auto drip?
- Thread starter scott s
- Start date
I have my 750g on an auto changer. Solenoid valve opens every night and dumps 70g of cold water into tank. Then I have a small pump in the sump hooked to a float switch which pumps water out of the sump into my lawn. So I'm at 490g a week. I got a heavy bioload though
I had both my drips set up to run a mix of hot and cold but only problem is they are too far away from water heater. I am dripping 180 gpd on my 750 and even at that rate the hot water cools down to around 60 degrees as it was only running 60 gpd. I just run cold now even in the winer. I am running two carbon filters on each drip that are good for 20,000 gallons each and I just use a 3/16" valve to control flow. I occasionally check the flow using a 2 cup measuring cup which is 16 oz. I time how long it takes to fill then multiply it out.
I've been toying with the idea for a long while now but keep putting it off. On the otherhand, I have developed a pretty efficient manual water change routine for my 8 tanks.
Anyone running a drip in their apartment? I doubt my landlord would be too pleased with the idea.
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Anyone running a drip in their apartment? I doubt my landlord would be too pleased with the idea.
Sent from my LG-MS910 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Getting the water to the tank is the easy part as you can tie it in anywhere even under a sink. Trying to figure out how to get rid of the excess is the problem. You first have to figure out is you are going to use a float/solenoid or a stand pipe. I use a stand pipe and my water dumps into my koi pond outside and then out into the yard. If you are on a sewer system you can drip down a drain. I am on a septic system so I wanted to keep the water out of my septic tank
its best to run it as simple as poss
i just run a hma filter into the flow of one of my return pumps this moves the water around better
then i have a drilled hole in the side of my sump at the level i want my sump to run at
the sump fills to max and the old water runs out of the hole to a main drain
you dont need to worry about the flow rate of anything even if you want it to change 500 gal per day you can also you dont need to worry about your sump over flowing in a power cut at the excess water just goes down the drain
i just run a hma filter into the flow of one of my return pumps this moves the water around better
then i have a drilled hole in the side of my sump at the level i want my sump to run at
the sump fills to max and the old water runs out of the hole to a main drain
you dont need to worry about the flow rate of anything even if you want it to change 500 gal per day you can also you dont need to worry about your sump over flowing in a power cut at the excess water just goes down the drain
Yeah, mine is like t1 but I do like to use the least amount of drip possible to save wasting water and to keep my bio in the sump working hard.
I run 3 gph of cold through an emitter it can get a little expensive on the electrical bill in the winter with the heaters running more. I use the same basic system as t1 and toby with the drilled sump etc..
My system changes out 21% of the water every day or around 83% a week after you use the calculator
My system changes out 21% of the water every day or around 83% a week after you use the calculator
My heaters are never on I have 3 big pumps in the sump 2 x 18,000 lph and 1 x 30,000 lph if I turn my drip off the tank will run at 90 just from the heat of the pumps and heat from the 4 x 25w uv run back to back
I run about 200 gal per day of cold water in and the tank sits at 85 with no heater
The pumps do use a lot of elec 1kw just for pumps and uv
I stir up my sump every month and you can even see 1 inch in the tank I then turn the drip on full over night to clear the tank that's when the heaters come on as the tank temp drops to 82 and it cost money to heat it up with 1kw of pumps and 2kw of heaters
It's just a case of setting it up what works best for you as my sump it 24inch deep the drain lets me fill the sump with 18inch deep of water which you wouldn't be able to do with out the drain as if you had a power cut the back flow of water into the sump would over flow on the floor
I had non return valves on my pumps do you didn't get as much back flow but I took them off as with them you can't back wash the pumps which I like to do once a month just by turning the pump off for a few mins then turning it back on again
You would be shocked at the amount of crap that comes out of the uv when you back wash then
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Do you use external or submersible pumps t1? My 4300 gph reeflo which is the main pump doesn't make much heat at all I kind of wish it did lol.
My heaters only work when the temp drops way below 30F for a while which is like half the year in MI lol
I am going to try coiling a large piece of tubing in my sump next winter to see if I can bring the water to temp before it drips in to the tank if that makes any sense
My heaters only work when the temp drops way below 30F for a while which is like half the year in MI lol
I am going to try coiling a large piece of tubing in my sump next winter to see if I can bring the water to temp before it drips in to the tank if that makes any sense
