Dan's System From Texas

Some pictures of my system construction, in Texas!


Hi Affnan


I have attached some pictures I took while building my growbeds stand and the beginnings of my (your) "Bell-Siphon". The design works very well, but it is very difficult to obtain the parts and pieces to construct it properly. A 3" PVC cap will not fit inside of a 4" PVC pipe without some modification.(alot of sanding!), Bulkhead fittings and 1 1/2" to 3/4" reducers are hard to find in a small town! (I got them through http://www.pvcfittings.com)



Grow media is medium river rocks, but I plan to get some Hydroton next time I go in to Dallas



Thanks again for the help!, you have a Great Blog/site!


Dan

6 comments:

  1. Thanks Dan for your post.

    I do agree the parts are not common in US. Your half barrel looks great, I am reluctant to take that path due severe limitation on my backyard.

    Affnan

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  2. On the strainer (outer pipe) I use pipe for sewage not for water due their size is able to take the 3" PVC cap in.

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  3. Thanks Affnan! If(when)I expand my growbeds in the future, I will look into getting ABS pipe for the strainer.(instead of PVC)
    The 55 gallon barrels were very inexpensive for me so they were the best choice. I also use them for Rain Harvesting! -Dan

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  4. Dan: I am in US as well and agree is rather difficult to obtain the part that Affnan suggest. Instead of PVC reducer I use plastic bottle for the bed and it work well. The only problem I have is the siphon won't break so I need a timer to stop the siphon.

    Affnan: Is it the pump I use is too strong the siphon won't stop?

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  5. @FeiFei, without knowledge of your pump it would be a guessing game for me. Siphon will not break usually cause by too much water flowing in. So in this case yes it's because the pump is too strong for the siphon. However there is also a possibility of low water flow siphon can't break.

    I know its doesn't make sense, this is the dark side of any siphon. You can try restricting water flow first.. but if the water flowing in is already too lo then this is where you need to do the opposite.

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  6. Dan, I am in far North Dallas. Both of the big PVC manufacturers are here in Dallas (Spears & Nibco).

    Affnan's fitting are not readily available at Home Depot, but the plumbing supply houses or Stuart Hose (Who I use) can get them fast.

    Another thing about Stuart, their pvc fittings are half the price of Home Depot.

    Also try putting a ball valve on each line going in to your grow bed. This will allow you to fine tune the flow and allow a siphon break or increase in water flow.

    I have a 3000 GPR submersible pump with a float switch. I have tons of flow rate, I just had to choke down the flow.

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