The reason I think this topic is of interest is the two points you raised here above.VLDesign;1651295; said:
#1 - the fall of the water away from the drip plate onto the filter media.
#2 - the loss of water due to clogged drip plate's 1/8" holes.
I think such things are good things to keep in mind when thinking about the addition of a good W/D filter to a system.
Now about the only way to be 100% sure that the water dripping from the drip plate is getting good coverage across the full area of media would be to just watch at work and see what it's doing.
If this was just a MythBuster science experiment , then you could also add some colored dye to the water and see first hand what areas of the media get hit by the falling water and whats left dry?
What i can tell you from my own W/D filter is that everything seems very wet to me.
I lifted up the prefilter media to see how the water was hitting the main filter of scrubbies and it sure seemed like a 100% coverage to my eyes!
I didnt see any dry spots.
Remember the fall of a drop of water will make a splach anyway , even if you cant see it , so water is splashing all over anyway..
I have also had a hint of the way water tends to always be seeking new and better/shorter ways to flow.
It seems at first glance to me, that the water would fall a little in one spot, only to move and start flowing more in another...
The small channels of water were always changeing , always pileing up on itself and going a new place only to pileup there and move on again.
As for the concern of clogged drip tray holes...
This is a very good thing to keep in mind!
if you drill the holes only 1/8" in size there is a big chance you will see lots of them, (Perhaps all of them) clog before long.
I think the easy answer to that problem would be to have way bigger holes.
Remember you dont want the drip tray to be a filter, it's only aimed at splitting the water around so that there is a wider falling area.
It has been suggested to me that I should make my drip plate holes about 1/4" to avoid clogging
(I may go even bigger just to be sure)
