DIY Drip System, what do you think?

[New Enthusiast]

A bubbler is an air pump with an air line going to some kind of diffuser that makes tones of tiny bubbles. Place the bubbler at the bottom of the tank and the bubbles will rapidly rise to the surface mixing the water as it goes. The more bubbles the more violent mixing is going to happen. The surface agitation helps exchange gasses into and out of the water. Check out sponge filters for more information.

Chlorine leaves (gasses off) water very easy. There's a few tricks to make it happen faster. This is why my trickle system works on plain old tap water. There's a few qualities of water that you can make work in your favor.
1) Cold water holds more dissolved gas than hot water.
2) Hot water holds more dissolved minerals than cold water.
I tap off my house cold water line for this reason. I add less minerals to my fish tank and also when the cold water hits the warm fish tank's water the chlorine immediately gasses off. At least it doesn’t hurt my fish, I’m certain of this. Also the hot water leaving my tank takes with it lots of dissolved solids (poo) out to the yard. The grass is definitely greener where I put the fish water J

oh.. so the air stones i want to put at the bottom of the 240 are bubblers? haha and here i was wracking my mind thinking it was some super cool crazy contraption. does the de-gassing work with chloramine as well? as i said i live in Jacksonville NC. our water is so messed up its sad.. atleast i live off base on base. its even worse. thats another reason i'm putting so much care into making sure the water is safe and prepared for my fish before it goes to them.

 

[Egon]

oh.. so the air stones i want to put at the bottom of the 240 are bubblers? haha and here i was wracking my mind thinking it was some super cool crazy contraption. does the de-gassing work with chloramine as well? as i said i live in Jacksonville NC. our water is so messed up its sad.. atleast i live off base on base. its even worse. thats another reason i'm putting so much care into making sure the water is safe and prepared for my fish before it goes to them.

That's why I suggest a test tank if your worried. A lot of people assume the water is bad for fish, and it very well can be, depending on the area. Farming areas with lots of fertilizers and pesticides might impact well water but larger US cities have very clean water. I think a full tank of straight tap water, may kill the fish. I think that same exact tank of water aged for three days would be fine for the fish. I accidently ran a test on my 450 and almost was sick to my stomach when it happened. I have a 1.5” drain going to my yard I have the drain set at 20% from the top so when I open a valve I can drain only 20% and not have to watch it or worry about more draining. It will only drain 20% no matter what. I forgot to close the drain and started refilling. I also forgot that I was refilling. (this is why I have the trickle system now lol) After a couple 4 hours or so I noticed. Tank temps dropped to 70 and the water was so clear I couldn’t tell it was in the tank. The fish were hardly moving and I thought I had killed every one! Nothing died. I had a small ammonia spike 4 days later, I think some of the BB died off, but I was able to recycle the tank.

Trickle systems put such a small amount of water into the tank that the fish don’t notice it. I trickle in one gallon an hour, 24 gallons a day, 168 gallons a week, into a 450. Large water changes in a short period impact the fish more IMO. Just an opinion. I’ve done “straight from the tap” water changes in Ipswitch England, Myrtle Beach SC, Chicago IL, Albuquerque NM, and Phoenix AZ. I never once used prime or any other conditioner and never lost a fish from a water change. Now I’m using the trickle system and I think it’s even less stress on the fish.

 

[New Enthusiast]

a test tank will definitely be in order. if i can age the water and then send it straight to my tanks with no fear life will be wonderful :-D i'll set up a 55 w/ some convicts and let it run for 2 weeks. see how that goes. here's fingers crossed :-D. on a bright note i have less than a week left in afghanistan! so drip system.. here i come!!