DRIP SYSTEMS Success & Failures

[West1]

fishon555
Check it out. I had a similar setup to jk47. I had the washer/dryer connection, line to tank, drain on sump and Filterguys setup. I reduced most of the pressure at the Washer/Dryer valve and had a small valve at the end to fine tune my drip.

Our water is not bad (at least when I was in the freshwater game). This removed my water changes and you seen my feeding portions, the fish I had and how long I grew them for.

I might of posted pics here, I don't remember nor did I read through the thread.

Keep it simple bro!

 

[monkeybike]

fishon555
Check it out. I had a similar setup to jk47. I had the washer/dryer connection, line to tank, drain on sump and Filterguys setup. I reduced most of the pressure at the Washer/Dryer valve and had a small valve at the end to fine tune my drip.

Our water is not bad (at least when I was in the freshwater game). This removed my water changes and you seen my feeding portions, the fish I had and how long I grew them for.

I might of posted pics here, I don't remember nor did I read through the thread.

Keep it simple bro!

Pretty much my setup as well, zero issues. I do run a mixing valve so it drips tank temperature water though. I also use the fiterguys setup, 2x CTO and a poly cart.

 

[West1]

Pretty much my setup as well, zero issues. I do run a mixing valve so it drips tank temperature water though. I also use the fiterguys setup, 2x CTO and a poly cart.

Awesome.

I did have a lot of media. The drip is just the icing on the cake, the media is the main source for the beneficial bacteria needed to run the bioload.

 

[monkeybike]

Awesome.

I did have a lot of media. The drip is just the icing on the cake, the media is the main source for the beneficial bacteria needed to run the bioload.

I have 10 gallons of bio balls and 10 pounds of ceramic media all submerged in my sump. I run a pretty heavy bio load.

 

[fishon555]

Nice, thx my brotha!
Probably go drip my next tank, if it ever happens.

 

[West1]

I have 10 gallons of bio balls and 10 pounds of ceramic media all submerged in my sump. I run a pretty heavy bio load.

I would ditch the bioballs and the ceramic rings if possible. While CR's are very porous, they also clog after a couple years of use and is a PITA imo to maintenance... bleach, rinse, dry out and cycle media all over... I did that for a little while then Kaldness Media happened, end of story. Self maintenance media and a drip system made kept this hobby a pleasure. All I had to do was feed the tank mates.

Look into it, you'll love it!

Nice, thx my brotha!
Probably go drip my next tank, if it ever happens.

No problem bro! Don't wait on the next tank, you already have like 2k gallons of water in your living rooms

 

[PYRU]

Aw man thanks for bumping this. I'm currently kicking around ideas on this very subject right now

 

[DThompson]

I see this thread was started with a filter system from 'the filter guys' but it looks like they are no longer in business. I have an RODI filter system laying around from my saltwater days and I'd like to use that in a drip system for my new setup. Does anybody know what I should put into the RODI canisters to make it freshwater friendly?

I've read that you don't want to completely strip the water clean for freshwater plants and fish. I don't want to add back in the minerals because I'm trying to make this hands free, just turn on the water and drip constantly into the tank.

If this has already been covered in this thread or a different thread, please provide a link, that would be very helpful.

 

[DRUKENMUNKY]

love the thread folks. I run drip about 150 gallons per day on a 700 gallon 2 tank set up with a stump as well....it looks like there is great info for peeps who wanna try this. My advice for anyone planning on building one is just as mentioned above KEEP IT SIMPLE. Bullet points to be aware of in the build i can think of is definitely use a sediment filter as it will expand the life of your carbon filter. I added pressure gauges in front of my filters to help determine when blocks have to be changed. I use the flow valve as opposed to the drip emitters as they got clogged and began to get unaccurate drip.And last but not least i recomend if using a overflow type drain to exit the abundant water levels to plumb those into the actual tanks versus plumbing into the sump. If u plumb the sump and there is a power outage you are going to lose water drained from your main tanks. If sump drainage is only option use the float valve or timer pump method. All in all i will say since converting to drip i save alot time and enjoy looking at my fish more. Water has been alot more stable. It does use more water but i save alot of $ on chlorine remover. And the fish seem less stressed.

Most importantly i want to add that using a drip will releive you of the labor of doing a water change and thats awesome but do not let this make you lazy. proper tank maintenance schedule is still madnatory in the form of replacing or rinsing mechanical and biological media and pulling out the test kit to monitor water parameters

O i almost forgot when building this pay attention to the threading on your pipe connections when going between water spigots and filter unit as i wasnt aware that some were pipe thread and some were hose thread i had to get adapters in some places

 

[DThompson]

love the thread folks. I run drip about 150 gallons per day on a 700 gallon 2 tank set up with a stump as well....it looks like there is great info for peeps who wanna try this. My advice for anyone planning on building one is just as mentioned above KEEP IT SIMPLE. Bullet points to be aware of in the build i can think of is definitely use a sediment filter as it will expand the life of your carbon filter. I added pressure gauges in front of my filters to help determine when blocks have to be changed. I use the flow valve as opposed to the drip emitters as they got clogged and began to get unaccurate drip.And last but not least i recomend if using a overflow type drain to exit the abundant water levels to plumb those into the actual tanks versus plumbing into the sump. If u plumb the sump and there is a power outage you are going to lose water drained from your main tanks. If sump drainage is only option use the float valve or timer pump method. All in all i will say since converting to drip i save alot time and enjoy looking at my fish more. Water has been alot more stable. It does use more water but i save alot of $ on chlorine remover. And the fish seem less stressed.

Most importantly i want to add that using a drip will releive you of the labor of doing a water change and thats awesome but do not let this make you lazy. proper tank maintenance schedule is still madnatory in the form of replacing or rinsing mechanical and biological media and pulling out the test kit to monitor water parameters

O i almost forgot when building this pay attention to the threading on your pipe connections when going between water spigots and filter unit as i wasnt aware that some were pipe thread and some were hose thread i had to get adapters in some places

Thanks for the information! So you mentioned using a sediment filter before the carbon block filter in your setup. Mine has 3 canisters/stages (5 micron sediment filter + Carbon block filter + DI resin filter). What would you recommend putting in the 3rd stage? Maybe put 2 sediment filters in front of the carbon filter?