drip system

[David R]

okay.. now where shall i drain out the excess water?? i hear that i should drill a hole on the overflow section of the tank and make a pipe stick up to the point where water is excess but i dont want to drill a hole at the back of the tank's overflow..

You want to drain the water from the lowest point of the system, IE the last compartment of your sump where the pump is, and IMO it makes sense to drip the good water in as far away from there as possible, so right by your return to the tank. Alternately, you could have a pump on a timer set to remove water from the system and a float valve to replace the water that is removed (jcardona1 had a set up like that if you search for it). Both systems have their pros and cons, with a drain in the sump you can just put your hose into the main tank if you want to change more water and it is never going to flood, and with the pump/float valve system you know your sump will never run dry and I prefer the idea of having a small daily change (say 5-10%) rather than a constant dribble.

 

[soupa2]

well i haven't read all the ideas fellow mfkers suggest but will read up on it.. as to david R... my lowest portion of the sump is my return area where the pump pushes back to the main tank.. i can't not drip and drain at the same location.. with drip on the main tank it will be constant cold water.. initially i was thinking putting the drip water in the sump where the lowest area of the sump so my 3x300 jargur heater warm them up in the winter time and the drain in the main tank like the JK47's post.. here is his pictures..



i must say preparation is the key to success and less work.. just like took 2 days to prepare the move of tank...

 

[DIDYSIS]

My system is always clear, well other then when im feeding of course.

I tried that on mine. The hot water made the system cloudy. You don't have a problem with that?
What I did was cap off one end of a piece of PVC, put the drip emitter all the way in (to the cap), and stuck a small aquarium heater in it. Stand it on end, drip in cold water and let warm water overflow.


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[soupa2]

I would like to do it DIDYSIS but my sump is siiting in the basement and the drain @ this point reaches to the tank will not be high enough to let gravity do its work. I will try to do like ur setup but modify it little. I'm going to set it where the hot and cold water are already mixed into the sump. Or I'll have it plumb where I shut off the hot water if I like.

 

[David R]

I've never run a drip system, but does the tiny amount of water being run into the tank really make that much of a difference? Either way you're using electricity to heat it, unless you run a wet back off your fire place or something like that.

 

[DIDYSIS]

My setup is in the basement, if your house is like mine all the water goes down to basement level then drains out of the house since all the water lines are below ground, My water drains from my tank then travels about 18 feet to a main drain in the house.

I would like to do it DIDYSIS but my sump is siiting in the basement and the drain @ this point reaches to the tank will not be high enough to let gravity do its work. I will try to do like ur setup but modify it little. I'm going to set it where the hot and cold water are already mixed into the sump. Or I'll have it plumb where I shut off the hot water if I like.

Its amazing when dripping a small amount of water how much it can change your temperature. My hotwater heater is gas powered and at least for now gas is a good bit cheaper then electricity. After months of looking at everything and checking the bills and useing a meter to check the power that was used for my tank running the drip system and using the hot water to heat it came out to a little less or the same price as just running the heaters on my tank, I would still need to do water changes on top of that if I was running the heaters in my system. Of course all water is different, all tank sizes would be different so what works for me might not work for you. My friend is going to try it with him 300ish gallon tank and see how it goes for him.

I've never run a drip system, but does the tiny amount of water being run into the tank really make that much of a difference? Either way you're using electricity to heat it, unless you run a wet back off your fire place or something like that.

 

[JK47]

well i haven't read all the ideas fellow mfkers suggest but will read up on it.. as to david R... my lowest portion of the sump is my return area where the pump pushes back to the main tank.. i can't not drip and drain at the same location.. with drip on the main tank it will be constant cold water.. initially i was thinking putting the drip water in the sump where the lowest area of the sump so my 3x300 jargur heater warm them up in the winter time and the drain in the main tank like the JK47's post.. here is his pictures..

View attachment 929772

i must say preparation is the key to success and less work.. just like took 2 days to prepare the move of tank...

^ I HATE that design by the way. If you have tons of disolved O2 as many of us do an air bubble can slowly build up. That needs to be modified with an aqua-lifter pump. Once you add that it can be fail safe.

 

[isde02]

^ I HATE that design by the way. If you have tons of disolved O2 as many of us do an air bubble can slowly build up. That needs to be modified with an aqua-lifter pump. Once you add that it can be fail safe.

Hey Jk, if you came up with something a little better that design can you pm me the details or make another build thread?

 

[JK47]

Hey Jk, if you came up with something a little better that design can you pm me the details or make another build thread?

I did and I will. I will put it in the main success/failures thread so people can see it all in one place. If you guys want me to stick the success/failures thread let me or another mod know. I don't stick my own threads unless requested.

 

[soupa2]

what ever you like to do JK... just show them pics of the new idea.also if you post the pics on another thread please provide a link to it.. no idea where this success/failures thread are located... i'm in the process of getting material and things going for my tank...if you want give me a PM...