Reverse drip system?... Dosing pump.

Oughtsix

Redtail Catfish
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Apr 9, 2011
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Last night I was thinking about installing a drip system in my tank.

Instead of dripping water into the tank and flushing the overflow down the drain (outside or wherever) I thought about using a dosing pump to constantly pump small amounts of water out of the tank then use a float valve to add water up to the set level when the water gets low from pumping it out of the tank.

I have a sump so I would put the dosing exhaust pump on the sump and also put the float refill valve in the sump to keep the sump at a constant level.

My thoughts were I wouldn't have to worry about the outflow being blocked and I would not be constrained by gravity on the outflow.

Your thoughts?





Dosing pump and float valve would be about $25 together.
 
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Drstrangelove

Potamotrygon
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Oct 21, 2012
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This just seems to have more moving parts than it needs. More moving parts means more chances to fail. (Gravity and hydraulics on the other hand, don't "fail.")

Also, why does it seem that you are suggesting that a dosing pump won't get blocked? If anything a pump would seem more likely to get blocked than a properly designed overflow.
 

monkeybike

Aimara
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Mar 13, 2015
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This just seems to have more moving parts than it needs. More moving parts means more chances to fail. (Gravity and hydraulics on the other hand, don't "fail.")

Also, why does it seem that you are suggesting that a dosing pump won't get blocked? If anything a pump would seem more likely to get blocked than a properly designed overflow.
Completely agree. I've seen float valves stick and flood.
 

Oughtsix

Redtail Catfish
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The dosing pump getting blocked will not cause a flood. If an overflow for a conventional drip system gets blocked then a flood will result.

By pumping the water out of the sump I can use 1/4" ice maker tubing and run it along the baseboard and not worry too much about the tubing being kicked as long as the two ends are anchored well. With an overflow drain I would want atleast 1/2" tubing and the exhaust end of the tubing as well as the entire run of tubing will have to be below the overflow in the sump. An overflow type drip system will pretty much mean drilling a hole in my floor.

I would like to pump the tank water into the yard during the spring, summer and fall. When it freezes I could easily move the exhaust tube to a drain. A gravity drain would be much more restrictive as to where I could exhaust the water.

I am fortunate to be on well water and I also have a reverse osmosis system so I don't treat my water before adding it to my tank. This seems like is half the hassle of a drip system is eliminated (treating the water).
 

Drstrangelove

Potamotrygon
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Oct 21, 2012
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The dosing pump getting blocked will not cause a flood. If an overflow for a conventional drip system gets blocked then a flood will result.
That's true, but only if the float valve is not stuck open. Of course, that's two accidents, not one, so the chances of both at the same is pretty slim.
 
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hart24601

Plecostomus
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Nov 24, 2015
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Many ways to do it. I use RO/DI water (because Iowa was is nasty) in brute cans. I have a pump that send the re mineralized water to the tank and then have a simple bulkhead out the sump to the floor drain. I have an apex with a float switch inside the sump that will shut the pump off if the water rises and send me a text message.
 

Oughtsix

Redtail Catfish
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Apr 9, 2011
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Many ways to do it. I use RO/DI water (because Iowa was is nasty) in brute cans. I have a pump that send the re mineralized water to the tank and then have a simple bulkhead out the sump to the floor drain. I have an apex with a float switch inside the sump that will shut the pump off if the water rises and send me a text message.
I like your setup! How much water does your brute can hold? It seems like any flooding issue would be minimized to the amount of water you keep in your brute can. It also seems like the float switch is a failsafe in case your drain plugs.

I know reverse osmosis strips pretty much everything from the water. What are you using to re-mineralize the water? I assume that running straight RO water isn't healthy for the tank?

I am asking because I am on well water and have been using the well water straight into my tank. The previous owners of my house had a RO unit installed. For the past 15 years I have only used the RO water for the ice maker in the freezer. I have been trying to decide if I want to use the RO water for the drip system or straight well water (which has been working very well since I setup up the tank). I have a very heavily planted tank with a couple inches of dirt under the gravel.
 

hart24601

Plecostomus
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Nov 24, 2015
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I have 3 44g brute cans plumbed together that I remineralize with seachem equilibrium. I run ro/di because of the nitrates here, but I think some ray keepers run only straight RO but I have plants and snails and the ph gets too low.

For the brutes I use avast marine barrel tender to prolong the DI - I have it hooked up pre ro system so it shuts off the water when full before the ro, I also have a float valve backup in the brute so if the avast failed on the float valve and ro autoshutoff would kick in. Finally they are in the unfinished section of basement near floor drain so have 3 ways to avoid flood there but the avast has not failed me yet.

The apex will also shut off the pump if the temp falls too low which is another backup if the unheated ro/di water somehow defeated all the other backups.

You could of course use any size brute and manually fill it if one was worried about issues and that would contain how much water could be spilled, but I have plenty of backups I am not too concerned.
 
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