Stepped Autosiphon System

veggie boy

I think you are probably right Steve - but I have some other thoughts that I need to nut out that may help the situation (or not).

Dave Donley

VB you're thinking of "staggered" siphons?

Neat setup Simmo!

simmo_77

I've made some more changes yet again, been a long day today but I always go to sleep happy when I've been tinkering with aqua... Will upload some photos tomorrow, but basically I have added 1 50L growbed and another 140L tank, so the water level in the tanks shouldn't fluctuate as wildly now when the system is running, at the moment the tank gets as low as half full when the blue tank hasn't yet achieved a siphon. Still using the one pump to run them too.

simmo_77

OK, so here is the final config before I start adding gravel.

Nothing earth-shattering really, added another raised 140L tank (which siphons to the bottom tank) and the white growbed and now each growbed drains to its own tank.

The next thing I am going to try to ponder is some means of having the pump deliver water to each growbed in turn, this would facilitate a "staggered" siphon action from each of the growbeds.

I'm sure something could be designed to work similar to the action of a garden sprinkler, whereby the force of the water spins the outlet, this would simply need to be contained in a housing which directed water to multiple outlets depending on the position of the spinning internal outlet.

simmo_77

Ahhh, but thinking about that the water would still be distributed evenly and therefore the siphons will start roughly the same time anyway.

How about some sort of device that is triggered by the siphon starting that switches the pump flow to the next outlet???

steve

yeh, but then you're talking about mechanical devices that defeat the inherent "fail-safeness" of the auto siphon.

I reckon just go with the cascade apporoach, each one siphoning into a slighlty lower tub. Completely stuff up proof.

simmo_77

I concur... last update for a while while the system cycles - this beast has changed somewhat since it's inception, and this post could probably find a better home in the systems forum after all as I am going to leave it running as a test system for growing Australian natives (one of my other passions).

Anyway, a couple of hours spent washing gravel (the hard way, didn't have time to set up my washing machine tub yet) and getting the rest of the plumbing sorted and the system is looking OK. Lids on the plastic tanks will help keep stuff out of (and in) the system. The white tub has 6 small aquarium/pond plants that have been in the pond, so they should have a nice colony of bacteria to get the system kicking.

I only did 1 complete water change and washed the rocks in situ, so I wasted very little water setting it up. I think this confirms that you can wash with dirty water, but to a point. I suspect there is a decent layer of sediment at the bottom of the tubs, but we'll see if it actually causes problems in the long run. This is an experimental system after all.

This system is now in total - just over 300L of tanks and around 150L of growbeds, and only took me 2 days to put together, granted I did have most of the stuff lying around.

Any suggestions as to what I should stock it with fish wise? I'm a little bored with goldies and yabbies to be truthful. I also have another 2 x 220L tanks in my other system that I need to populate as well. I could try to find some smallish fancier goldies perhaps like Orandas etc. What do you guys reckon?

earthbound

Nice one Simmo...... Have you ever been to 'Vebas' http://www.vebas.com.au/

They have all sorts of fish there, some are a little pricey but if you want something different to goldies they have murray cod, silver perch, black bream etc... Generally in stock.... As I said, a little pricey but if you only want a couple you have to expect that...

simmo_77

I have, and saw a few different things there that looked cool. What about the size of the tanks though, is it big enough for that sort of thing...? I don't mind spending a few bucks on cod, perch, or bream, would they be happy in such a setup, or my larger 220L tubs? How many of each do you think? Cheers...

Daniel

Nice setup, will it be running ornamental australian natives? or the edible kind?

johnnie7au

Simmo ...

I think you have a great idea for my classroom ... I feel it could polish up the water in the tank I have recently installed in my classroom 100 percent ...

My tiny system works most of the time .. but then it sort of "sticks"...

I am looking for something that is 100 pecent ... (I get that with bg systems).

simmo_77

Got some serious pea soupage happening in this system now, lots of snot-like algae hanging off the side of the yabbie tank, the system is about three quarters of the way through its nitrogen cycle IMO.

Ammonia is just registering above 0, Nitrites are between 0.25 and.5 and I'm starting to see some colour in the Nitrates test, still very little, but registering.

PH was up again though, almost as high as 8, so I must have been a little too generous with the shell grit. Did a 25% water change and will do the same tomorrow afternoon and test again.

steve

simmo, shell grit in itself shouldn't swing it tooo high (read the new info on KH in the info section) due to the reversible reaction that takes place. bi-carb is a different story. (might be wrong though)

It may be due to the algae night / day cycle. Worst possible think you can do is dose with up and down to compensate for this. Sounds plausible due to you extreme algae. test your water (very)early morning and again late afternoon / evening. if there is a big difference then this confirms it.

johnnie7au

Go Simmo!

easyihzy

hi,
i'm a noob to this forum, just would like to know more info before starting my own AP projects. I hope you can clarify me on some question regarding your system.
1.How high does the black pipe for the siphon need to go in your tubs?
2.Does the water level in your grow bed reaches to the top of the gravel / how do you adjust the water level before your siphon action start?

Can you show a photo of the top down view of the siphon as I'm eager to see where does the black pipe lies inside the drain pipe. thanks.

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