finally, no more water changes!
- Thread starter dmopar74
- Start date
i think ive seen Pharaoh post about them in the past, ask him or check out http://www.thefilterguys.biz/
You are not just diluting the water in the tank, you are changing some of the water.
If you add 20 gallons of water to your tank on one end and have the old tank water spill out on the other, your changing 20 gallons of water. If you have a 80 gallon tank, the 20 gallons of fresh water you just put in is diluting 60 gallons.
Of course with filtration mixing the new water, some of that new water may go down the drain with the old but you are still changing some of the water. May not be changing 20 gallons of old water with 20 gallons of new water going in but you are still changing some of the water which will be diluting the rest.
call it what you want but my nitrate dropped 20 ppm in 2 days on a filthy 100g tank on a 1gph drip. the tank is home to 15 3-5" dovii and a 18" pleco.
I know what you mean. Theory shows that drip systems wont work over time, but the proof is in the puddin'!dmopar74;3222211; said:
Your system is very similar to mine, and I know it works.
Good call on the aqualifters!! Cheap insurance indeed! If you don't have the filters for them I would recommend getting some...they're only a few bucks. Also, IME, you need to take the aqualifters off every couple of months and let them flow some tap water in the sink for an hour or 2 to keep them clean. It's also a good idea to have some backup diaphrams.
My system is damn near identicle to yours. I didn't do a water change/gravel vac for a year (I'm lazy) and the nitrates never rose above 10ppm.......It was kind of a test to see how well it could keep up.
Not only am I doing no water changes, I'm also using less water since I'm maintaining rather than lowering nitrate levels. Play around with the emitters since it doesn't sound like you need to drip as much as you are.
Awesome job..........you're going to love it.
ive studied your drip thread ALOT lol. dont think i would have tried without your thread, so thanks! laziness is my specialty, so "da drip is good!"rallysman;3222230; said:
good call on the aqualifters, i will get the filters and some spare diaphrams soon.
Hi all, ive been using similar system on my tank for 3 months now.
Much better than syphoning and filling up, i also get to leave it running to do other things without worries of overflowing on the floor.
Best thing i have done to my tank for sure.
I use RO 70% and HMA 30% with no problems, the flow into the tank is so slow that it will not stress the fish out at all.
My tank is a 250 and the RO is rated at 300 so if i leave it running for 24 hours theoreticly i will have changed the whole tank and a bit more and even if i did that i dont think it will cause much problems because the change will have happened so gradually over a period of 24hours then i will still have all the benificial bacteria as they will have built up within that time anyway.
HMA filter cartridge filters chloromine as well as chlorine and heavy metals.
The saving of using chlorine remover etc and the convenience and time saving out weighs it all.
I will post some pics for you guys later.
Much better than syphoning and filling up, i also get to leave it running to do other things without worries of overflowing on the floor.
Best thing i have done to my tank for sure.
I use RO 70% and HMA 30% with no problems, the flow into the tank is so slow that it will not stress the fish out at all.
My tank is a 250 and the RO is rated at 300 so if i leave it running for 24 hours theoreticly i will have changed the whole tank and a bit more and even if i did that i dont think it will cause much problems because the change will have happened so gradually over a period of 24hours then i will still have all the benificial bacteria as they will have built up within that time anyway.
HMA filter cartridge filters chloromine as well as chlorine and heavy metals.
The saving of using chlorine remover etc and the convenience and time saving out weighs it all.
I will post some pics for you guys later.
Water changes DO NOT affect Benificial Bacteria as long as there is no Chlorine/Chloromines in the water that you are adding to the tank. Water Changes are mainly done to lower the accumulated Nitrate concentration. BB resides and colonizes on all the media and surfaces of the tank and filter...very very small amounts become waterborne.
If you have an established filtration system 100% water changes do not affect the filters, providing there are no Chlorine elements in the water...
