Update:
No more problems with the siphon. As per advice from
Steven VanGorder the author of
Small Scale Aquaculture I must have had a small leak allowing air in which slowly built up an air bubble and stopped the siphon. I can back that up as the last one I built that failed, had tiny air bubbles coming out of the intake into the clarifier.
So I rebuilt one making sure to hold the pieces in when glued, and without a 't' which may have been letting air in via the "cleanout." No problems in four days and no change in the water level in the barrel clarifier.
Now I'm waiting for the nitrites to appear to indicate the nitrosomonas bacteria are starting to work. Two weeks and the only thing I'm reading is the ammonia I've been adding to feed the bacteria. I've read it may take up to 8 weeks to get the bilfilter cycling although 4 to 6 is more typical.
I did seed the tank with some alleged bacteria in a bottle from an aquarium supply store, but according to some guys on the NANFA site it's not effective unless it's a particular brand of which mine was not.
I'm going to have to chop ice to get the bluegill fry out of the floating cate to plant the tank. With my luck I will have all kinds of fungal problems from handling them in the cold water even though I will acclimate them (fry bluegills). The story of my life: A day late a dollar short.
