Continuous drip system for fresh water tanks.

Accident

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 6, 2007
139
2
16
South Texas
I have been using a continuous drip system for my freshwater tanks now for about 5 years. Learned about it from an article about a guy who owned a fish store. He got the idea from the Chinese, I believe, who can’t afford expensive mechanical filtration that usually relies on a reliable electrical supply. Very simple to set up. Drip in clean water to the tank and the excess overflows down a drain or outside in a garden. After installing this system on all of my tanks, it basically killed 90% of my “hobby” activities. Reduced the on going cost of my hobby down to almost zero.

It eliminated the following:

Water changes ( I really hate this and make a huge mess about ½ the time.)
Filter/carbon purchasing
Complicated setups that leak, make noise, etc.
H2O testing. No more testing kits/devices to buy.
Worrying about water quality.

Reduced:

Fish purchases-No more deaths or disease. They live long, healthy lives.

This system is like a doing constant water changes. There isn’t a yoyo effect of water quality. Very constant parameters. The fish seem to thrive very well now.

I’m very lucky in that our water supply is perfect for fish keeping. Very little or zero chemicals make it to my house. The chlorine is low and the process of dripping into the tank outgases what little remains. I had carbon filters inline on the incoming water supply for years till I did some testing and decided it wasn’t necessary. I have been using straight city water for at least 3 years now with no fish losses.

Every city has different purification processes. You will need to assess yours accordingly. I know some places this just isn’t possible w/out adding your own chemicals or by using extensive carbon filtering.

My tanks include:
58 planted tank w/no filtration or aerator. Low fish load.
125 w/sump for pump and sponge filters. No chemical filtration. I rinse the sponges annually. Houses the big Jag and one large tinfoil barb. Jag ate everything else.
150 w/canister filter with all sponges and chemicals removed. Only has ceramic bio cylinders. I remove the sediment annually. It’s my colorful cichlid tank. Has about 20 fish.

I’m posting this so maybe someone will save themselves a ton of money and heartache. It’s revitalized my love of the hobby and allows me spend more time developing my worst skill……aquarium decorating. It also allowed me to get into the monster fish club, although just barely, by keeping a Jaguar Cichlid alive long enough for it to become a 13” beauty.

[FONT=&quot]I can post pictures if anyone is interested.

Accident
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nfored

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 4, 2008
2,597
14
68
Missouri
There are many people that have posted threads about this, however yours is the oldest setup I have heard of. What do you use to remove the cholrimine? what % do you drip.
 

kdv9tb

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 15, 2009
36
0
6
Houton, TX
I would like to see pictures. I am interested in trying this on one of my tanks, and the new tank. Is it hard to set up the first time? My tanks are planted, and you mentioned yours is as well. Does this help, or make the system work any better?
 

Accident

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 6, 2007
139
2
16
South Texas
nfored;3692567; said:
There are many people that have posted threads about this, however yours is the oldest setup I have heard of. What do you use to remove the cholrimine? what % do you drip.
I knew you guys were going to ask the hard questions! :)

I quit testing so long ago, I forget what it is. I want to say it's zero. I don't use any filtration on the incoming water any more.

I gave up on figuring out the % of drip also. It depends on the fish load. My loads are very low. My drip rate is about 3 to 5 drips per second if I had to guess. I guess I need to put a timer on it as it drips in a gallon jug. I really just gauge it so that it is dripping outside. It's been working that way for years.

!A
 

Accident

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 6, 2007
139
2
16
South Texas
kdv9tb;3692581; said:
I would like to see pictures. I am interested in trying this on one of my tanks, and the new tank. Is it hard to set up the first time? My tanks are planted, and you mentioned yours is as well. Does this help, or make the system work any better?

I'll post pix later today. Have to go to work now. Very easy to set up. You have to do a little PVC plumbing to tap into your water supply. I had to get creative on all of them because the way my house is set up.

A
 

nfored

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 4, 2008
2,597
14
68
Missouri
My fish would likely die If I didn't filter my tap. Chloramine is used in KC, which means there is ammonia in the incoming tap around 1ppm. Interesting you drip using some type of valve where you have drips per second rather then a drip emitter.

So what do you do about waste that settles on the bottom? I am under the impression this is your only filtration.
 

hmt321

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 27, 2006
419
2
18
Mobile, Alabama, United States
kdv9tb;3692581; said:
I would like to see pictures. I am interested in trying this on one of my tanks, and the new tank. Is it hard to set up the first time? My tanks are planted, and you mentioned yours is as well. Does this help, or make the system work any better?
drip systems can effect plants in a wide variety of ways. constant drips can supply constant nutrients to the water that can stimulate some plant and algae growth. (i have slight issues with brown algae growing on my back glass on all 4 of my drip system tanks, i keep down grading my lighting. to compensate.)

also, if you fertilize the water, constant drips will mess that up.

I will be re-working a 55 gal this weekend and i will add some potted cripts and some other stuff from a planted tank i have to see how it will work.
 

Accident

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 6, 2007
139
2
16
South Texas
nfored;3692601; said:
My fish would likely die If I didn't filter my tap. Chloramine is used in KC, which means there is ammonia in the incoming tap around 1ppm. Interesting you drip using some type of valve where you have drips per second rather then a drip emitter.

So what do you do about waste that settles on the bottom? I am under the impression this is your only filtration.

I don't know where it goes. In the planted tank there is alot of dead plant material in the bottom that I have to clean out. Pix later will show it. In the 150, it has a sand bottom. I never see mulm. Water is almost is colorless w/no discernible odor, like I had before in every other filter only tanks I had. I read about the waste cycle in one of these setups years ago, but I don't remember what exactly it said. I do have those Malaysian substrate snails by the 1000's in all these tanks. They are suppose to be good waste managers. I think it just decays and is washed away, if I had to speculate. Catfish and snails reduce the solids to smaller sizes.

A
 

Accident

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 6, 2007
139
2
16
South Texas
nfored;3692601; said:
My fish would likely die If I didn't filter my tap. Chloramine is used in KC, which means there is ammonia in the incoming tap around 1ppm. Interesting you drip using some type of valve where you have drips per second rather then a drip emitter.

So what do you do about waste that settles on the bottom? I am under the impression this is your only filtration.

My drip control valves are just that. Valves. No fancy anything. I eyeball the outlet while adjusting the valve. I have ball valves on some and needle valves on one.

A
 
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