# Automatic Drip



## jamesdelanoche (Dec 15, 2004)

Hey, i've been pondering an automatic drip system ever since i read about it in the "growing big rhom's" section. I am still unclear on how one would make such a system and would like some guidance from someone who has made one before. I was thinking instead of running it as a stream back into the tank, running it through some misting nozzles above the tank, who knows, if nothing else it would be a different way of doing something but maybe also something in the fish's mind clicks when rain falls. Who knows, that's just a conjecture from an uninformed mind, anyway thats not important, i just want to know how some of you have done it. Thanks a lot, bye.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I've thought of this myself, and I've got everything figured out except for how to dechlorinate water from the source. Basically you can just use a slow trickle of water going into the tank, and an overflow system going into a drain to remove water automatically as new stuff is added. But again, I have no idea how you would dechlorinate the water. As for misting nozzles, that sounds like it would be too much flow for an automatic drip system since they are meant to be on 24/7


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## jamesdelanoche (Dec 15, 2004)

you can get really low flow, maybe put them on a timer too. They make water purifiers, i saw one today at petco, i believe it removed chlorine, I know it removed all metals and other impurities, also, a reverse osmosis thing would remove chlorine right?


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Yeah but the problem with reverse osmosis is that it will also bring your karbonate hardness to 0 which is what makes RO water on it's own innapropriate for use in freshwater systems. Karbonate hardness is what acts as a ph buffer so your ph isn't swinging all over the place, with less ph buffers your ph could _easily_ go from healthy to toxic in a matter of hours and kill off all your fish.


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## Andy1234 (Apr 23, 2004)

if you live on a farm you could maybe use a ground water system that trickles over a heater first or soemhing? might be a cheaper altearnative?


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## jamesdelanoche (Dec 15, 2004)

ahh good to know, i don't know much about RO systems. But yeah, i'm thinking i might draw up a design with specs(for a multi tank system). I'm just thinking of how a top spraying system could allow time for the water to mix and disperse, rather than just overflow. i dunno, i'll get creative tonight.


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## jamesdelanoche (Dec 15, 2004)

Ok here is a drawing of my idea. Feedback would be great. What changes can/should be made? Other than the inherant difficulties of timing everything correctly, what else have I overlooked?

A rough idea of how it will work...

The resivour will be filled By you each morning/week whatever it works out to and treated for chlorine and whatever else you want to treat if for. This eliminates the chlorine issue alltogether. The pump will then turn on for a designated time, depending on how much water you want to add. I will have to find suitable spray nozzles and calculate how much the will add within a given amount of time, paired with a certain pump. Then I will need to find the flow rate of the power filter and match its running time to the amount needed to remove the water added. Both the pump and filter (basically another pump) will need to start at the same time to ensure the tank does not overflow, however will probably run for different amounts of time. The filter will most deffinantly pump faster than the sprayers spray, eliminating any worry of the tank overflowing. This can be spread out over a few instances a day or one instance a day, over a period of a week or even one large event in a day. I would rather have small amounts over the whole week. My overall idea is to create a system that changes the proper amount of water over a certain week, almost automatically and certainly less invasive than manual water changes. The calculations will start with the amount of water you want to change over a given time all the way down to the duration of spraying needed to add that amount of water. PLEASE give input and if anyone wants to try this go ahead but I am in no way liable for any crap that happens.


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## jamesdelanoche (Dec 15, 2004)

sorry that kinda came out bad, but you should be able to figure out what everthing says. PM me or IM me at jamesdelanoche if you want to chat about this. Thanks a lot, good luck


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

The design for your reservoir and spray system is very good IMO but the power filter design won't work because without water in it there will be no siphon in the tube. Just like you can't start a powerfilter dry without priming it, you won't be able to have it pump water out of the tank through a hole in it's bottom the same way. For the water removal it would be cheaper, simpler and more economical as well as more likely more effective to use an overflow system. As well, with an overflow system your tank will not overflow and flood your house, the powerfilter system could do this. There's a design for an overflow here

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/manage...r_Changing.html


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## shoe997bed263 (Oct 15, 2004)

if anyone ever figure it out u should pin it in the diy forum


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## Speedy (Sep 25, 2004)

Apparently carbon declorinizes water quite effectively and there are many carbon type water filters on the market that serve this sole purpose.

There is also something you can buy that will allow you to tap into your household copper plumbing, that lets you control the amount of water coming from it.
Usually used for the water supply to furnace humidifier systems.

My thoughts would be to connect a thin hose (like air pump hose) to a cold water pipe and run it to this filter. You can increase or decrease the pressure coming off the household plumbing as desired and do the same for the hose coming from the filter to your tank.... Drainage shouldn't be too difficult to figure out after that.

In theory it should work...One day I may get around to trying it myself.
If anyone beats me to it, please let me know the results.

Cheers!


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## jamesdelanoche (Dec 15, 2004)

yeah thats an awesome idea. When i get my tanks established (and when my bank account rebounds) I'm going to put most of my spare time aside from work and school designing this. I'll get pictures through the whole proccess and keep everyone informed. (it will be around a month or two before I will be doing any real concrete work on this, rather than just theory, so I will just make a new thread when I get everything going).


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## Speedy (Sep 25, 2004)

Hold up!

You should read this thread first.....I'm no expert, just a guy with ideas.
See previous post regarding a drip system.

Some very interesting facts to say the least...I'm still thinking though!


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## Speedy (Sep 25, 2004)

Here you go: Drip


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

elTwitcho said:


> I've thought of this myself, and I've got everything figured out except for how to dechlorinate water from the source. Basically you can just use a slow trickle of water going into the tank, and an overflow system going into a drain to remove water automatically as new stuff is added. But again, I have no idea how you would dechlorinate the water. As for misting nozzles, that sounds like it would be too much flow for an automatic drip system since they are meant to be on 24/7
> [snapback]839595[/snapback]​


Maybe adding a doser would help dechlorinate the incoming water. You can use a doser similar to the Kent calcium doser used for reef tanks and just fill it up with a simple dechlorinating solution of sodium thiosulfate and distilled water. Sodium thiosulfate is really cheap if you order it and a gallon of solution goes a LONG way. You can regulate the drops of dechlorinator to the volume of raw tap water introduced to the tank. Thus you will always have a small amount of "active" dechlorinator in the tank. You have to be very careful though... Overdosing will cause your pH to drop.

Never tried it but just an idea... You can also prefilter the incoming water with a carbon filter but you will need to make sure that it is constantly being replaced to maintain its efficacy.


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## Speedy (Sep 25, 2004)

Good info....Thanks!!!


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