Heating Drip System

[Ozzie73]

Heating water is energy intensive then you dump the heated water down the drain? Get ye a heat exchanger.

I dump heated water down the drain doing water changes and replace with heated water as it is. I may be able to set the hybrid tanks in a smaller area I can easily close off and heat to a higher temp. The rest I can get a little help from another heater and maintain the rest of the room around 80 degrees, hoping it keeps the tanks mid 70s, which should be good for centrals. I am still planning on installing a drip system to cut down the hours each week from water changes. Not trying to sound lazy, but 80 tanks has quite a few hours involved doing manual water changes and I'm definitely no spring chicken anymore. I'm hoping to maintain the room to around 80 degrees, along with the water drip, so the in tank heaters wouldn't be working all the time to catch up to a cold water drip. This is all still in the planning stages at this point. Definitely trying to look at all avenues before diving in so I'm not paying more for it down the road or backtracking fixing a lot of mistakes made.

 

[Randys]

I plumbed up a mixing valve and timer with the goal of pumping fresh water into my 300 gallon tank automatically on a daily basis. Sort of a BIG drip.

After I finished it quickly became apparent that it was just as easy to do water changes with my system. I've got a 1" diameter drain line in my tank that runs out the wall and into the woods behind my house. My water changes consist of opening a valve, letting the tank drain down, and then pushing a button on the timer. I can do a 30% water change in about 14 minutes and never get my hands wet! LOL

I figured adding a certain amount of water everyday would give me less dilution than a constant drip but a true water change would give me even FRESHER water. At least it would if I'm thinking about this correctly. ?

 

[Dloks]

I plumbed up a mixing valve and timer with the goal of pumping fresh water into my 300 gallon tank automatically on a daily basis. Sort of a BIG drip.

After I finished it quickly became apparent that it was just as easy to do water changes with my system. I've got a 1" diameter drain line in my tank that runs out the wall and into the woods behind my house. My water changes consist of opening a valve, letting the tank drain down, and then pushing a button on the timer. I can do a 30% water change in about 14 minutes and never get my hands wet! LOL

I figured adding a certain amount of water everyday would give me less dilution than a constant drip but a true water change would give me even FRESHER water. At least it would if I'm thinking about this correctly. ?


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Sexy pipes man

 

[Randys]

LOL Thanks!

My wife tells me I overdo things.

 

[Dovii kid]

I plumbed up a mixing valve and timer with the goal of pumping fresh water into my 300 gallon tank automatically on a daily basis. Sort of a BIG drip.

After I finished it quickly became apparent that it was just as easy to do water changes with my system. I've got a 1" diameter drain line in my tank that runs out the wall and into the woods behind my house. My water changes consist of opening a valve, letting the tank drain down, and then pushing a button on the timer. I can do a 30% water change in about 14 minutes and never get my hands wet! LOL

I figured adding a certain amount of water everyday would give me less dilution than a constant drip but a true water change would give me even FRESHER water. At least it would if I'm thinking about this correctly. ?


View attachment 1389119

Very nice. If it wasn’t for wanting to stay away from my water softener I would certainly do that. Great work

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I plumbed up a mixing valve and timer with the goal of pumping fresh water into my 300 gallon tank automatically on a daily basis. Sort of a BIG drip.

After I finished it quickly became apparent that it was just as easy to do water changes with my system. I've got a 1" diameter drain line in my tank that runs out the wall and into the woods behind my house. My water changes consist of opening a valve, letting the tank drain down, and then pushing a button on the timer. I can do a 30% water change in about 14 minutes and never get my hands wet! LOL

I figured adding a certain amount of water everyday would give me less dilution than a constant drip but a true water change would give me even FRESHER water. At least it would if I'm thinking about this correctly. ?


View attachment 1389119

Put a solenoid valve(Or similar) on the drain and set it on a timer once a day. Automatic water change!

 

[wheatbackdigger]

Hello. I'm looking to start a drip system for my aquariums to provide more consistent parameters and hopefully slightly less water changes. My question is I am on a well, in the winter time water coming out of well is very cold. I do not want to run from my faucet as we have a water softener. Any suggestions for heating the drip water. A little concerned with heating the aquarium with the cold drip water, especially as I turn the drip rate up.


One thought I had was filling a large trash can with water and running a considerable amount of the drip hose in that. While it won't heat to the necessary temperature I would expect the room temp water to radiate some heat to the drip water.

Any other ideas?

I do something similar but use a five gallon bucket full of water with a lid on it. I use a small heater to heat the water to 79 or so. I coil about 50 to 75’ of the drip hose in the bucket. Cut slits in the bucket lid for the heater cord and water lines. Water goes in about 68 and comes out 79. Simple and effective. The lid is to stop evaporation. Depending on how much water you drip, the length of coils can be smaller or bigger.

 

[Ozzie73]

I plumbed up a mixing valve and timer with the goal of pumping fresh water into my 300 gallon tank automatically on a daily basis. Sort of a BIG drip.

After I finished it quickly became apparent that it was just as easy to do water changes with my system. I've got a 1" diameter drain line in my tank that runs out the wall and into the woods behind my house. My water changes consist of opening a valve, letting the tank drain down, and then pushing a button on the timer. I can do a 30% water change in about 14 minutes and never get my hands wet! LOL

I figured adding a certain amount of water everyday would give me less dilution than a constant drip but a true water change would give me even FRESHER water. At least it would if I'm thinking about this correctly. ?


View attachment 1389119

If I was on an above ground level it would open up a whole new world of possibilities...lol. I'll be pumping out of a basement. I do have a french drain in the middle of the floor, but haven't looked into what it will hold with drip system. I'm sure zoned water changes would fill it pretty quick though. Nice setup!

 

[Ozzie73]

I do something similar but use a five gallon bucket full of water with a lid on it. I use a small heater to heat the water to 79 or so. I coil about 50 to 75’ of the drip hose in the bucket. Cut slits in the bucket lid for the heater cord and water lines. Water goes in about 68 and comes out 79. Simple and effective. The lid is to stop evaporation. Depending on how much water you drip, the length of coils can be smaller or bigger.

I thought about something like this also with a rubbermaid trash can or something of the sort. I haven't even figured out what I want to drip yet. I was thinking 10% a day on each tank, but that's still 340g a day. Whole lotta dripping and trash cans...lol. I have to research more on the zoned water changes.