Re: New Fish Room -Reply

[Dave Gomberg <gomberg@wcf.com>]

At 04:44 PM 11/2/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I have never heard of self regulating siphons.  What can you tell me about
them?

A self-regulating syphon is s-shaped and on the order of 8-10" wide when
looked at as an S.  

It is used with the parallel parts vertical, and only one part in the tank.
 So it starts at or near the bottom of the tank, rises to up over the top
of the tank, descends to somewhere near where it started, then turns upward
again.  The last upward leg should be adjustable height (like a piece of
tygon tubing at the end, for example).  If the syphon is filled with water
it will regulate the tank water level at the height of the the end of the
last outside (ascending) part.  If the water gets higher than this,
syphoning will start.   When the water level has declined to the height of
the outside part, the syphoning stops.   If the water level in the tank
drops dramatically as long as it remains above the bottom of the outside
part, the syphon will be maintained and will restart itself when the water
level again exceeds the height of the outside end.

The only fly in the ointment is that like most syphons, it can acquire an
air bubble and lose efficiency.  But that is a once-a-week maintenance
item, not daily like a level regulator.


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