Bell Siphons

   Well having a nightmare of a time with my first bell siphon, I decided to put together some quick reference to some ideas on Bell Siphons.  The automatic bell siphon is a great thing to do, because it is just automatic without any help from out side power sources. Just uses the suction and gravity from the already falling water. Even if you never use this system as your main system, everyone should try it just to see it work. 
Here is a great reference pdf from Hawaii College.

Construction of Automatic Bell Siphons

for Backyard Aquaponic Systems

 

 

I myself like to keep it simple.  I used a 4 inch pvc with holes drilled in it for a guard and a 2 inch pipe for my suction pipe.

I came up about 1 and a 1/4 from the bottom and drilled 1/4 inch hole in my suction pipe to stop the suction.

Then I used a 3/4 pipe with a 1 inch reducer at the top for my drain stem.





then under my grow bed I just installed a 3/4 pvc with 2- 90 degree elbows

This seemed to work fairly well.

There a lot of ways to do the siphons, but it all depends on your size of grow beds and height. The bigger the grow bed is, the harder it is to either get the siphone to start or in most cases to stop. If this happens you may just have to tweak it some like adding a air hose on the side to help cut off the suction, or even add more holes in your suction pipe. But keep it simple first and then modify as needed.