand pipe and remove the plug from the sump end. This should start the siphon. Once that happens you can pull the plug out of the stand pipe and start letting water into the tank.

[Riverside]

I was wondering how you started it <g> I'm definitely going to try this, thanks to both of you.

[jackalope]

It's a no-holes siphon Clik and Clik with extensions and modifications from what I see

Welcome to the forum Riverside, Welcome aboard!!

[badflash]

I didn't use PVC cement in mine as I wanted to be able to take it apart to clean it. Today I discovered it wasn't a great idea, at least with not doing periodic checks on tightness.

I suspect that one of my big horonorum, probably 5 pounds, got rambunctious and slammed into the downcommer and broke it lose. The siphon lost its fill and the tank started overflowing. Fortunately I was puttering down the basement and saw the water on the floor, probably 20 gallons or so. If I wasn't there it would have been about 120 gallon before the pump lost suction. Just a word to the wise to periodically check all connections to be sure they are tight. I'd gotten away with it for 2 years before I got snagged.

[jackalope]

I didn't use PVC cement in mine as I wanted to be able to take it apart to clean it. Today I discovered it wasn't a great idea, at least with not doing periodic checks on tightness.

I suspect that one of my big horonorum, probably 5 pounds, got rambunctious and slammed into the downcommer and broke it lose. The siphon lost its fill and the tank started overflowing. Fortunately I was puttering down the basement and saw the water on the floor, probably 20 gallons or so. If I wasn't there it would have been about 120 gallon before the pump lost suction. Just a word to the wise to periodically check all connections to be sure they are tight. I'd gotten away with it for 2 years before I got snagged.

Nice time to be in the basement Talk about luck

[davidstcldfl]

Using threaded male and female adapters/fittings or unions might be worth a few extra dollars....cheap insurance. Especially when you have 5 pound monsters swimming around...

[Ambessa]

Hi Riverside;
I am in Sylmar, California. It is near LA. I just started building a small aquaponics, using 4" PVC pipes. I have a few question; I will be planting lettuce in the holes in the PVC pipe, but I do not know how big a hole should I make; and far apart should the holes be. Also I am having difficulty finding a hatchery or a place to buy tilapia and perch can you help me out?
Ambessa