Aquaponics - Can do siphon

My strawberries started to die off.

I don't like it when that happens.

I have it on very good authority that strawberries wouldn't like being in a constant flood.

It turns out good authority is good.

They went brown, then wilty, then mouldy.

They're still alive, so I thought I might just add a bell siphon, and give them the intermittent dry feet they reputably enjoy so much.

I didn't really have anything to make a proper siphon out of, so I stuck a plastic cup over the existing standpipe, and it seems to be working perfectly.

I don't understand what it is about the humble bell siphon, but once you've made a few, they just always seem to work. I'm guessing that comes down to subconsciously picking the correct size tubing or something , although I have no idea what I'm doing.

I guess that's why they call it subconscious.

It might also be that I'm kidding myself as to my tube divining skills, and that really I've just been lucky.

Anyway, I thought I might do a bit of research and actually make some kind of chart with different flow rates and the required/suitable tubing diametres etc, I remember wondering where to start when I made my first bell siphon, and no matter how much stuff I read, I could never find the kind of info I needed.

But...

For the time being, here is my plastic cup.

I'll let you know when it fails.











120 Things in 20 years finds me asking myself, "Am I wrong to expect someone to have made a chart showing suitable tubing for a siphon build to suit a pump with a home made wire front bearing?".