I just finished my new drip system last night. I tested it, turned off power and all is well. The only problem I encountered was the way I have the drain designed it caused a flushing effect like a toilet so I drilled a couple of vent holes in the top of my reverse P trap. The reverse P trap is what controlls the level in my sump. When the level goes over that the excess water goes to the septic tank. Since the P trap is above the drain line from my sink, there is no chance of contamination from the septic tank back to my main tank, Unless there is a major back up of the system. If that happens then I am screwed in more ways than one...
I am dripping approx 50 gallons per day and I purposfully left my nitrates at 20ppm to see how starting off at 50 GPD would lower them or keep them stable. If they stay stable then I will just do a bigger water change to get them down to around 10 and make a few adjustments here and there to keep them there.
The nice thing is, no more flooded room from me leaving the water on when changing 3 to 400 gallons of water every friday. I won't miss changing that much water at all.
Oh, the last problem is temp. Even the 3 gallons per hour or so is slowly dropping the temp of my 700 gallons in my system. I may have to add another heater for winter months. I usually don't even need a heater as I keep my room at 78 and the water stays at 80 degrees with a small heater backup. Now its 77. We will see.
I will try to take some pics and post them up today and update the results on my nitrates at the end of the week.
Description of the system:
1.5" bulkhead I already had in my 100 gallon sump. I used spa flex PVC hose to the drain of my fish room sink. I took the 1.5 inch hose up to two 90 degree elbows above the drain line in a reverse P trap fassion, measuring where I wantd the water level in my tank. The water will rise up to the bottom of the P trap and then just spill over into the drain continously. IF the power goes off then the excess water will just go over and down the drain. I have two 100 gallon sumps dasy chained together so it has plenty of reserve to re start with out sucking air. The holes I drilled should stop the flushing effect which sucked out about 50 gallons when I tested it by turning off the pumps. The air holes should break the suction.
The input is a hose to a carbon prefilter to remove chlorine and particles, then to a 1/4" Ice maker hose and finally to an adjustable drip emmiter. I used a stop watch and a measuring cup to set the flow rate. Its very consistent. I calculated that the number of ounces per minute is the same as the number of gallons per day times 10. So if you drip 5 ounces per minute then you will drip 50 gallons per day. Its a rough calculation as the exact number is slightly less.
Thanks to everybody here who made very detailed posts on how to do this. This will save me loads of time and the fish will like it too.
I am dripping approx 50 gallons per day and I purposfully left my nitrates at 20ppm to see how starting off at 50 GPD would lower them or keep them stable. If they stay stable then I will just do a bigger water change to get them down to around 10 and make a few adjustments here and there to keep them there.
The nice thing is, no more flooded room from me leaving the water on when changing 3 to 400 gallons of water every friday. I won't miss changing that much water at all.
Oh, the last problem is temp. Even the 3 gallons per hour or so is slowly dropping the temp of my 700 gallons in my system. I may have to add another heater for winter months. I usually don't even need a heater as I keep my room at 78 and the water stays at 80 degrees with a small heater backup. Now its 77. We will see.
I will try to take some pics and post them up today and update the results on my nitrates at the end of the week.
Description of the system:
1.5" bulkhead I already had in my 100 gallon sump. I used spa flex PVC hose to the drain of my fish room sink. I took the 1.5 inch hose up to two 90 degree elbows above the drain line in a reverse P trap fassion, measuring where I wantd the water level in my tank. The water will rise up to the bottom of the P trap and then just spill over into the drain continously. IF the power goes off then the excess water will just go over and down the drain. I have two 100 gallon sumps dasy chained together so it has plenty of reserve to re start with out sucking air. The holes I drilled should stop the flushing effect which sucked out about 50 gallons when I tested it by turning off the pumps. The air holes should break the suction.
The input is a hose to a carbon prefilter to remove chlorine and particles, then to a 1/4" Ice maker hose and finally to an adjustable drip emmiter. I used a stop watch and a measuring cup to set the flow rate. Its very consistent. I calculated that the number of ounces per minute is the same as the number of gallons per day times 10. So if you drip 5 ounces per minute then you will drip 50 gallons per day. Its a rough calculation as the exact number is slightly less.
Thanks to everybody here who made very detailed posts on how to do this. This will save me loads of time and the fish will like it too.
