Bell siphon construction - part 3

So now we have a siphon,  lets do a couple of tweaks before adjusting it.  First I live in SW Florida and power outages are a reality.  From research online I have found many people are drilling a small 1/8" or less hole in the stand pipe in case the power goes out.


Secondly and not a tweak.  We need a gravel guard.  This will keep the growing media out of the siphon.  Basically all you need is a tube with holes in the bottom part of it.  It is just to keep growing media out and allows the water to drain from the siphon.  This was made out of a Rubbermade 1 Qt. container.  Next time I will use gutter guard.  It comes in a 10' roll 8" wide and looks like black wire mesh.  For three dollars it beats the heck out of drilling a bunch of holes.


It sits in the grow bed like this:


Next up will be adding growing media and tuning the bell siphon.