DIY Simple Continuous Drip Plan - Please review prior to execution

[CrAzYNeSs]

Hello everyone,

Here are my plans for a continuous drip system that I want to put together on my 240G. Please review it and let me know if you see and possible problems with this setup.

Any feedback or idea would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Pharaoh]

I would put the pressure regulator before the chloramine filter.

 

[CrAzYNeSs]

Sounds good. I'll put it before it. Also, can you post a picture of a 1/4" pressure regulator. The one I have in mind is just a quick connect with a valve on top that you can turn to regulate the pressure. Thanks!

 

[muffywrx]

Looks like what I was going to do.

 

[jcardona1]

Just curious, why you using a shut-off solenoid? And I had my regulator after the filter, works fine either way, as long as you don't exceed the flow rates needed for the carbon to remove chloramines (15gph I think it was)

 

[Pharaoh]

Just curious, why you using a shut-off solenoid? And I had my regulator after the filter, works fine either way, as long as you don't exceed the flow rates needed for the carbon to remove chloramines (15gph I think it was)

True, but if your pressure is low enough for the chloramine filter, then you probably don't need it for the drip emitters.


As far as the pressure regulator, I've only seen them with the garden hose threads. so you will probably be limited to the ball valve, gate valve style.

 

[CrAzYNeSs]

Just curious, why you using a shut-off solenoid? And I had my regulator after the filter, works fine either way, as long as you don't exceed the flow rates needed for the carbon to remove chloramines (15gph I think it was)

The reason for the solenoid is because the overflow in my tank is a CPR external w/ a C siphon which breaks siphon really easy. Currently the siphon is kept going by a powerhead. Main concern was that I don't want to have to worry about overflowing the tank.

Originally, what I wanted to do was to install a redundancy for just this scenario. Set the traditional U-tube overflow box really high up so it works ONLY when water levels are critically high. Eventually I ditched the plan and went with the solenoid because in case the power outage lasts for a while I do not want water temps to drop too much. Albeit, power is only usually cut for rolling blackout purposes in the Summer here in SoCal.

Realized this after typing the previous paragraph. I guess that water temp isn't really an issue since its only 2 gph and the power has never been out for more than 4-5 hrs.

 

[CrAzYNeSs]

I'm wondering if they have 1.5 gph emitters as I just did the calculation and 2 gph on my 240 gal tank is 336 gal/wk. This equates to the water being refreshed 1.4 times over. Think that may be a little extensive and possibly expensive on water costs. What do you guys think?

 

[CrAzYNeSs]

Here were the original schematics w/o the solenoid. The redundant overflow was going to be directly plumbed into the water drain and not into the sump as shown in the picture.

 

[CrAzYNeSs]

@Pharaoh - the pressure regulators that I purchased for my setup looks like this.

Originally, I wanted to go with something like this:


However, the first one is called a "1/4 X 1/4 QUICK FITTING NEEDLE CONTROL VALVE" and I figured it would give me more precise control of the water pressure. I know you can either put this before or after the filter but I think I'm going to put it before. I'll be getting all the parts next week. Hopefully, if time permits, I'll have it up by next week end.

BTW - thank you all for the input. You guys have a lot more experience in this matter than me. Do any of you guys know how long before we need to swap out the catalytic granular activated carbon? I also wanted to give you guys a heads up about this in the case you need it too. I also took the liberty of ordering a 32 lb bag of that stuff from here. Did the math and it turned out to be A LOT cheaper w/ no tax and free shipping. I doubt I will be changing the setup for a while so it will be a good investment.


PICTURES OF THE VALVES COURTESY OF THEFILTERGUYS.