Sunday 13 April 2014

New Growbed and Bell Sihpon

Yesterday I made my first growbed. The plastic container I bought from supermarket. Since this is a test model, I didn't get a fancy growbed.

The container is 70cm (L) x 48cm (W) x 32cm (H) = 107.52 litres

I had a 35mm hole saw which is bigger than the OD of the bulkhead (31mm) but I will do some mod to make it fit.


Then fixed the base of stand pipe, and added some sealant to make it watertight.


Then the bottom of the growbed, same treatment.


Update (16 April 2014) : I'm a bit worried that the sealant that I've used may not be the right type. So I'm going to trim the excess and apply another type of sealant over the area around the bulkhead. This type is suitable for Aquarium and should be ok.



Then the stand-pipe:


As you can see, I have the middle section in various lengths so that it allows me to adjust the height of the standpipe.



I also cut the top of the 50mm to 25mm reducer because it was making my 50mm bell too high. You can see the difference in the above picture. I managed to find another type of 50-25 reducer. I will add the picture later.

Update (19 Apr 2014): As you can see in the picture, the 50mm-25mm reducer comes in different shapes and sizes. The white one on the left has a ID of 32mm at the bottom which will fit a 25mm pipe's OD. The grey one on the left has a smaller ID at the bottom. So be careful, better bring a caliper to the hardware shop when you are buying your reducer and bulkhead. The y have to fit your PVC pipes.



Bell Siphon:

Credit goes to Affnan as I follow his: Design of Affnan's Siphoon

I cut a 20 inch 50mm pipe to make 2 pieces of bell.

Then using tile drill bits, I drilled holes around the pipe.


Then cut it into two pieces.


Upside-down view of the bell.


Then I added another pipe which is 110mm to go over the Bell Siphon. (I will add more pictures later.) to prevent hydrotons or gravel blocking the siphon.


Put it together and tested the siphon in my bathroom.


and it works!! YAY!!


P.S. I added a valve outlet in case I need to drain the tank later. However, if I add a sump thank, this may not be necessary. But still it's nice to have options.


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