My system i will make it soon

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This system depends on the withdrawal of water from the fish tank to the top using RAM PMP then power gravity return water to the fish tank and so on

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Raising crayfish in Aquaponics

     My experience with using crawfish (or cray fish depending where your from) has mixed feelings.
Now I dont for some reason have any pictures of my set up but let me explain my pros and cons about raising Crawfish.

I was doing an experimental set up with a flood and drain system with a small deep well attached.

 not wanting to use any fish because of the cooler temps in NW Arkansas that time of year I decided on local creek cawfish. First lets just note that when catching these quick lil buggers it would help if you had a net. But caught about 20 small to medium crawfish and also a few tadpoles (different story) and one of those bottom sucker fish, and also 3 snails.
  
    I placed all in a small styrofoam cooler without a lid and placed them in the back seat of the truck. That was mistake number one, when I got home, half of the crawfish had escaped and were all over the truck. Took about an hour to find them.

   My patio is inclosed with a pool dug into the ground. I built everything the same level an currently pouring concrete around the pool.  Everything is closed in.

    Now to the point. Once placing the crawfish in the aquaponics. I built a wire box from old chicken wire so that they can climb on and also cut some pvc to place on the bottom for privacy.

   The next day, I discovered 2 crawfish in my pool, now remeber it is cool out, so off I go with snorkle gear and catch the 2 and place them back in the 75 gallon tank.
I thought well that was odd couldnt really see how they could climb out.
Next day same thing, but 4 this time. back with the snorkel gear to chase the crawfish down.

    So I watched them for a while noticed that when the water drains from the grow bed and the water table rises that its only 3 inches from the top, so I took out a few gallons until it was 6 inches thinking maybe that would do.

   Next morning nothing was in the pool, I was happy, until the next morning, 3 more were in the pool and was on its way. starting to almost enjoy the cold water swim now, but not quite.

    I realized then that they were climbing up the folded part of the liner. after a month of all this and modifications I gave up and brought them back to the creek, it was time to use my pool and didnt need them in it.

    But to the good part of it all. The natural habitat worked very well. I even dipped up duck weed from a local pond. The water stayed clear and I fed the crawfish fish pellets and they really loved the sweet feed that I still had from when I had a pig. I enjoyed having them and watching the lil habitat work. The plants seem to well too, the basil grew tall and had some cabbage taking off.
I think I would like to do this again but with a tank that has slick sides.
   The nutriets from the habitat looked to be balanced even though I never took any test.

So if you see a few crawfish in the creek and have a container that will hold them, do grab some, very beneficial, But if you have a pool close by and they can escape, well its best to just leave them where they are, lol

Oh! and about the tad poles, well they do grow! and it is so awesome to watch them get their legs and

see them change their heads and then next you see them sitting on the side of the tank and jumping, and then..... well then you see them under your lawn furniture are taking a dip in your pool. So maybe not the best idea, but it was fun.

If you have had any experience of raising craw-fish in aquaponics, please leave a comment, I would like to know how to do it without sharing my swimming pool.

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How I washed My IBC tote for Aquaponics

   I had washed my tote out the first time, but it was quick wash and rince but no hot water.
I work a lot and didnt take the time. That was a very big mistake. There seem to be a reidue left I think because I had a smell to it and my water stayed cloudy.   It is important to use hot water. I now use a  propane cooker to boil water .
   Also I did not know what was in the tote previously. Just because someone says its food grade doesnt mean they know for sure. Lets just say it did not smell like apple sauce. lol.
   HArd lessons learned are always the best lesssons.
   I now have other fish tanks and raft systems made from these totes. Washed them VERY well.



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30 August 2011

Heres a picture of grow bed #1 today.  Peas are back against the little fence, lettuce is in the middle (tiny plants), and bush beans are in the foreground.

I just ordered trout feed - would you believe theres such thing as Purina Game Fish Chow?  LOL!!!  Thats actually not what I ordered, but I thought it was funny.  I ordered BioTrout from a nice man named Walter at Bio-Oregon.  BioTrout contains more protein. 

Im hoping to add fish in a week or two.  My ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are all good, and the water temperature has finally gone down a little.  According to what Ive read, trout dont like water to be over 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and last week when our outdoor temperatures were getting high, so was the temperature of the water.  The water got up to 68 degrees, but I was afraid it would keep getting hotter, so I didnt want to introduce baby fish to a hot tub.  Unlike some parts of the country, though, I think the danger of an extended heat wave is pretty much over in Colorado Springs, so it should be safe to get the fish.  If trout prefer cold water, just wait a few weeks, they will love it here! Now I just need to wait for the feed to arrive and figure out how to get up to Fort Collins during the fish places business hours. 

I was hoping to get brook trout since I think they would be more content to hang out in a pool of water, but the fish place only has rainbow.  Besides, I was going to name them Brookie 1, Brookie 2, etc....Now I have to think of new names.  Rainbowie 1?  That just doesnt have the same ring to it.  Silvery 1 through Silvery 40?  ;-)

Whatever, they will all taste good on my plate next year.

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Step by step how I did my Aquaponics

   So I have been reading articles and watching videos, and I just couldnt take it anymore. I had to build my own Aquaponics! As for everyone, money is tight so I built it about as cheap as I could and I can upgrade as I go. I will Be building a C.H.O.P. System (Constant Height, One Pump)

First I had an old falling down building that I took apart and used what wood I could salvage to build a table. I built it 3 feet deep and 4 feet wide by 3 feet tall. I built it that tall because I wanted to be able to have easy access to the fish, and I measured the 100 gallon stock tank that I want in the future and it was 2 feet.

At Lowes I purchased a plastic mixing tray that is used for mixing concrete and mortar. They have two sizes. Small for $7 and the large for $14.00 I went with the large and I will need another one in the near future.

Then I stopped by one of the box stores and found a deep 30 gallon tote for my fish, and since it wasnt very big, and I wanted constant water level in my fish tank, I also bought a small tote for what I call a nutrients tank.  The large tote cost me $7 and the small one cost $4. I think you could could get away with just one large tote, but I felt it was safer to not pump water out of my fish tank just in case something happened and it wouldnt just continue to pump all the water out to leave my fish with some serious breathing problems.

So here we go, this what I did.

First I drilled a 1 inch hole near one end of the mixing tray.


I then wrap Teflon tape around the male end of a 3/4 slip coupling. then I place a rubber bushing over that. You can get a pack of bushings and washers from any hardware store. Its like $2.  I place the threaded end from the bottom through the hole in the tray. Then I put another rubber bushing on the threads and screw on the female slip coupling.


 I use teflon tape because I tried to just screw the couplings together and the friction just locked them together and I couldnt screw them together all the way, and I couldnt even get them apart.
So now you have the tray with a slip coupling on the bottom and the top of the tray.

Next I measure over to the hole on the bottom of the tray taking in account of the slight slope from the top and applying that measurement to my table. I use a 1 & 3/8" paddle bit to cut the hole so that I have plenty of clearance for the 3/4 pvc.

Here I  place about a 4 inch piece of 3/4 pvc pipe in the coupling on the bottom and then place the tray over the hole. That leaves me with a couple inches of pipe sticking out under my table.

Then I place a elbow on the bottom of that pipe. then a 3 inch piece of pipe and then another elbow which now will have a 12 inch pipe placed into that pipe facing down towards the floor.

Now the stem for the siphon. I use a 6 inch pipe and then I slip that into a 1 inch to 3/4 reducer coupling. then the whole stem is placed in the coupling that is in the bottom of the tray.

For the bell for the siphon (the piece that goes over the siphon stem) I choose to use a 2 inch pipe and cap. At the bottom, I drill several holes to about 1and a half inches up the bottom. This will allow water into the siphon stem, but as the water drops it will automatically stop the siphon once it reaches these holes.

Then the siphon guard as I call it will be a 4 inch in diameter pvc pipe cut the same as the bell siphon which in this case will be about 9 inches. I then drill half inch holes through out the bottom half of the pipe to allow the water to pass through but to not let our medium to get in the way of our siphon maintenance.

The fish tanks is next. I come down about 3 to 4 inches and drill 2 holes that are 1 inch.
This allows the water level to stay close to that level. You can use bigger pipe if you like but I just wanted to use the same pipe that I already had. I then use a 3/4 inch thread on one end and a half inch nipple on the other end. I place a rubber bushing around the 3/4 end, stick it through the wall of the tote and then another rubber bushing and then a 3/4 female threaded coupling with a slip end on the other side. Once you thread the couplings together the rubber bushings should not allow water to leak, but you may have to use a wrench to slightly tight them more. Then the slip a five inch long hose onto the nipple. Do all this for both holes in the fish tank

Now I take my smaller tote and mark where the holes should be so that the hoses line up and drill 1 inch holes into that tote. Now I slip the hoses through the small tote and that will allow the water as it rises in the fish tank to over flow into the nutrients tank.

I do want to make a small note. If I was to do it over again, I would just lift the fish tote a little higher off the ground and change out the hoses to just regular pvc that lets the water fall into the nutrients tank. This would save on having different fittings and hoses.

Now I cut a 3 inch pipe to place inside coupling in the fish tank, and add a elbow to that, then I add a 12 inch piece of pipe followed by a 45 degree elbow that should now be resting on the bottom. This will work as a suction as the water level comes up and it overflows to the nutrients tank it sucks the trash off the bottom, now keeping the fish tank clean. Which I think is pretty cool. Anything to keep the maintenance down. Do this for both holes in the fish tank.

The pump I use is just a simple submersible fountain pump that you can find at Harbor Freight or Big garden centers. The one I found was actually from lowes that was on clearance when the season started to get cold. I use a half inch hose to connect the pump to a half inch pvc that then goes to my bedding trays. You can skip that step and just run the length of hose strait to the bedding tray if you like. But since I plan on putting valves to control the flow later, I chose PVC.

I am using Lava rock for the first base and then will add expanded clay to the last 3 inches of my bedding trays. I could have went to the creek and got some  creek pebbles, but It was just easier to go to the garden center.

The system was then filled with water and ran for a couple days to make sure the chlorine was out and it was going to work ok before I placed the fish. For testing purposes and it was also going into winter I decided to go with local fish to start and then change them out to Tilapia come spring. You can read how to properly cycle your fish here on the blog if you are wanting to do it correctly.

The fish I chose were simple perch, and one crappie just happened to get caught so its in the tank too.

I feed them worms and crickets twice a day, they are very active.

This will I think pacify me for now until I can build bigger. I have so many plans for the system I sometimes lose sleep.  Buts thats what makes it nice. There is no wrong way to do it, just a better and more efficient way in doing it.

Please like share and subscribe to my blog and You-Tube Channel.

Any Question on what I did, feel free to ask.


I will add a video and some more pics soon.

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Aquaponics In a recycled Ice cooler

Here is just something I decided I had to do when the compressor shut down and was told that it was going to cost $300 to fix it!

 

After the snow and -2 degrees

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Fishy mis Adventures Part I The Feast

WARNING - some of this might be a little graphic for the PETA set.  Or for squeamish people (like me) who prefer to buy their meat already dead and wrapped in cellophane.
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After watching what appeared to be a few rather large fish swimming around in the tank for the past couple of months, we decided to take a few out for dinner.  The water is still too dark to see the fish very well, so we werent sure if they were really that big, or if it was a trick of the light, but what could it hurt, right?

So, on January 3, my son and I pulled a few out with a net, but they were way too small, so we put them back.  We did this a couple of times, until we finally came out with a few that were smallish eating size.  Not wanting to allow my fish to suffer by letting them die of suffocation, we put them in a bucket of water and took them upstairs.  I had done a few searches on how to "humanely" kill a fish, and the most popular way I found was using something that stabs them between the eyes, stabs their brains, and supposedly instantly kills them.  I didnt trust my skill at getting just the right spot through the skull, so I decided I would try the next best thing (IMO)...chop off the heads.  I knew killing the fish would be the least pleasant part of the entire aquaponics process, but its got to be done. 

The Six Fish We Decided to Eat

First of all, this method turned out to be very messy.  In hindsight, this should have been very obvious.  Usually, by the time a person cleans a fish, it has been dead for at least a few minutes, so the blood circulation has stopped.  Chopping the head off a live fish - blood spurts everywhere, all over my kitchen counters and all over us.  So, first lesson - dont chop the heads off of live fish.

Fish out of Water

Yuck

Ready for the Grill...or so We Thought

Next, just like the proverbial chicken running around with its head cut off, the trouts nervous systems are still active, even after they are dead.  Flopping around, gills moving.  Ricky even found a little tiny fish heart that was still beating several minutes after the fishs death.  Gross.

Thinking the drama is over, we put the beheaded and cleaned fish on a cedar plank to be grilled.  Apparently, the nervous system was still active for longer than we thought, because when my husband went out to the grill to check the fish, a couple of the headless fish had "jumped" off the plank and onto the grill.  Weird.

Well, either way, dinner was good.  Fish, rice, corn, and naan.  I was so excited to taste the fish that I almost forgot to take the picture.  So, here is the half-eaten, grill-jumping fish.  Yum. 

Trout Dinner

Stay tuned for Fishy (mis)Adventure Part II - Trout Rapture....

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How to adjust pH in aquaponics systems

Here is a great video on how to adjust your aquaponic system naturally. I have been scared of the ph, this makes it easy to understand and can be done naturally without chemicals.

Please watch this video and go over to Grow Dinner Aquaponics channel and subscribe to his channel.

 

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God willing we are planning for

God willing, we are planning for Fish Tank 40000 liters in the first stage .. followed by Fish Tank 40000 liters a second stage...Any queries i am Ready

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Aquaponics Guides Growbed Advice

Types of Growing areas used

Aquaponics systems use several common components and the growbed (the hydroponic part of the system) is obviously one of the most crucial. The choice of growbed is also much debated, with newcomers to aquaponics often wondering what they can use, repurpose, build, scavenge or buy for use in their backyard aquaponics systems. Before looking at some of these choices we should note that there are three main types of growing systems that are usually used:

• DWC or Deep Water Channels, which are long, deep troughs that hold floating rafts

• NFT channels (Nutrient Film Technique) which are usually found in hydroponics setups.

• The final type is the media filled growbed, and this is the type that we will concentrate on in this article.

Types of Filtration

An aquaponics media filled growbed is simply a suitable container that is filled with a growing media such as gravel, hydroton or lava rock, and is the most commonly used type of growbed as it neatly performs four separate functions in an aquaponics setup. Firstly and most obviously it provides support for the plants up and provides somewhere for the roots to take hold. In addition to this, the media provides three separate filtering functions:

• Mechanical Filtration - the media helps to filter the solid waste in the water and to trap it in the bottom of the growbed.

• Mineralization - this is the process whereby the solid waste breaks down and is returned to the water so that the plants can use it.

• Biological filtration - the media provides extensive surface area for the beneficial bacteria to colonise.

As the media filled growbed performs all of these functions in one single place, it is one of the easiest, most space-efficient and also one of the most cost-effective ways to set up a new system. This is of particular concern to newcomers to aquaponics who may not feel comfortable with more complicated filtration systems, or who want the most hassle-free way to start supplementing their diets with fresh, nutritious produce grown via aquaponics.

So what can you use for a growbed?

The short answer is almost anything, but there are a number of things you should take into consideration, including whether your growbed will be located inside or outside. It goes without saying that the growbed needs to be waterproof, but you need to make absolutely certain of this.

It also needs to be strong enough to hold the media and the water - depending on the size of the growbed this could equate to a fairly significant amount of pressure... an important consideration if you decide to make a growbed yourself.

Any watertight, food-safe, fish-safe container can be used, and depending on the size of your whole aquaponics system that will leave you with several choices.

•Small systems can use food containers, plastic containers from the DIY store or IKEA, wooden boxes with a suitable liner - almost anything that will fit the size of your fish tank.

•Medium sized systems can use cut up IBC totes, Rubbermaid-type water troughs, animal feed troughs, concrete mixing troughs and similar things.

•Larger sized systems can use multiple units from above, hand built and lined wooden growbeds, and of course, commercially available aquaponics growbeds.

Aquaponics Growbed Materials

A growbed can be made out of a wide variety of materials but care should be taken to make sure it fulfills certain criteria. A growbed should be safe to use first and foremost, and should be made of a materials that will not leak unwanted chemicals into the water, or that will affect the pH of the water.

A growbed should ideally be made of a material that blocks out the sun, as direct sunlight can promote algae growth and can be detrimental to plant roots. If the growbed is being used outside then it will also need to be UV stabilized to ensure that it will not degrade in the sunlight and leach chemicals into the system.

Commonly used materials would be certain plastics, wood, fiberglass and anything with suitable waterproof liners. Concrete can also be used but care needs to be taken to seal the concrete first as concrete can affect negatively affect the water chemistry of your system.

Growbed depth and Size

An aquaponic growbed needs to be the right size to fit your fish tank volume. It needs to be able to provide adequate mechanical filtration and biological filtration for the nutrient-rich water, and so you should always consider the growbed and the fish tank together and use appropriately corresponding sizes.

A common rule of thumb is to use a 1-1 ratio. The growbed volume should be equal to the fish tank volume. This is by no means a hard-and-fast rule but serves as an outline guide.

The plants in your system are also part of your filtration process and so you must ensure that you have adequate surface growing area relative to the same of your fish tank. As a rule of thumb, if 1000 litres of water needs approximately 1 meter cubed of growbed media volume for filtration, then if your growbed is 25cms deep you will need a surface area of approximately 1m x 4m to ensure that there is approximately 1 meter cubed of media volume.

•The surface layer (5cms) - this is above the waterline and should not be wet - this reduces loss of water through evaporation.

•The root layer (20cms) - this is where your roots will be growing and where most plant activity will take place. This is layer is normally regularly flooded and drained.

• The solids layer (5cms) - this is where the solid waste will collect in your system and which will usually be constantly flooded with water.

From these layers we can work out a kind of ideal depth of 30cms or 12 inches. Whilst this depth has been proven to be highly effective it is by no means then only depth that can be used. Aquaponics systems have been shown to work equally well with growbed depths of as little as 10cms or so - but care needs to be taken to always ensure that you have sufficient volume to provide adequate filtration for your system.

...and finally...

At the end of the day, dont feel that you have to use a specific size and type of growbed. As long as it is safe, strong and appropriately sized for the system that you are building, then it will be worth trying out.

If you can build a growbed that is 30cms deep then you can be confident that this is a tried-and-tested depth that has been proven to provide very effective results - but you can also rest assured that a shallower or deeper growbed is also likely to give you good results.

Keep in mind that of the four functions that a growbed traditionally performs, three of those are related to filtration, and so your main consideration when choosing a growbed size, is to ensure that it is able to provide adequate filtration for your own aquaponics system, including adequate planting area.

Dont be afraid to be creative - as long as you can follow the guidelines noted above, then try anything that you have to hand - or anything that you think would look great. Put safety first and you cant really go too far wrong

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Cataponics

Since my cats are so fascinated with the fish in the big tank, I decided to make them their own aquaponics setup - aka "cataponics."  It will have a little fish tank with fish for them to watch and a "grow bed" containing cat grass for them to eat.  Technically, its not really an aquaponics system yet, since the the tank and grow bed are not connected.  The little "water pump" that came with the tank is more of a glorified air pump, so its not strong enough to get the water up to the grow bed.  Ive got a few ideas on how to make it work, but I will probably get my husband involved since hes pretty smart about those things and always seems to see the most obvious solutions that I wrack my brain trying to figure out.

Fish Tank (No Fish Yet)

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Nosy Cat 1

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Nosy Cat 2 - Cat Grass Seeds on Grow Media (Fish Filter)

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Decorative Rocks Cover Seed Might Keep Cats from Pulling the Entire Thing Out When They Eat the Grass

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Daddies and Daughters and Why I Love Trout

During the little crisis I described in my previous post, while I was scrambling around the bed of the truck, trying to grab the slimy, floppy fish, I noticed their beautiful markings. It made me think about how I have always had a fascination with trout. Its nice to catch a catfish, bass, or whatever, but I love catching and eating trout! Fresh trout fried in butter....yummmm.

I started to reflect on why I always have a specific craving for trout fried in butter, and I thought of my first memory of eating trout prepared this way...

One Friday evening, when I was about seven, my dad was in the living room, setting up his tackle box. I asked him where he was going, and he said he was going to the Kern River to go fishing. Of course, being seven, my automatic reply (which would have been the same whether he was going to store, going to the park, or going to the dump), was, "Can I go?????!!!!" I assumed the answer would be no, but it was my seven-year-old duty to ask. He looked at me and said, "Get your fishing pole and sleeping bag. Im leaving at 4 in the morning, so youd better be ready." After the shock wore off, I ran out to the garage and got my fishing pole and sleeping bag. The next morning, we left bright and early (actually, I guess it was dark and early) at 4am, with two fishing poles, two sleeping bags, a tackle box, a skillet, and an ice chest with beer, RC cola, and a stick of butter.

I dont actually remember the next part, but my dad has told it so many times, it seems like I remember it. The first day we were there, we each caught our limit pretty early (the limit was ten fish each). There were a couple of young guys camping next to us, and my dad started talking to them. They hadnt caught anything all day (or maybe they had only caught one fish each, I dont remember). They saw the long string of fish my dad was cleaning and asked how many days we had been there. He told them that we had just gotten there that morning, and we had each caught our limits by lunch time. They looked at him and said, "The little girl, too???" He said, "Yep!" Then he invited them to eat with us, since there was no way the two of us could eat twenty fish. He fried up the fish in butter, and it was one of the best meals of my life! I have never been able to duplicate the flavor of that fresh trout fried in butter at a campground at the Kern River....or, at least my memory of it.  Actually, it probably wasnt butter, it was probably Blue Bonnet margarine.  :-)

But I dont think the butter was the secret ingredient. I think the secret ingredient was the special attention I received by spending the entire weekend with just my dad, and the pride I heard in his voice when he told those guys that his little girl caught her limit that day. I do still remember sleeping in the back of the truck, looking up at the stars and listening to the sound of the river that night.

That is one of my best memories of growing up. A year or two later, my dad took my younger sister deep-sea fishing. I dont want to discount all of the time and energy my mom put into raising us, and the special times weve had with her. But I think for a little girl to spend a weekend, a day, or even an afternoon with just her dad...its a really great experience and I think it does a lot for her self esteem. So, for any of you dads who have little girls, I encourage you to find some time to spend alone with your daughter, doing something that is special to the two of you. Im sure it will be a memory that she will always cherish.

Hmmm...I wonder if my sister has a special love of barracuda???  ;-)

There are no pictures of that trip (a camera was not in the list of necessities on that trip), but here are some fish-related pictures from my childhood.

I was about three here - "helping" my dad clean his fish

My mom, my sister and me in the mountains near Bishop, CA

Fishing with my sister

This ones not really from my childhood, but I like the picture.

My helper "cleaning" the brown trout I caught on the Arkansas River

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Water Circulation

In this post, I will document the specific configuration of the pump and drain system.

Pumping water - Here is a picture of the submersible pump Im using.  We werent sure how to connect it, so I tried to take a close enough picture that you can see how its connected.  We used a small section of old garden hose and zip ties to connect to the little tube that comes out of the pump.  At the top of the section of garden hose is a standard garden hose attachment.  I didnt want metal in the tank, so I bought a male hose end at Walmart for about $2 and attached it to the hose section.  Its probably more difficult to find this piece in the winter, but you might be able to find one online or at Home Depot or Lowes.  There is a female adapter attached to the PVC pipe that allows the hose to be connected to the pipe.  We purposely chose to have the little section of hose so there would be some play if we needed to move the pump once it was all hooked up.

Here you can see the pipe coming up from the tank and splitting off to each of the grow beds.  The pipe coming up from the tank is 3/4 inch that splits into two 1/2 sections going into the grow bed.  Theres a 3/4-inch-to-2x1/2-inch tee at the top of the 3/4-inch pipe.  On each side of the tee, I cut a small section of 1/2-inch pipe to connect to one end of the valve.  Another section of 1/2-inch pipe on the other side extends over the bed, then an elbow is attached to that section and another section of 1/2-inch pipe goes down into the media in the grow bed.  The extra section going into the bed goes a couple of inches into the gravel in order to prevent splashing.

Draining - The water is drained from the grow beds back into the tank using a bell syphon.  We followed the instructions in a paper entitled "Construction of Automatic Bell Siphons for Backyard Aquaponic Systems," written at the University of Hawaii.  This is an excellent step-by-step document that includes detailed pictures at each step.

               

The picture on the left is the stand pipe, as described in the University of Hawaii paper.  Note the Uniseal fitting at the bottom of the pond.  This is what seals the pipe and the pond so there is no leakage.  I had a hard time finding this part without having to pay quadruple the cost of the fitting to ship it.  However, I found this great online store that not only charged a reasonable price for shipping, but they even had a useful video clip showing how to use the fitting.  Bulk Reef Supply sold me the fitting for under $2, and I think shipping for three fittings was under $3.  Heres a link to the fitting I purchased, but you might need a different size.  Check out the video, though, its pretty cool.  The picture in the center is the bell syphon, and the picture on the right shows the syphon in the grow bed with the larger pipe (gravel guard) around it.  I also added a piece of screen on top to keep unwanted material or bugs from falling or flying in.

Drain pipe

The picutre above is the drain pipe that comes out of the bottom of the grow bed.  Note the section of pipe that extends from the lower elbow.  Adding a section of pipe, instead of just leaving the elbow by iteself, will reduce the amount of splashing. 

I also added a little home made filter to the drain pipe for the first few days, just to try and eliminate any particles that might have made it into the pipe.  I dont want anything being sucked into the water pump and clogging it.  I actually did have a coupe of pieces of gravel get into it (I think they got sucked in when I shut it off one time) and jam the pump blade.  Luckily, I noticed it and shut it off before the motor burned out.

FIlter

Filter

 The pictures above show the filter I made.  I just got some filter material and filter carbon from the fish section at PetSmart, put them in the bottom of a planter, and hung it under the drain pipe for a few days.


Timing - A lot of people write that when using a bell syphon configuration, they leave their pump on 24x7.  That was my plan, but after listening to my husband gripe about paying 35 cents a day to run it, I decided to put mine on a timer.  Also, I think using a timer will prevent possible overflow if the drain gets plugged up or something else unexpected happens.  We got a $6 timer that can be "programmed" in half-hour increments.  Its not one of the digital programmable timers, but it was cheap, and there isnt a limit on how many events you can program.  Well, other than the 48 half hours available in a day.
Also, dont forget to use GFCI connections for anything near your tank!!!!  I replaced the old outlet that I was going to use for the water pump and air pump with a GFCI outlet that doesnt require any changes at the circuit breaker box.  If you dont feel comfortable doing this, you can buy a plug like this one that plugs into your existing wall outlet and makes it GFCI compliant.  This is cheap safety for you and your family and pets!!!

Lessons learned - First, as I mentioned, I think the pump I purchased was too powerful.  Thats OK, since Im using the valves to control the flow, but I wonder if that will eventually put too much strain on the pump.  Guess Ill find out. 
Second, I should have used larger pipes for the drain pipes, stand pipes and bell syphons.  When I dont control the flow from the pump, the tubs fill up more quickly than the pipes can drain.  This means the syphon never breaks and it could lead to potential overflow in the grow beds.

Thats it for this installment.  I hope some of these tips help you in the planning and construction of your system!

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