How to Build a Floating Siphon in 30 Minutes or Less: Simple, Reliable Alternative to Bell Siphons
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- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2024
- Those of you who have been involved with Aquaponics or Hydroponics for a while, will know how temperamental the popular bell siphon can be.
The Bell Siphon is a siphon that has no moving parts and is used to automatically control the flood and drain cycles in media plant grow beds.
During the flood cycle roots of plants get hydrated and during the drain cycle, oxygen is sucked into the grow beds to oxygenate the roots.
To get a Bell Siphon to work reliable, one must finetune the inflow of water into the grow bed. Too much flow will get it to start but not stop, and too little flow will not start the bell siphon. Some modifications can help this problem.
However on very large grow beds over 2m long, a bell siphon will be unreliable and erratic.
The Floating Siphon solves the above mentioned issue. Irrespective of the inflow into the grow bed, a Floating Siphon will always go through the flood and drain cycles without missing a beat. Of course, the max inflow rate cannot exceed the max outflow capacity of the outlet pipe.
With some off the shelf materials from your hardware store, you can quickly build a floating siphon. This video gives you a step-by-step guide
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Best acquaponics video EVER.....this solves a big problem.Thank you!
Thank you for the positive feedback
Very clever device. Thanks for sharing. This is helpful for me
So simple and water flow is not an issue, nice very clever
Thank you for sharing. The demonstration at the end really helped understand the process.
This may help in my situation where a small or varying about of water from ram pumps are pumped to a tank at a higher elevation. Then with an undetermined amount of input water, which can be slow at times, we wish to release quite a bit of water to multiple sprinklers to water pasture.
Thanks.
Thanks for the feedback .That’s a very interesting setup you have going there with the Ram pump . Will be very interested to know if this works in your system
Thanks for your sharing
He is correct .. I had exactly the same issue .. when the flow was too slow from the sump (because of different water level) the bell syphon would not start consistently .. my solution was .. 3d print mini syphon to kick start the bigger one. If I had my time again I would replace both with 3d printed ones. I found the design and testing made it work with greater range of water flow. The smaller syphon will give a constant water pressure.
Are they your designs or on a STL website? Would love if you share. I wanted to design one using a glass jar as a bell so I could watch it drain because I'm a weirdo. But I never got around to it.
@@gutrali My designs.. In the same weird vein I guess. I also designed a swirl filter because I didn't think I could get what I wanted any other way, including threads for a tap at the bottom.
Awesome! I've seen so many aquaponics videos. Yours easily tops them all.
Thank you very much for your positive feedback. Much appreciated
Super idea. Thanks a lot for sharing.
The flexibility of the flex tube may vary over time (temperature, UV light...) resulting in a change of the water height in the growbed.
If you want to define the top waterlevel in the growbed exactly, a simple nylon string or twine attached to both the floater and the bottom or a heavy weight might do the job.
You are correct. In fact another viewer of our channel suggested something very similar to yours. A simple float stopper to keep the water level constant . Thank you
Maturnuwun - terimakasih - Thank you ; from Java Indonesia
Thank you!!!
Great idea. I feel that the afternoon I just spent assembling a growbed and bell siphon was a bit wasted now. Might use this for the next one.
Nothing ever wasted, you can put it down to good experience 😊 But yes for larger grow beds this is something to consider.
very interesting and well presented.
thank you for the positive feedback
Very neat.. many thanks for this new method of bell siphon... I have a question,... you mentioned about the water height of flooding depends on the length of the flexible tube... my question how about how to set the maximum/minimum water drain level height? thank you
The maximum will be set by the length of the flexible tube, so it may be some trial and error to get it to exactly where you want to, by reducing the length slightly each time. You could flex the tube upwards to its max to establish a proximate level. For the minimum level, it will always be the depth of your floating box (i.e, resting at the bottom during the drain phase).. So yes there will always be a layer of water at the bottom of the grow bed which is beneficial for the longer tap roots to stay hydrated
Excellent. Wanna try this on my system. Hope it'll work 😊
If you build similar to what we have shown on our video, no reason why it won't work 😄 Good luck !
0utstanding fool-proof idea, so very implicitly explained execution... thanx a ton
🎉 ingenious. You can also fill that PVC pipe counterweight with sand instead.
Yeah i wouldnt introduce lead t my system
@@aquillaethought the same about the lead
Hi,
Thanks for your work. Do the grow beds always need a bell siphon in sandponics?
No, you don't need a siphon with Sandponics.. Please refer to the "Part 2 Sandponics" video on our youtube channel to see how we made the outlet. Flood and drain cycle is controlled by a timer. Of Course, no reason why you could not use the solution on this video in a Sandponics bed if you don't have a timer.
Thank you :3
Will your Sandponics update be out soon?
Best syphoon ever.
I can see the operational advantages over bell siphons. However this would require some kind of a box like showed where the this floating siphon can freely operate either inside or outside the grow bed. So how did You incorporate this floating siphon with Your grow beds? THXs
Yes correct, you need something around the float siphon once installed in the grow bed to prevent the grow media from interfering with the operation of the float siphon. In our grow beds we have simply used a rigid plastic crate
I like this a lot. You can just create a physical barrier at the height you want it to stop at and not worry about the length of the pipe.
Thank you. Yes correct, much easier to add a physical barrier to stop the float at a certain water level, instead of trying to calculate the length of the flexi pipe
Inovasi baru 👍👍👍
So does your pump turn of at the same time of the drain cycle on a timer or does your pump constantly run?
Yes for the cycles to continue the pump needs to keep pumping water into the grow bed. You could potentially turn off the pump during the drain cycle to save electricity, but no way you could time it
Does a smaller box make a difference to speed of siphone? Thanks for this👍
Hi, the box is just a floating mechanism, so the size will not speed up the siphon. As soon as water enters into the box it will sink within a second or two.. To speed up the flood cycle you could increase the inflow of water into the grow bed, but then your drain cycle may be longer.
What an excellent and elegant way of overcoming bell siphon issues. I'm currently expanding my system from using 1m square growbeds to one 2.4m long one , around 900 litres in capacity. I am going to build an exterior siphon area, so this idea fits perfectly. Do you think it would work if I used a float stop (like the float tethered to the bottom)to regulate the height of the flood cycle, that might eliminate any problems with the flex of the pipe leading to the drain tube ? Thank you.
Hi Mikey, thank you for your positive feedback, much appreciated.. Wow, that idea of yours to use a float-stop so as not to rely on the flexi pipe extension is actually genius.. Cant see any reason why it wouldnt work. Very clever and so simple (why did I not think of that..LOL), will have to call it the Mikey mod :) Please do share your system when done as we've not yet built one mounted outside the grow bed. Thanks for that great tip.
Thanks@@MyAquaponics1 , I'll upload a video of the system when it's finished, fingers crossed for the end of the bell siphon !
Excellent, look forward to seeing it 👍
@@MyAquaponics1
The flexible portion doesnt need to be too long, it just needs to perform as a hinge. I used BSA motorcycle front fork gaitor/bellows for the hinge with rigid pipe on both sides.
@@atomizer2665 Hi Yes, it all depends on the type of hose you use, its rigidity, thickness, etc. You need to adjust length for your own needs. A very good idea we received the other day from @mikeybikey7201 in these comments is that you could also use a float-stop to more accurately control the max water level in your growbed. Good idea for you to use what you did, trust its all working well for you.. How big is your grow bed ?
It looks great in my case it would take too much space in the grow bed
You could mount it on the outside of your grow bed, but of course more work involved
Nice. Yes the bell siphon adjustment needs to be precise (for each bed, I have 4 beds) else all hell breaks loose...lol. I want to make this and test. My beds are currently operating without issues BUT I am not using a bell siphon...just a stand pipe for the water depth and then a 500ml coke bottle with cap on, cut to the correct height....works 100% all the time without assistance from me. I gave up on bell siphons. But I am always looking for another way. I actually want to make my 4 beds into 1 large bed so there would be less pipe work.
Thank you for your feedback and for sharing your story. I have seen the hack of using the bottles to emulate a bell siphon and they do work well as well. But yes, if you want to convert your 4 beds into one, the float siphon may be a more reliable solution.. Good Luck.
Like from ur Indonesian fela☺️☺️
I might have missed it in the video, so forgive me if I am a total idiot. This is a great system, but I assume you put this in a control module and not in the same area as the grow bed where the media is? i.e. how do you handle the media getting into the box and weighing it down? The Bell siphons are inconsistent or can be, but they are also in the grow bed. I LOVE the idea of having something that will work consistently. I saw the video segment where the siphon that was operational for 6 years was working, and it looked like it was in a control module instead of inside the bed itself (i.e. no media around it that I could see)....
hi Mark, so yes you can install it in the grow bed or outside of the grow bed. If in the grow bed then you have to have a media barrier frame all around it to prevent the media (i.e. stone or leca) from obstructing the operation of the float. We use a strong plastic crate. The crate allows water through, but prevents the media from getting into the float area. Hope that answers your question ?
This is ingenious
I'm having trouble sussing out why or how this thing would work unless it's not going to be surrounded by media holding it still 🤔
There are clips in the video showing the float siphon in operation during the flood and drain cycles. As I mentioned in the video, the float siphon would have to be housed in a rectangular container (i.e. plastic crate) within the plant grow beds so as to keep out the media such as LECA or rocks. Alternatively it could be built on a separate container mounted on the side of the plant grow bed. Hope that answers your question.
This is real cool. Will try it for sure. How about keeping it outside the grow bed(with a outlet pipe from the grow bed into this unit) so that the bed space can be utilizes to grow maximum plants. Will it work?
Thanks. I briefly mentioned that you can install it in a separate compartment on the outside of the grow bed if you do wish to save on planting space within the growbed. So yes , can be done. Good luck with your build
This is a brilliant build! One mod i can add is to control the water height by adding a string tied to the bottom of my kit (or rock for that matter). It can drain early if i make it short. Thank you for generously sharing this!
Thanks for the feedback.. Yes, others people have suggested similar advice to yours, a physical float stop. That could be as you suggested, or simply a wire or other physical barrier on top.
Sorry for being pedantic, but this is not truly a siphon, it’s just an automatic drain. TBH, siphons can be tricky to hold a vacuum, so this auto-drain design is far better NOT being a siphon
No problem.. Technically you are correct as a siphon by definition must work with a vacuum. For us, the naming of this solution was more as a comparison with the bell siphon, and potential alternative. Thanks for your feedback .
Forget bells or loops
FILM TIP: If it's going to be a "talking head" video, just let the head talk in front of a stable background. Don't try to spice it up with fancy green screen effects.
I had to stop watching this because the constantly moving background panning around the greenhouses gave me motion sickness.
thanks for the feedback, noted. From 6:17 onwards the green screen effect was removed.
@@MyAquaponics1 Unfortunately, I was already nauseated.
Concentrated on the head and info, never noticed any distractions....