Bulbs
Flower Basics
Flower Beds & Specialty Gardens
Flower Garden
Garden Furniture
Garden Gnomes
Garden Seeds
Garden Sheds
Garden Statues
Garden Tools & Supplies
Gardening Basics
Green & Organic
Groundcovers & Vines
Growing Annuals
Growing Basil
Growing Beans
Growing Berries
Growing Blueberries
Growing Cactus
Growing Corn
Growing Cotton
Growing Edibles
Growing Flowers
Growing Garlic
Growing Grapes
Growing Grass
Growing Herbs
Growing Jasmine
Growing Mint
Growing Mushrooms
Orchids
Growing Peanuts
Growing Perennials
Growing Plants
Growing Rosemary
Growing Roses
Growing Strawberries
Growing Sunflowers
Growing Thyme
Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tulips
Growing Vegetables
Herb Basics
Herb Garden
Indoor Growing
Landscaping Basics
Landscaping Patios
Landscaping Plants
Landscaping Shrubs
Landscaping Trees
Landscaping Walks & Pathways
Lawn Basics
Lawn Maintenance
Lawn Mowers
Lawn Ornaments
Lawn Planting
Lawn Tools
Outdoor Growing
Overall Landscape Planning
Pests, Weeds & Problems
Plant Basics
Rock Garden
Rose Garden
Shrubs
Soil
Specialty Gardens
Trees
Vegetable Garden
Yard Maintenance
How to Build an Auto Siphon for Aquaponics
How to Build an Auto Siphon for Aquaponics. Aquaponics mixes hydroponics and aquaculture to produce both fish and vegetables. Hydroponics does not use soil to grow plants, but water that contain nutrients to grow the plants. Aquaponics uses a recirculating system where water from the fish tank, containing the fish waste, circulates into the plant...
Aquaponics mixes hydroponics and aquaculture to produce both fish and vegetables. Hydroponics does not use soil to grow plants, but water that contain nutrients to grow the plants. Aquaponics uses a recirculating system where water from the fish tank, containing the fish waste, circulates into the plant beds. The waste is broken down, by bacteria in the gravel or pebbles used as bedding, to form nutrients for the plants. The water is then sent back clean to the fish tank. The beds need to be filled up with water and emptied automatically to avoid allowing the roots to rot, which would occur if the beds were always filled with water. An auto-siphon, or bell siphon, is a siphon that uses gravity to empty the beds once the water reaches a certain height.
Things You'll Need
2-inch PVC pipe, 3 feet long
1-inch PVC pipe, 4 feet long
2-inch PVC cap
Drill with ? inch bit
PVC glue
1/4-inch plastic tube
Underwater glue
6-inch zip tie
Cut a 1-inch hole in the bottom of your grow bed. Insert your 1-inch pipe in the hole, making sure to keep it straight, and the top of the pipe is 1-inch under the expected level of the gravel of pebble. Use the underwater glue to secure it in place.
Cut the 2-inch pipe so it is 1-inch above the top of the 1-inch pipe. Glue the cap on the 2-inch pipe.
Drill 10 holes on two levels 1 inch apart on the end of the 2-inch pipe opposing the capped end.
Drill a hole on the capped end of the pipe and insert the 1/4-inch plastic tube. Glue it in place. Once glued, use the zip tie to secure it to the side of the pipe. Cut the tube where you want the water to stop draining.
Install the 2-inch pipe on top of the 1-inch pipe and fill the bed with pebbles or gravel, making sure to keep the 2-inch pipe firmly in place.
Tips & Warnings
The shape of the pipe under the bed is unimportant, as long as the pipe course does not go higher than the bottom of the bed.
Remember to time how long it takes for the bed to empty, to avoid having your system put water back in the bed before the siphon finishes emptying the bed.
