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Many people have made drip water change systems for aquariums before, it pretty much makes them maintenance free and keeps nitrates at an always low level. I have municiple water and it is pretty soft already. With small drips no de-chlorination or treatment of heavy metals is needed. Also, I will just be tapping into the cold side, again, with this small amount of drips my aquarium heaters will easily keep the tank at 78°
I have a 135 gallon freshwater aquarium with a plastic sump underneath the tank. This sump is fed from a 2" drain in the main tank, it goes through various filters I made and then is pumped back into the tank. The tank is sharing a wall with my workshop on the other side. I can make some small holes through this wall to run my in and out lines. I have a 1/2" copper line that goes to my kitchen sink, for my inlet to the tank I will do the following...sweat in a gate valve with 3/4" hose threads for an outlet (I need this to still pass water to the kitchen sink but have a shut-off and hose threads for an outlet). I am not sure if they make this type of piece so I may have to use a 1/2" Tee and then a normal hose spigot sweat fitting. On the hose threads I will use the following drip irrigation parts...25PSI regulator, 3/4" to 1/4" vinyl hose fitting, run 1/4" vinyl hose to my tank and fit the ending with a drip emitter (.25GPH). This will drip fresh clean water into the tank and thus raise the level in the tank and sump. I will drill a hole in the side of my sump where I want the water level to be. This hole will drain into another container that holds a pump with a float switch. When the level gets high enough the pump will turn on, drain the water and turn off. I was going to run the pumped waste water through a flexible aquarium type clear tubing. In my workshop right next to the 1/2" copper line I will be tapping into also contains a drain for the kitchen sink. This is either 2 or 3" iron (not home right now). This drain has a Wye located about 7' from the floor, one side is coming from the kitchen sink and the other side has a clean-out cap, I plan on draining into this. To prevent sewage gases I will use a check valve near the pump (at floor level). That way, the hose will always have water in it and the 7' head of the hose will not drain back into the waste water/pump container.
Here are my questions...
According to this calculator, Drip System Water Change Rate Calculator (W.C.S. Ltd.)
I will be changing about 25% of the tanks water per week. My sump holds about 15 gallons so my total volume is around 150 gallons. If my nitrate creep is too high then I can just pop off the .25GPH drip emitter and put on a .5GPH one, that will move me up to around 43% changed per week.
I have a 135 gallon freshwater aquarium with a plastic sump underneath the tank. This sump is fed from a 2" drain in the main tank, it goes through various filters I made and then is pumped back into the tank. The tank is sharing a wall with my workshop on the other side. I can make some small holes through this wall to run my in and out lines. I have a 1/2" copper line that goes to my kitchen sink, for my inlet to the tank I will do the following...sweat in a gate valve with 3/4" hose threads for an outlet (I need this to still pass water to the kitchen sink but have a shut-off and hose threads for an outlet). I am not sure if they make this type of piece so I may have to use a 1/2" Tee and then a normal hose spigot sweat fitting. On the hose threads I will use the following drip irrigation parts...25PSI regulator, 3/4" to 1/4" vinyl hose fitting, run 1/4" vinyl hose to my tank and fit the ending with a drip emitter (.25GPH). This will drip fresh clean water into the tank and thus raise the level in the tank and sump. I will drill a hole in the side of my sump where I want the water level to be. This hole will drain into another container that holds a pump with a float switch. When the level gets high enough the pump will turn on, drain the water and turn off. I was going to run the pumped waste water through a flexible aquarium type clear tubing. In my workshop right next to the 1/2" copper line I will be tapping into also contains a drain for the kitchen sink. This is either 2 or 3" iron (not home right now). This drain has a Wye located about 7' from the floor, one side is coming from the kitchen sink and the other side has a clean-out cap, I plan on draining into this. To prevent sewage gases I will use a check valve near the pump (at floor level). That way, the hose will always have water in it and the 7' head of the hose will not drain back into the waste water/pump container.
Here are my questions...
- First, how does this sound?
- Is there a better fitting to tap into a 1/2" line and get hose threads with a shut-off?
- Is there a fitting to replace my clean-out cap on the 2" or 3" cast drain and attach a flexible poly line drain?
- The pump I want must be quiet, cheap, able to push 7' of head and be effecient. I assume it will only turn on once or twice a day since we are only talking 6 gallons exchange per day. Any recommendations?
- I was looking at the drip emitters and hose thread to 1/4" tube fitting. They are just push-on friction fit, has anyone used these before? I want to be sure the fit is snug and has no chance of popping off by itself. The 25 PSI regulator will lower this chance too.
According to this calculator, Drip System Water Change Rate Calculator (W.C.S. Ltd.)
I will be changing about 25% of the tanks water per week. My sump holds about 15 gallons so my total volume is around 150 gallons. If my nitrate creep is too high then I can just pop off the .25GPH drip emitter and put on a .5GPH one, that will move me up to around 43% changed per week.
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