DRIP SYSTEMS Success & Failures

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Ya I flush allot of good water down the drain each month. Would be nice to use it for something. Ohh well somewhere its being recycled and someone is being charged for it again.

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DIDYSIS said:
I drip hot and cold and love it.
Heating 1000 gallons with a little water and actually my furnace needs repair so the last 2 days the tank is heating the house to a low of 63 and high of 70 during the day and the tanks are staying at 78.8,
I recommend using toilet valves strait from a water line. They seem to hold what gph you set them with. total combined hot and cold I am running about 7.5gph.


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Dumb question:

Straight from a water line meaning a main correct? Not teeing off a faucet or spigot? And do you have a pic of the valve? Or is it just like the ones behind my toilet? Thanks!
 
These are standard pex water lines that are T'd off the main house water lines. Same lines in most houses are pex. Then these valves connect direct to the pex line. I can have 0 gph to full water blasting out of this 1/2inch line.

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jdhuegel1 said:
Dumb question:

Straight from a water line meaning a main correct? Not teeing off a faucet or spigot? And do you have a pic of the valve? Or is it just like the ones behind my toilet? Thanks!
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jdhuegel1 said:
My only REAL concern is maintaining flow rate. I don't trust the drip emitters. I'd rather just tap the main, use a ball valve and adjust it accordingly. The concern is if those valves hold constant or if they fluctuate. I'd hate to end up going from 2gph to like 10 without knowing. Do they make ones that lock?
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http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...trickle-quot-manifold-quot-for-my-three-tanks

I set this manifold up a couple years ago. It's expandable and I already added another tank to the system. It's very simple and each tank has adjustable flow rates.
 
JK47 said:
What is the two lines for? I see the manifold is attached to the line on the left, what does the line on the right do? Is that for hot water?
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Good question. Just cold water, thats one pipe with two hose bibs on it. Initially I had just two tanks so I set up a very crude drip into each tank with the large hose bibs/valves you would have on the outside of your house. Then I added another tank so one hose bib is for the trickle manifold and the other one I use as a convenient water supply if I need to fill/refill a tank after something like gravel vacuuming or filter maintenance. I just run the hose to the tank and open the valve full blast. Instead of running a hose from the back yard.
 
JK47 said:
I don't have that option. I have to filter my water for sediment and chlorine. I don't know if I have low enough chlorine levels to run without filtering.

Before and after (2 weeks) and the sediment filter is clogged and nasty. I am adding a 1 micron after the 5 micon in the pic soon.

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That is crazy. I don't get that kind of dirt in six months of use.

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I've had snails plug up drain lines many times, and am in the process of changing all drains to at least 1.5", in fact the main line to outside is now 2". It's not just snails though, once one or 2 mollusks get into position, debris such as plant matter starts to build up around them.
And with 20 tanks its easy to "not" notice. All it takes is 1 snail to start the progression to an impending flood.
I also do use strainers, and try to check them every day, and to exercise return line valves at least every other day.
Sometimes a tiny snail gets thru the strainer and grows up in the pipes, I now keep long handle brushes next to a group of tanks, to regularly ream out lines.
I lost a bunch of hard to replace fish in 1 rheophilic tank when a 1/2" return was blocked the other day, and slowed to a trickle, I had been focusing on some breeder tanks, and didn't notice the lack of flow, again, snails.
burbon44s said:
I almost had a bad failure last night.
Got home from work, sat in my chair to relax and noticed something different about my tank.
First couple minutes couldn't figure it out, everything seemed fine, just different.
Then it hit me. My 600 gal. tank was about 1/4 inch from overflowing.
The waste line was restricted with some snails. I use a garden hose but it's sized down to fit in the sewer.
Jumped on the hose a couple times and clog was fixed.
I was thinking about putting a screen on the drain pipe but thought that would be more risky.
Anyone else have this happen?


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muscle said:
That is crazy. I don't get that kind of dirt in six months of use.

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Yeah that is pretty bad huh? My city has a serious issue with our water supply because of "construction" and it has been going on for four months. Makes me sick they are OK with letting people drink this and not tell them.. My ray tanks have the cleanest water in the city and that is sad..
 
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