DRIP SYSTEMS Success & Failures

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
DIDYSIS WE NEED YOUR SETUP IN HERE!

Step by step with pics ;) especially the float switch and pump. I am doing that for the two new tanks I just bought.
 
Bump! Jk47 I still need your update on your original design.....and if you put the incoming water on a float switch you shouldn't have any issues if the drain loses siphon correct?
 
Epic fail...making ur own sediment filter out of 2 broken marineland 350 canister housings. Ran for about 45 min on my drip before the top blew off one of the cans. Too much pressure lol....time to order real housings for sediment and carbon.
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Great thread. I have been pretty busy lately and wanting something to help give me more free time and improve my water params. Just after some advice from the experts here.

My tank has an auto top up unit (Tunze). The top up resivour is about 220L/60G.
My plan for the auto drip system is to use a spare small pump on a timer to periodically pump out water from the sump, thus maximizing the old water that gets removed. Also this way I can control the flow pretty easily.
The auto top up will refill the sump, I will use a float valve in the top up resivour to keep it at least 40% full, and have it set up to collect rain water.
My town water only has chlorine, I hear people use filters and some don't bother if they only have chlorine. I am planning to change about 1/2 to 3/4 of the resivour a day so the water will do a lot of sitting around, not enough time to dissipate all the chlorine though. Would I be able to get away with no chorine filter? Would leaving a bag of carbon in the bucket have any effect in removing chlorine? Like leaving it up against/on top of the top up pump.

If the float fails the sump won't overflow as there is a hole/hose near the top of the sump to drain when water gets too high.
 
professor_rob said:
Great thread. I have been pretty busy lately and wanting something to help give me more free time and improve my water params. Just after some advice from the experts here.

My tank has an auto top up unit (Tunze). The top up resivour is about 220L/60G.
My plan for the auto drip system is to use a spare small pump on a timer to periodically pump out water from the sump, thus maximizing the old water that gets removed. Also this way I can control the flow pretty easily.
The auto top up will refill the sump, I will use a float valve in the top up resivour to keep it at least 40% full, and have it set up to collect rain water.
My town water only has chlorine, I hear people use filters and some don't bother if they only have chlorine. I am planning to change about 1/2 to 3/4 of the resivour a day so the water will do a lot of sitting around, not enough time to dissipate all the chlorine though. Would I be able to get away with no chorine filter? Would leaving a bag of carbon in the bucket have any effect in removing chlorine? Like leaving it up against/on top of the top up pump.

If the float fails the sump won't overflow as there is a hole/hose near the top of the sump to drain when water gets too high.
Click to expand...

Look into an Aqualift pump to remove the water from your sump. They look like a small air pump but they are designed to suck water - hooking it up is as simple as plugging it into your timer, dropping a piece of 1/4" tubing into your sump, and routing the other 1/4" tube to your drain.

Whatever pump you use, be sure to leave an air-gap to avoid syphoning if your drain is lower than the water level of your sump.

As far as the Chlorine, I can't really say - I've been on well-water for the past 25 years.
 
Dan F said:
Look into an Aqualift pump to remove the water from your sump. They look like a small air pump but they are designed to suck water - hooking it up is as simple as plugging it into your timer, dropping a piece of 1/4" tubing into your sump, and routing the other 1/4" tube to your drain.

Whatever pump you use, be sure to leave an air-gap to avoid syphoning if your drain is lower than the water level of your sump.

As far as the Chlorine, I can't really say - I've been on well-water for the past 25 years.
Click to expand...

Will look into them pumps, there will be no issues with a syphon with my sump drains/hoses.

Does anyone know if Carbon will have any affect in removing chlorine? And how much of an affect?


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professor_rob said:
Will look into them pumps, there will be no issues with a syphon with my sump drains/hoses.

Does anyone know if Carbon will have any affect in removing chlorine? And how much of an affect?
Click to expand...

I use the aqua lifter pumps in my overflows as well, you cannot do it without one or you will have a failure in breaking syphon in no time. As for as chlorine remove hit up www.thefilterguys.biz and email Jim. He can point you to the right filter to use for your water. Great guy and I have been doing business with them for years. I highly recommend them.
 
JK47 said:
I use the aqua lifter pumps in my overflows as well, you cannot do it without one or you will have a failure in breaking syphon in no time. As for as chlorine remove hit up www.thefilterguys.biz and email Jim. He can point you to the right filter to use for your water. Great guy and I have been doing business with them for years. I highly recommend them.
Click to expand...

That is very good advice about the pump. I almost found out the hard way. My solution is to put the outlet of the hose up higher than the pump so the syphon stops. That should do the job and stop the syphon when pump turns off.

I am in Australia and not sure what the shipping costs for those filters will be. Should be able to find something similar over here eventually. Not sure if I will need one.

My set up is pretty simple. Pump on a timer which turns on every 2 hours from 8am to 8pm for about 15-20 minutes. This pumps water out of my sump. Which works out to be about 100-120L a day (25-30G). So a week I will be changing around 25-30%. I have a Tunze auto top up unit to keep the sump at the right level.

My draining pump does 1L per minute so that makes it very easy to adjust water change quantity via the timer.

A float valve in my resivour keeps that topped up with the hose.

Will start to monitor the nitrates soon. I do have a bunch of pothos doing their stuff as well, so hoping nitrates stay at a decent level.


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