Continuous drip system for fresh water tanks.

[Pharaoh]

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

Wow, so there is not filtration on this tank whatsoever? I couldn't see a slow drip eliminating the debris from the tank. I would be curious to know what the water parameters are.

 

[Accident]

Wow, so there is not filtration on this tank whatsoever? I couldn't see a slow drip eliminating the debris from the tank. I would be curious to know what the water parameters are.

That's correct. No filtration whatsoever in the 58 planted tank.

Ok, I'll get out the old tests and see if they still work.

Going to have to figure out how to post pix here......might take a few hours....stay tuned.

Accident

 

[Accident]

Here's the 58 gal planted tank. I had about 12 diff varieties of plants 3 years ago. Now it looks like there are about 4 or 5 left that took over. You can see the dead plant material piled up on the bottom. Usually this means disease and death to the fish. The Green Terror in the pix grew from 1" to this size in this tank with this setup. There is some kind of catfish, a pleco and a friends rescue cichlid that I don't know the name of in there also. Never had a floater in this tank. Drip system only. No filter or aeration.

Accident

 

[turtlesrock]

sucks!

 

[Accident]

sucks!

Yep, that's the reaction I was expecting. Took longer than I thought.

!A

 

[Accident]

sucks!

BYW, I never said it was the way to go, or that it was great. I am only saying it works for me. I'm also not suggesting anyone switch to this method. I only wanted to share my experiences. Flaming is one reason I never posted before.

A

 

[Accident]

125 oceanic. Simple overflow/sump config. with a ton of sponges in the white bucket.



White overflow/level regulator PVC tubing is visible in the blue sump container. It's connected to a bulkhead fitting that drains to the outside.



Bulkhead fitting to outside.

Here's the Jag. Grew him from 1". Paid $5 bucks for him.

 

[Accident]

125 water supply is from the bathroom sink that's behind the wall where the tank sits. Put a double valve on the cold water side and ran the 1/4" poly tubing through the wall.





Tank room view of poly tubing and pvc drain line that goes outside.

 

[Accident]

Drip control ball valves that serve both the 125 and the 10 grow/rescue tank.


(10 gal) Drip tube, filter and DIY overflow are visible here. Overflow connects to the same drain line to the outside as the 125.



Water level is low as I was in the middle of a total clean out.

!A

 

[deeda]

Thanks for posting pics of your setup. It is always nice to see what does work for other people.