A couple drip system questions.

[mjime714]

I am planning a drip system and have a couple questions.

Will a HOB overflow with durso pipe work as the drain for the excess water as it keeps the water level in the tank consistant?

I have an extra overflow laying around so I am wondering if that would work. If not, I will probably go with Neo's DIY version.

Also, if I am planning on dripping 1 gallon/hour in a 240 gallon tank, will that be enough to keep the tank topped off? How much evaporation can happen per day in a tank that is 8'x2'x2'?

Thanks for your help!!

Mike

 

[Euge]

Will a HOB overflow with durso pipe work as the drain for the excess water as it keeps the water level in the tank consistant?

i'm not to sure if you're asking something or stating something here.

The amount of evaporation in a tank varies depending on the setup you have. E.g. lights, tank temp etc.

 

[mjime714]

This is based off of rallysman's drip design: Here is a diagram and description I made telling people about the design. My question is about number 4. Will the overflow work to keep the water level consistant?

1: Cold water supply. In my case, its on the other side of the wall of the tank tapping off of the cold water supply that goes to the bathroom sink. Attached to the water supply is a 25psi pressure regulator.

2: Next the water flows to the water filters. I show 3 because you can add multiple filters equipped with different cartridges like carbon.

3: The filtered water then travels up a thinner drip irrigation tube up to the dripper which fills the tank. I plan to use a 1 gallon per hour dripper.

4: As the water level in the tank rises, the water level in the overflow prefilter rises. The Durso pipe keeps the water level of the tank in check by allowing it to drain at a level you set by setting your Durso pipe higher.

5: The overflow water drains out of the overflow into where ever you want. A tub so you can use it for watering the plants, a sink or in my case, tapped into the drain of the sink that is on the other side of the wall.

That is basicly it. I also plan to use a doser to add Amquel into the tank, but we will see how that goes.

 

[CHOMPERS]

Yes it will work well for the drip system. By adding multiple emitters, you can customize the water changes. Each 1g emitter will add 24 gallons of water to your tank daily. One will give you a 10% water change daily (minus evaporation). Btw, I have found emitters that flow 1/2g per hour.

 

[repair]

for the drip emiters to work right you will need to have the water pressure regulated down to around 25psi. The directions say that they can go as high as 40 psi but I can tell you that the emiters can blow off at that pressure.... I've never had one blow off at 25psi.

BTW I have 25 tanks on a drip sysytem

 

[repair]

I sent you a PM with the directions for doing a drip like I use.

BTW Rallymans drip is based on mine.

 

[rallysman]

BTW Rallymans drip is based on mine.

Yep! You should start another thread up steve. Your system is impressive.

10% a week may not sound like a lot, but when you get your levels where you want them it's easier to maintain than it is to lower.

I drip 1gph in my 265 and not only does it keep up with evaporation, it keeps the nitrates at ~15ppm.

 

[boisblancboy]

I also have a 240 8x2x2 with a drip system. I am dripping a 1/2 gph. I plumbed a drain line into my wet/dry filter instead of using an overflow box as my drain. The only thing I would be leary of using the overflow box as a drain is being the flow is so slow that the U tubes bulding air and losing syphon. Of course your tank isnt going to fill in minutes and overflow, just be sure to watch it to make sure it doesnt happen.

 

[mjime714]

I also have a 240 8x2x2 with a drip system. I am dripping a 1/2 gph. I plumbed a drain line into my wet/dry filter instead of using an overflow box as my drain. The only thing I would be leary of using the overflow box as a drain is being the flow is so slow that the U tubes bulding air and losing syphon. Of course your tank isnt going to fill in minutes and overflow, just be sure to watch it to make sure it doesnt happen.

I will monitor the overflow. You bring up a good point.

Im sorry about that repair... I need to edit my post to say "This is based off of rallysman's drip design which is based on repairs original design."

repair: I do have a regulator attached to the system. It is attached to the water supply (#1 in my diagram). Should I do it after the filters? From your PM, this design sounds almost exactly the same except for the manifold. Im doing it on only one tank.

If you can find the filter cartridge that filters out chlorine and chloromine, that would be great.

Do the prefilters change the hardness of the water? I am planning on a front tank and am curious about how this will effect the hardness and PH


THANKS!!

FYI, the system has not been built yet. It should be up and running within the next month or 2. I am still in the learning/planning stage.

 

[repair]

you can put the regulator before or after the filter, I have mine in front but next time I'm going to put it after the filter.

The filter I use only remove rust, sediment and chlorine and it doesn't affect the water in any other way.

As far as removing chloromine the filter manufacture said that they had one that would remove it but it was causing the water to have a strange smell but that was over a year ago so they may have a solution.

Where I live they don't use chloromine so I haven't looked any more but I would think that you have it in your water.

I would call the filter manufacturer and talk to them about it.