24 hour drip systems for dummies

Cirrus

Cirrus

Arowana blogger
I am trying to set up a 24 drip system for my 300 gallon; the tank has an acrylic sump which I realize I must drill a hole in the side of for an overflow; and I realize I need to have a plumbed line to bring in water to continuously drip into my tank. But that is where I have a blind spot. Unfortunately, with BWI now apparently out of business, we do not have a dedicated supplier of plumbing systems on this forum; hopefully this will change in the near future.

For now, however, I am left casting about for DIY alternatives. I went by a marine hardware shot yesterday, had a look at the portable water filters suggested for hooking up on boats; next up I guess I will visit a home water purification store for ideas.

I think we could use a sticky for people new to 24 hour drip systems. If there is one way to cut down on the death of sensitive fish species like stingrays, I bet it is through the use of 24 drip systems.

In order to create a 24 hour drip system sticky, please:

1. Post the details of your system, with as much technical detail concerning the brand names of pumps, filters, etc., as possible.

2. Post a photo or two of your system
 
If you look online for drip emitters, they make different flow rates. You will bring a water supply line to the tank somewhere, then you will need a pressure regulator. I think you need about 30psi for the emitter. After the regulator, you will hook up small water line and the drip emitter and dump it into the top of tank. Your drain hole drilled into the sump will have a constant flow out to wherever you are going to drain to. Its a nice setup because it really cant fail.
I have an auto changer that dumps 70 gallons a day into my tank that I built with a lawn sprinkler valve and contol panel. I love it. Thes best thing I ever did
 
I bought this Dechlorinator it came with tube and valve.

http://hydroponicswater.com/shop-al...ypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=28&category_id=2

They make some cheaper one without the gage.

So my system is very Basic
I have a garden hose that brings the water to my dechlorinator ( its inside my sump because if anything fails while im not home not much will happen)

I wanted to change 125g a day ( i have lots of fish in my tank and thats what i need to keep nitrates below 10ppm )
So i divided 24h by 125g it gave me 5.20g per hour i then fixed the out flow to come close to 5.20g per H and voila

Here are a few pics of my VERY basic Auto water change
Picture 1-The valve that control the flow 2-Drain in the sump 3- Tube going to the tank with new water 4-Declorinator in sump to prevent disasters 5-Tank. New water tube in upper left corner
 
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Sourcing drip from Kitchen Tap

I know this is a very old thread but it is the closest to what my query is about in setting up a simple 24-hour drip system.

1. Output - I went to Homedepot and they suggested that I use the Service Hole in the wall to drain my tank (using Uaru Joey's overflow pipe approach) -
- This is now working nicely - I will post some pics later.

2. Input - I have a kitchen tap almost right next to the tank, I was advised to just use a simple fitting and a drip plastic tip - and run the water through the hose (air pump hose size).

I am to control the pressure by using the tap handle and making sure it just slowly drips and that I can leave it like that.

Do I need a pressure regulator or something still? Some Youtube videos seems to indicate you need to. Homedepot guys says tap already pressure regulated so no need to.

For filtering - I was advise to just grab a simple carbon filter. Cut hose and install the filter in-between.

Am I missing something crucial?

Cheers,
Kim
 
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I'll post some pictures of a previous setup I had. It was a simple 3 stage filter - sediment, carbon block and activated carbon. This provided constant drip directly into the tank. In the sump I had a bulkhead installed which runs into a drain. Had it running for 4 years with no problems.
 
JLee said:
I'll post some pictures of a previous setup I had. It was a simple 3 stage filter - sediment, carbon block and activated carbon. This provided constant drip directly into the tank. In the sump I had a bulkhead installed which runs into a drain. Had it running for 4 years with no problems.
Click to expand...

I went to JL Aquatics and bought a two-stage filter to run tap water through for the constant drip.

I had to install an Aqua-Lifter to the PVC overflow pipe. Siphon was breaking from time to time (before the Aqua-lifter). Had a couple of little spills already - : ).

If I do not drill, I may just build another set of PVC overflow pipe as a fail-safe backup.'

Hopefully it works and cuts down on maintenance.
 
Just an update - after I installed the Aqua-lifter on the PVC pipe, the siphon has never been a problem.

I still have to build a back-up PVC over-flow pipe as everything seems to be working fine.

It has been 4-5 months now and I only had to do a 50% WC (after I had to move substrates between tanks - stirred up too much muck).

Drip Systems are really the way to go for low-maintenance tanks - no matter what size.

Joey's Youtube Video made it look so easy and he explained it very clearly - that really spiked my interest to try it.

Thanks again for everyone else from this forum who gave me tips and ideas!
 
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