perhaps you can run the drain to the gutter drain in the ground? or do the gutters just drain onto the ground in cali?
DIY 24/7 water changer plan, how's it look?
- Thread starter jcardona1
- Start date
- Status
the rain gutters off the roof? yeah most of these just spill onto the ground since we dont get that much rain...dmopar74;3778871;3778871 said:
ok on the pressure regulators, what are those little holes on the side for? hooked everything up and the piece of crap is leaking from the holes. did i get a bad one? 
mine did that too for a few days, then it has pretty much stopped. whenever i turn the water off then on it will also squirt out water for a second. i believe the holes are to purge air from the regulator, but honestly have no idea.
place a bucket under it, its all i did.
place a bucket under it, its all i did.
i believe i have thought of something that everyone has forgotten to mention... if you were originally changing 250 gal per week that means you were in essence changing 62.5% of water a week. that means you were tanking 62.5% of your nitrates out of your system and replacing that water with water that was virtually nitrate free (<5ppm as per the photo you showed).
if you go to a drip system, the new water going into the system(<5ppm) will mix with the old water in the system (X ppm + <5ppm). this means that the water draining out of the system will be some function of the amount of the nitrate in the new water plus the amount of nitrates in the old water. since you are not physically removing the water in one shot and then adding all new water in one shot, you will be draining water with a combination of both new and old water.
what i am trying to say is that according to the formula i have described above, you will need to change MORE than 250 gallons per week with your drip system to achieve the same nitrate reduction you were achieving with your weekly water changes. i would test the water weekly for nitrates with a test kit more accurate than the one you showed in the photo so you can pinpoint what actual nitrate reduction you are getting to the nearest one... not the nearest 10 or 20ppm.
hope this all made sense... it makes sense in my head but i dont know if i explained it correctly!! lol
if you go to a drip system, the new water going into the system(<5ppm) will mix with the old water in the system (X ppm + <5ppm). this means that the water draining out of the system will be some function of the amount of the nitrate in the new water plus the amount of nitrates in the old water. since you are not physically removing the water in one shot and then adding all new water in one shot, you will be draining water with a combination of both new and old water.
what i am trying to say is that according to the formula i have described above, you will need to change MORE than 250 gallons per week with your drip system to achieve the same nitrate reduction you were achieving with your weekly water changes. i would test the water weekly for nitrates with a test kit more accurate than the one you showed in the photo so you can pinpoint what actual nitrate reduction you are getting to the nearest one... not the nearest 10 or 20ppm.
hope this all made sense... it makes sense in my head but i dont know if i explained it correctly!! lol
dmopar74;3778444; said:
jcardona1;3778717; said:yeah im gonna start out with 2gph, maybe even 4gph for a few days to get the nitrates down to low levels. then ill switch it up to 1 or 1.5gph.
quick update, ran to lowes and got some parts for the water line. this will be feeding from my washing machine hookup. the other part of the faucet is where the washer hose goes. youll also see the 25 psi pressure regulator.
spent about $30 on these parts. could have gone cheaper but i wanted the metal stuff for durability
making sure i save the receipts just in case something doesnt work!!
View attachment 450607
jcardona1;3779642; said:ok on the pressure regulators, what are those little holes on the side for? hooked everything up and the piece of crap is leaking from the holes. did i get a bad one?
I don't recall if the regulator I have has holes in it or not, but it looks just like the one you have. I've had solid results with it. I'm just throwing this out there, but you did use pipe thread tape didn't you?
I'll try and remember to check for holes when I get home.
omojena;3779810; said:
yeah i have thought about this. i guess this only way to know if trial and error! ive never really tested for nitrates before and i was surprised to see them so high even after doing a massive water change. most guys that have these say they have zero to little nitrates. so even if i can keep them at around 40ppm, it will still be an improvement. ill post results once i get this running
Pharaoh;3780274; said:I don't recall if the regulator I have has holes in it or not, but it looks just like the one you have. I've had solid results with it. I'm just throwing this out there, but you did use pipe thread tape didn't you?
I'll try and remember to check for holes when I get home.
yeah i use thread tape
but its not leaking from there. the body of the regulator has a little pin hole, and its leaking from there, not the threads 
jcardona1;3780700; said:yeah i use thread tape
I'm thinking that you may have picked up a bad one. Give it a shot and see if it works or just take it back and swap it for a new one.
- Status
