[dark SSide]

So I have been fiddling around with the idea of making sure in no possible way I could have my sump/wet dry overflow. I have siphon breaks, but had a buddy who was running salt water tank have salt creep cover the siphon breaks and flooded his finished basement. So with my tank in my living room over our finished basement I figured I should be sure it doesn't overflow. So my tank is a 265g acrylic clarity plus with an eshopp w/d rated for 300g, and turbo twist 36w UV sterilizer. Limestone rock and crushed coral substrate.

At the same time I'm sick of doing water changes on this thing with the canopy and i knew going in I wasn't going to be able to reach the bottom (36" deep). I have two Koralia #4's, one #2, and one no name 225gph pointed all around and I get almost no dead spots so not much if any settles on the bottom. So I decided I'm going to do a drip system.

I don't use chemicals anyways for water changes, most of my fish are locally tank raised and I personally know the breeder and they do not use chemicals either. So with that being said this tank has been established for just over a yr and I have never used chemicals. Tank is male Hap/Peacock lake Malawi cichlid tank. I used to test the water all the time and water was always perfect. I test the water about once every other month and do about a 25% water change every 5 days.

I'm doing a drip system and doing it cheap. Here is what I bought and used some stuff I had lying around.

1- Lowe's 25ft poly tube ice maker kit $9.99

1- .5gph drip irrigation head $2.xx

1- 1" bulkhead left over

25' 1" id hose $10

1- 1" hose clamp $.50

Total $22.50

Water is dripped in at 12g a day and is completely controllable by just switching out the drip irrigation head. 1" bulk head was drilled into side of sump about 8" from bottom of sump. This is the ideal water level for me and old water is sent out to my wife's garden.

So basically it's free, she was going to water the garden anyways and now she doesn't have to and I'm recycling the water that used to go down the drain with my python. I have also been advised with this system I will see fish growth increase.

 

[immortal]

Good idea and done very cost effectively. I assume the garden is outside, just make sure the drain hose doesn't freeze in the winter :fish:

 

[krfhsf]

I ran a very similar drip system for 5 yrs. Mine was 25 gal a day. I had a pressure reducer on mine and ran the water thru a 5yr carbon filter for a refridgerator. That was the best water quality tank I ever had. Then the chloramines came and I had to shut it down. I still have the over flow on the sump and love it. If I put too much water in during a water change it just over flows out and waters the yard.

 

[larry.beck]

I had a pressure reducer on mine and ran the water thru a 5yr carbon filter for a refridgerator. That was the best water quality tank I ever had. Then the chloramines came and I had to shut it down.

They make filters for chloramine now, perhaps it's time to resurrect your old setup? 8)

 

[iwade4fish]

opcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:

 

[PfunMo]

I might be interested in the chloramine filter if cost is right. Can you tell me more about what filter? I had a reserve water supply and used timers and solenoids to do the water exchange, just letting the water set to get chlorine out. I've since had to switch to using Prime due to chloramine here.

 

[iwade4fish]

http://www.purewaterproducts.com/chloraminefilter.htm

For what it's worth. For that expense, spend a little more and filter out everything.
I'd just move to Malawi.

 

[krfhsf]

I had a pressure reducer on mine and ran the water thru a 5yr carbon filter for a refridgerator. That was the best water quality tank I ever had. Then the chloramines came and I had to shut it down.

They make filters for chloramine now, perhaps it's time to resurrect your old setup? 8)

Yes this is true. I bought a 4ft tall 1ft round carbon bottle for $400.00. Packed with caylitic carbon for chloramine removal. I use it for water changes. I turn the water flow all the way up because I change on average 300 gallons every night. Still it only removes 1/2 of the chloramines because I flow it to quick. Maybe i could hook the system back up because of the slow flow. I may have to think about this. :-?