Hydroton Growbed Redo

One of the hydroton growbed giving me problem with its siphon. As I recall this particular growbed was the first that I tried with hydroton in my set.

Emptied the growbed and what needed to be done is to redo the siphon strainer. It was a quickie job few months back while I am trying out the hydroton. The strainer from start I know will eventually give problem.

During that time I was using 10 mm drill to make the strainer, but it was too big and letting hydroton through. As a temporary measure I glued plastic netting to make sure no hydroton  pass. Current design is 8 mm holes and no netting required.

Above the complete trouble siphon assembly, what needed to be done is to make 8 mm holes on the top and strainer holder as in current design.

Siphon removed from growbed to rework.

Smaller holes drilled and strainer holder is also drilled for water drainage. It was not done earlier, adding problem to the siphon operation.

Stand pipe and reworked strainer holder installed.

Completed siphon, bigger holes on top is not required. It is there because I reuse the same strainer to make smaller holes on the other side and just flip it over.

Old and new side by side for comparison, inner parts not change.

I decided to put first 2 ~ 3 inches with pebbles, they are better at drainage. Took me about 2 hours to redo and get it back operating. Hope it doesn't cause any problem to growbed nutrient level.