system expansion

[bill newton]

does the siphon have to flow straight into the fishtank - or can it flow from the growbed - down to ground level - across a walkway and up the side of the fishtank - entering the tank at the same height of the other growbed siphons? i've been finetuning all afternoon - cant get the siphon to work properly - its toooooo cold and dark now

siphon will not start if not enough flow
siphon will not stop if too much flow
:frustrated:

bil newton wamponics

[Murray]

Hi Bill, sorry that will not work too well, you may get to start but it will possibly never stop.

[MalcolmC]

as chainsaw says "one test is worth 1000 expert opinions". No offence intended Murray bow1

Murray: Bill: I have just been through this same exercise for the past week. I have the ST/FT sitting underneath one of the GB. I have three sets of GB I am setting up for AP. Two will be gravel filled pots (18 per GB) and the other floating raft experiment. I have two mega siphons setup to drain back to the ST/FT. The other simply drops overflow into the ST/FT.

It has taken me a week of experimenting to get the correct heights working. I'm 99% sure that I'm on the right track. Like Bill, it was too dark for me to conclude my experiment tonight; but it is working and did cut-off at the exact height I had set it for.

See photo ...

[orcy2010]

dropping to the ground and back up to a tank or sump is quite tricky.

I got mine working eventually, though the centre drain pipe in the syphon is much lower than the fill height, and the bell is very tall. this all helps build a lot of pressure which is needed to start the syphon. It also takes quite a lot of water flow.

good luck.

[bill newton]

i've decided to empty the growbed and move it as close as possible to the fishtank - then it'll be the same as the other beds - it was only because it looked nicer the other way - as soon as the sun gets a bit higher i'll start work - these bitter queensland winters kill me - ha ha

thanks for all your help

bill newton (ex pom - ex victorian)

[bill newton]

i've re positioned my new growbeds - they're now alongside the fishtank - (like murrays two originals) - the new growbeds are three half barrels interconnected with 1" irrigation tube - the siphon is in the middle barrel - the system wont work! -
siphon wont stop - i slow down the flow (ball valve)
siphon wont start - i open the v/v a bit
the 90 degree bend on the end of the siphon tube has been from horizontal to vertical
HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!

[Mantis]

I had trouble with a syphon in my blue barrel and ended up converting it to an Affnan syphon and it now works like a charm. Dont know if it was that the blue barrel had the longest return to the tank or what, but the affnan fixed it.

[chainsaw]

Sorry Bill been there done that, 25mm tube is too small to intercnnect the barrels. You will find that the centre barrel will empty alot quicker than other 2, syphon will stop then the water level will equalize.

I have 6 barrels inter connected using 50mm and a external syphon, no problems.

[bill newton]

i lay awake last night and decided that the 25mm tube was too small - i only used it because i've got miles of it lying around - so i can go back and modify everything
i should have realised that when i just had one barrel working - three mins to fill - 90 secs to mt!

thanks for the help mate

billdrinkanim

[bill newton]

i've just replaced all the 25mm hose with 50mm hose and fittings - put the system into operation - and sat over it for a couple of hours -had a fiddle and finally it stopped and started all by itself - so i'll leave it by itself overnight - if its still operating tomorrow i'll plant my veggies

thank you chainsaw - thank you linesmen -thank you ball boys!!!

cheers everyone - thanks for your help!!!

bill - wamponics

[bill newton]

new system working great -

original system is a 1000ltr fishtank and two growbeds from murray - the two growbeds take about 8 minutes to fill and two minutes to empty

stage two is three plastic barrel halves interconnected with 2" plastic pipe and one central siphon - it takes 11 minutes to fill and 5 minutes to empty

bill newton

wamponics

[Murray]

Good to hear you have it all working Bill.