Courses / Build Your Hatchery

Course Content

Design a Layout
Draw a Blueprint Stage Your Hatchery
Assemble Your System
Configure Your Tanks Cut Your PVC Glue Your PVC Do a Runthrough & Troubleshoot
Build Additional Equipment
Seeding/Transfer Tubes Spool Stands
Tank Siphons
Lesson 3 Build Additional Equipment

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Tank Siphons

It’s possible to plumb your tanks in pairs – meaning two tanks share a single pump and a single chiller. In order to keep the water balanced between the two tanks, a siphon is needed. The siphon creates an equilibrium in water flow between two tanks and allows water to flow from one tank to the next without hard plumbing.

Simple siphon made of PVC to allow balanced water flow between 2 tanks.
Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute’s tank with a siphon, with an added valve to the top for easy priming.

To create tank siphons, GreenWave uses ¾” PVC, the same size as our tank plumbing. Cut about three 3” lengths of PVC and connect them with two 90° elbows, creating a “U” shape. (You may want longer pieces depending on how far apart your tanks are from each other or how close the water level is to the top of your tank.)

In order for a siphon to work it needs to be filled with water. When setting up your tank system for the first time follow this procedure.

  1. Submerge your siphon in your tank and let it fill with water.

  2. Cap both ends of the siphon with PVC caps or your hand.

  3. Place one arm of the siphon in one tank and the other arm in the next tank. Be sure that at least one of the arms has its opening underwater.

  4. Uncap both ends. If only one end is underwater, uncap the arm that is underwater first, then the one out of water. This will make sure your siphon contains water and doesn’t allow air in before the water begins to flow.