Drip System for Rays

i too live on an acreage and have well water... i do not treat my water at all. I run a drip on my ray tanks and it is GREAT! It is well worth doing it.

I would suggest picking up a drip emmiter to regulate the speed of the drip.

If you do not have chlorine issues and you are confident that no bad stuff such as nitrate run off from farm fields are going to hit your supply then just check it for ammonia as some people seem to get that on well water. If all ok then I do recommend a slow drip. There are benefits to having some sort of filter anyway on the incoming water to filter out any heavy metals but prob not necessary. The drip emmiter is vital in my opinion as you can rely on varying water pressure. I run a drip on my tank but I have it on an aquatronica computer to only allow 30 gallons(UK) per day over the space of 1 hour and I have fail safes in place.

I would recommend a slow drip so that you do not need to heat the incoming water.

I would test the Well water for GH, KH and PH as soon as it comes out, leave it for a day and then test the PH again to see if it falls away to see if you need to buffer the water at all.

You should still do some water changes to replace water as opposed to simple dilution and this ensures that youdo a gravel vac etc.

you can do it how you want to, but to control and to have a set number drip emmiters are necessary.

If you reduce the pressure with a control valve (tap) then the rate of flow will ebb and flow depending on the overall pressure. If you flush the toilet or run a bath then the pressure will drop and thenother way around.

keepinfish said:

you can do it how you want to, but to control and to have a set number drip emmiters are necessary.

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you dont need a drip emmiter you can use valves.you can get a flow control valve if you like its $100 you just set it very simply.me i just guessed what 10 gpg was and set a stopwatch and filled a container until i got it with in a gallon! valves are $4 each and nothing will go wrong.

you can age your water first in containers and setup some sort of auto matic float system which will be more expensive or use a aquarium or drinking water system.its looks the same as a ro unit infact has three of the same chambers but lacks the ro part.you can buy these chambers at homedepot,run two types of carbon and a sediment filter.one type of carbon removes chlorine while the other will remove chloramaines ie..ammonia . if you would like i could give you a hand since you only live 5 minutes away lol!!!!

it wont cost more than $250

after that all you need to do different is test for chlorine

keepinfish said:

i too live on an acreage and have well water... i do not treat my water at all. I run a drip on my ray tanks and it is GREAT! It is well worth doing it.

I would suggest picking up a drip emmiter to regulate the speed of the drip.

Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat, but don't have a drip system yet. I want to set one up, though. My concern is the strain it might put on the well pump and expansion tank from having the water run constantly. I was thinking about setting up a system that would change thirty or so gallons a day all at once instead of having the well pump switching on and off 24/7. Thoughts?

I have a solenoid valve that come on with my aquatronica computer but a cheap timer wouldhave the same result, you leave the supply on full bore but it will only run for the time you set the solenoid to come on for, mine snaps open at 8 and snaps shut at 9, this gives me 1 hour of flow which equates to 30 gals as I have restricted the flow, mine is restricted by a capillary flow device but only so that the pressure is high on my hma, you could reduce the flow Amy way you like.

Solenoids are highly reliable and safe, they are used in water supplies on freezers, washing machines and dishwashers.

or you can just drip all day long??? it will put no strain on your well pump.let it flow all day,how much are you going to drip?? if its 50 gallons perday thats nothing open the valve on the driper and let it drip very slowly?? unless you are setting up your drip different?

before i hooked this up i aksed the same questions on how and everybody makes it sound way more complicated than it has to be.simple is the best and most realiable!
its just a 3 chamber drinking water system you can buy anywhere and i tied it in above my laundry machine! i drip about 300 gallons per day the filters last 4 months easy i replace them when they dont even need replacing.i just make sure i test for chlorine after switching the filters out everytime for a few days after just to make sure.otherwise this system has been flawless to me and only took 10 minutes to instal.took a bit to get the flow rate out of the valve but i think a valve is the most realiable thing #1 cant beat it.simple is the key with these kinds of things