Central Wet-Dry or Drip System?

[CARY_GLdiscus]

I Think am Thinking What your Thinking

[Lauren]

Cary, so how do you do your W/Cs then? ;D

[GulfCoastDiscus]

I have an automated system but I still siphon 20+% everyday and run the system to refill the tanks till it overflows. It's run on a timer and comes on for 3 hours then shuts off. I still have sponge filters on all the tanks. I guess it's partial automated. I siphon all the waste daily but I don't need to keep an eye on it when refilling. The timer automatically shut the sysytem off and give the storage tank to refill. I use approx. 250gal a day and all my tanks combined equals 840 gal.
I guess I'm combining the best of both worlds.

Dan

[CanadianGuy]

I think I have a plan then! 8)

Better for the fish and better for your pocket

That's EXACTLY what I want!!

[CARY_GLdiscus]

With a hose silly LOL!



I can flush them out like a Toilet By forceing in new water Automaticly. Or suck them out like I do daily with a hose and a bucket. If am real busy I can drip them for days. Or if I want I can remove the bulk heads at 50% and just do a water/Change By hand.

Lots of ways are better then one! Just like heads and team work!

hth
Cary Gld!

[Lauren]

Cary,
lol
I thought there wouldve been an easier way O well lol After about 1 hour of using a python I go a little batty, but I dont have any overflows, so the python sucks out the water (this takes about 2-3x as long as filling )

When I was @ Jeffery Richards I saw this great suction-hose-PVC thing he had, and I meant to ask him about it, its shaped like an upside down U & was attached to a hose. It didnt loose the siphon as he switched it from tank to tank, also it seemed to drain the tanks alot faster than my python did. Can someone elighten me? But because he was siphoning I didnt get to see his drip system in action, but his hatchery was pretty awesome, I was very impressed

Starting to get more & more ideas here...

So how big would the wet/dry filter box have to be for a small-medium hatchery? Right now I only have about 400ish gallons worth in tanks(I could be a bit off though), and not all of them setup. I plan on expanding however on an as needed basis until I run out of room - or I get a dope slap lol and how would you centralize it?

[CARY_GLdiscus]

its all about the size of the hose or Hole in Your tank


The Bigger The area The more water it will pull.

hth
Cary Gld!

[susankay1]

And faster is not always better, specially when fry are involved. Fast, high volume is great when its just 2 fish and no babies, but when there are little bitty ones in the tank, they can get in that syphon hose faster than you can blink. We are thinking about setting up a wet/dry drip combination for the basement very soon.

[CARY_GLdiscus]

;D

[CanadianGuy]

Lauren,

If I understand correctly the size of your filter is directly related to how many bio-balls you need to have. How many bio-balls you need to have depends on your total gallonage(is that a word? *lol*). I believe it's somewhere in the area of 1g of bio-balls to 30-40g of water?

I'm trying to figure this out myself so I can get started on my system!

[JeffreyRichard]

[quote author=CARY_GLdiscus link=board=1;threadid=17701;start=0#msg182548 date=1081120208]
WET/DRY

However if Your ph is High! it will never fall with a drip! This could be very bad with higher Ph tanks. This would make everything in the tank more Toxic over time. IME changeing water is better then dripping it in. Better for the fish and better for your pocket
[/quote]

Drip systems only work where water chemistry is adequate to begin with. My pH is very high (9.5) but this is artificial ... the water company adds lime to the water to preserve the pipes. pH drops to below 7.5 in my tanks because water is soft (120 PPM).

In my situation, water is the cheapest commodity in my operation. So massive water changes make sense. Drip works for me ...

[Moon]

I have a home made wet dry with 15g of bioballs on a 125g tank. Works well, I had this system for about 10 years with no problems.
For a central system a sand filter has huge surface area and takes very little space. I am thinking of installing one of these. They have a technical name, I can't think of it.

[CARY_GLdiscus]

Come on jeff,
Are You telling us you only use a drip to change water? thats funny My pH is 7.5 and My PPM are also 120 My kh is 7 and also My Gh Your ph should hold at 7.5 if this is true!

I would love to see pics of Your Discus fry under this kind of set up. and would also love to see some adults and not the ones you just bought. jeff you been around a long time and lots of people have seen your discus. from what i hear I'll keep to myself SORRY but am not after friend ship I BEEN SENT TO HELP THE HOBBY FROM FICTION TO FACTS.

PLEASE TAKE CARE

Cary GLD!

P.S ALSO 120PPM IS NOT SOFT WATER ITS MODRATE!

[Lauren]

Cary, I saw Jeff changing water not using a drip (well emptying at least) I think he uses the drip to refill em though, but I wasnt there long enough to find out lol

PS Cary, did you get my recent email (within like the last 2-3 days) I have MSN email issues, sometimes they dont go through or I dont get incoming emails ???

[CARY_GLdiscus]

Hello Lauren,
Am not sure I was out of town the last 3 days just got back in town. MAN AM LOST IN EMAILS LOL!