drip systems from stored water!

[limige]

some people may let this slip past them but i'm using it on my breeders and love it!

you can do it simply with a garbage can and float valve and pump/tubing ect.

here is what i did. i have my 230 gallon storage tank for 18 29 gallon tanks. i have a mag drive pump in it, mine happens to be a 700gph but it's overkill. i convert the 1/2"npt to a 1/2 poly hose and run it to the top tier and loop it around coming over the bottom tier.

i used 2 gal/hr drip emitters in the 1/2 line, then add 1/4" airline down to the tanks. on the end of the 1/2" poly hose i have a valve to adjust the line pressure after the valve a 3/8 poly hose returns extra water back to the storage tank, which keeps it circulating well.

if you adjust your pressure to get 2 gal/hr, you can setup your pump on a timer for like 8 hrs on to change 16 gallons of water. i let less pressure run through and run the pump all the time.

soon i plan to use a smaller container and a float switch to automatically fill as the water level drops.
doing this allows me to preheat the water and run my r/o to mix as needed.


just a thought for some of you! it's pretty cheap to do and doesn't take much skill or time to setup if your tanks are drilled.

[tony1313]

Sounds like a good set-up Mike. I'll have to come by and check it out. I'm just about ready to start plumbing my breeder rack and your set-up sounds like somthing that would work for me.

btw, my ss put down eggs again last nite.

See ya,
Tony

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

That sounds like areally good setup. But the only possible problem I could see would be any kind of fluctuation in the hardness of the water affecting the pairs. Then again, they are on the drip, so any change is very slow. I would find that system hard to maintain a hardness of say 100 ppm when the water in the storage container is constantly being drained and refilled. If you could find a way to keep the hardness consistent, then that would be an awesome system.


-Ryan

[Lance_Krueger]

limige,
Great idea and implementation of that idea. I've been wanting to do a similar setup, but for all my growout fish, except breeders (will do so for breeders later once I get them centralized). The problem I have is Chloramines in my tap water, and would have to treat the water in seperate barrels before moving it to the system like you discussed.
My previous reservation about not doing a system like what you are using was I thought you had to have the high pressure of tap lines to make the drip emitters work. But if you're able to make this setup work with a simple Mag Drive, then that's definitely good news for the setup I had in my head. Do you have any idea how many pounds of pressure the drip emitters require to work at their indicated ratings? And how do you figure out what size Mag Drive to use, since I've never seen PSI ratings for the pumps, just GPH.
Another question regarding your breeder drip system. What do you do when you treat the water with Methylene Blue or Formalin to prevent egg fungus? Wouldn't the drip system wash these chemicals out pretty quick? Can you easily shut off certain tanks for a few days until the eggs hatch?
Thanks,
Lance Krueger