Auto Syphon

[talking2u]

Murry could you tell me what an autosypone is?
Is it a pump? jan

[Murray]

Hi Talking2U,

I set up a temporary auto syphon just to show how simple they can be.
A piece of pipe is connected to the bottom or near bottom of the tank or grow bed you wish to syphon the water from in an automatic manner. It is then looped up toward the top of the tank with the top of the loop being at the maximum level you wish the water to rise to in the grow bed or tank.
It is important to have a good length of "tail" hanging below the bottom of the tank.
As the water fills the grow bed or tank the water in the tube slowly rises to the top of the loop until it eventually starts to drain over the loop and downward.
When sufficient flow is established as to exclude any air from being drawn into the pipe a syphon is established.
The water will be evacuated out of the tank until the water level reaches the level of the bottom outlet of the syphon pipe and air is sucked into the pipe from the grow bed or tank. The syphon will then be broken and the tank or grow bed will begin to fill again.
And so the process continues automatically.

One photo shows the water almost at the top of the clear tube. The next photo shows the syphon well established and water being removed from the tank to the fish tank below.

This simple system allows for the flood and drain process to be operated in a simple system with the use of one pump only to raise the water from the fish tank to the grow bed/s. The water is removed from the grow beds by the auto syphon, thus allowing the grow bed to flood and drain.

Some people have used this system very successfully in medium to large systems with multiple grow beds.

It is particularly suitable for people setting up a system where they have a sloping location. The fish tank at the bottom of the slope and the grow beds up the slope a suitable distance.

There are other variations to this theme that can be discussed later.

Muzza.

[ralath]

Would an auto syphon work for moving the water from the fish tank to the grow beds? The examples I have seen use auto syphons to move water from grow beds back to the tank. I am thinking of using auto syphons to replace the submersable pump that would be in the fish tank to move water to the grow beds then have a sump pump to return the water to the tank. Of course this is assuming that the fish tank is higher than the grow beds.... as will be the case in the system I am in the process of setting up. Let me know what you think about it.

[Murray]

Hi Ralath,
Yes it will work just as well from the fish tank to the grow beds. You would need some sort of screening on the submerged end of the inlet so as not to suck any of your smallish fish into the pipe. It would work just fine.

Murray