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.

Where to buy tilapia

   Well when we start off with auaponics its a blast! If your like me, you can't sleep at night with all the ideas in your head of building your own system. Lets face it, after looking at all the videos on You-Tube for an hour or so, we can definitely wipe out the hardware stores with our own ideas.

   And then we go to the local nursery or department store and buy some plants and seeds which gets us off to the right direction but now where do we get the fish?

   Well there is several places but choose wisely. First off I netted up several perch from a near by pond, and I thought that would be perfect, but I was mistaken. Because they were wild they would only eat real food as in worms, tadpoles, or even bread, but no store bought food. I would go out every day and dig worms but after a while that was too much work and less was being found every day, so I took them back to the pond.

I first would suggest to get your fish from a reputably source if possible. This way your guaranteed to get quality fish without the chance of disease.
There is several aquaponics suppliers that either carry the fish of know who to contact.
Aquaponic Store is one of the ones on my list. They have many options to choose from including other fish besides Tilapia.  

  Tilapia Depot from Florida has one of the widest range of fish that I know of.

   But I think first of I would Check Craigs List to see if anyone in your area has the fish you would like to try. chances are there is and you can drive to their place and see how they are doing it. If there isnt
then this would be a great opportunity for you to think of a business venture of selling some fish to help offset some of your cost.

   My last choice but one that I like to use more often is E-bay 
keep and eye on this, because there is always a good deal, even free shipping on some.
If there is not free shipping then try to get someone to go in with you to order your fish. its not the fish that cost so much, its the shipping, you can basically get 15 fish shipped for the same price as 50.

Hope this helps,
Let me know if you need any help, and I'll be glad to assist.