auto drip system for water changes

[drew22to375]

I have been thinking of setting up some kind of automatic drip system for water changes. Does anybody have any info on how to set one up ect.

Thankx Drew..

[harrispas]

this might help

http://article.discusnews.com/cat-02/waterchange-auto.shtml

[JeffreyRichard]

I have a drip system I set up for 150 tanks ... can you describe the vision of your system (number and size of tanks, rack setup, water source, water waste options, how you plan to heat the water, frequency and amount of water changes, how much or little interaction you plan) ... I can provide some thoughts

Jeff

[JimmyL]

Before I have the central system. I was using an old fuval canister filter as a pump mainly it's a pain to clean the old fuval. Raise a 20 gal reservoir tank to the ceiling level. Connect the Fuval output to a cvp1/2" pipe with a series of holes drilled and attach an air control valve to contol drip rate to each tank. Each tank has an home made overflow with PVC pipes connecting to the drain. I will elaborate the home made overflow if you're interested, cost under 2 dollars each. The other alternative to replace overflow pipes is to drill holes on each tank.
The reservoir tank is connected to a float valve from a old dehumidifier to keep a constant level of water in the tank.
Water from the drip system is not heated. Heater from each tank can do the job without any problem with such a low rate. Water can either come directly from the tap or 2 stage filter depending on your local water quality. Hope this will give you an idea how it work.
Total cost is under $40 if you have all these old equipment available. This set up has last me for 10 years without much of a big problem. Only sometimes but rarely when the overflow piple is block or air bubbles which has stopped the siphoning effect. A minor flood and a small puddle of water on the floor once in a while. Otherwise it is good and save a lot of time doing water change. HTH
Jimmy.

[drew22to375]

Thankx everyone some good info here. This is just for a single tank 125 gal. This tank is already drilled in the top left corner of the tank which I use for water changes. I have it plumbed up to drain into my sump pit. My Idea is to have a constant drip. Water will go thru a 3-stage filter 2 stages will be carbon block to remove chlorine ect.. then the 3rd stage will be sediment filter. Than this will enter my AC 500 to dissipate any dissolved co2. As the water level in the tank rises it will drain to the overflow and down to the sump pit. I don't think I will need a heater since it will be a slow drip but I can always add a in-line heater if needs be. Well that's the basic Idea. Feel free to advise or change anything since I have never automated anything like this before.

Thankx Drew..

[JeffreyRichard]

The basics of your system seem OK ... several questions though ...

1) Where is the waste water draining to? If it were me, I'd have the drain from the tank go directly into your waste water exit.

2) Place the sediment filter in front of the carbon filters

3) I'd have the replacement water drip directly into the sump (not the AC500). I think have airation in the sump would accomplish your goal of degassing ... the AC500 is not necessary in the sump. I'd deploy it on the tank to provide additional filtration

4) I'd put an overflow into your sump as a safety measure in case your pump stops so the drip water would have someplace to go in this contingency.

[T_om]

I have been thinking of setting up some kind of automatic drip system for water changes. Does anybody have any info on how to set one up ect.

Thankx Drew..

Drew,

I had a drip system when I had my hatchery. I would not have one again.

Automatic drain and fill, yes... great.

Drip... no.

There is just too much waste involved. Due to the mixing effect, you have to drip 9.82 gallons of water into a tank to effectively change ONE gallon of water.

Tom

[JeffreyRichard]

Drew,

I had a drip system when I had my hatchery. I would not have one again.

Automatic drain and fill, yes... great.

Drip... no.

There is just too much waste involved. Due to the mixing effect, you have to drip 9.82 gallons of water into a tank to effectively change ONE gallon of water.

Tom

Interesting observation ... how did you arrive at this quantity, and over what period of time is this based?

Theoretically, if you can drip in water at the same rate water is "going bad" (waste changing the water quality) you would have a constant environment where you never have material quantities of waste in the water. I think one needs to consider the average water quality of a tank over a period of time using both a drain/fill water change regiment and a constant drip method ... I'm not sure there is as big a difference in quantity of water needed as you allued to. But one would need to do the calculations to be sure ...

[tony1313]

The percentage of water changed per day depends on the tank size and the drip amount(gph). Follow this link to the calculator.

http://www.angelfish.net/DripSystemcalc.php

hth,
Tony

[Cosmo]

I had been thinking of an auto drip, but heard from others the same comment T om made... not the way to go. Went to that link and found replacing 20 gal of a 20 gal tank only yields a 62% WC... Agree auto drain and auto fill the better way to go..
Jim

[drew22to375]

After reading some info on the drip setup I don't think I will go that route. I currently have the tank plumbed with pvc to my drain and have another pvc line from my aged water tank to fill my display tank. I guess I will keep this setup for now. Maybe look into that setup later on that was posted in this thread. Thankx everyone Drew..

[CARY_GLdiscus]

Well said Tom

[Huy Nguyen]

The article "Automatic Water Change" by David Clubine was great. But I got lost mid way through. At least I understand something. They said something better than nothing. I think if I read again another time and do something thinking I would be able to figure it out. GREAT GREAT STUFF.

THANKS ALL,
HUY