Drip System

[brettc777]

Hey Guys,

I have been trying to work out a system to keep bettas (at reasonable price!!). I have been going through old posts and found puggle’s post (http://ausaqua.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=523) on her betta keeping system which was CHEAP and effective (good work puggle!!!). However I wanted to upgrade it so it can be used during the winter months and also so I didn’t have to clean it as much, as it had no filtration system.

This is what I came up with (adapted from puggles photo):

Let me know what you think or if you see any problems that could be caused or even if you have a better idea!!

Any ideas on a pump that would be a resonable price and also have enough power to pump water all the way to the top?

Anything that i have missed? Also i do recongise that the males could get through the pipes into the tank next door but i will be putting fly screen or simlair across the piple holes

BTW the sump is a storage tub of about 150 litres with a 300W heater

Thanks Brett :)

[kitstyles]

This way you will have less water movement and all storage box will have same water level but you will waste the bottom part of the rack beacuse the filter system is on the bottom.

[brettc777]

Thanks Kitz,

Thats some good thinking!!!

The only thing that i am worried about is the poor little guy at the end gets all the old old water lol. With the other system i can be assured that they are getting the new water as i can see it drip in. I dont know... maybe im just freaking cause i cant see how the water is flowing.

Another thing that might be an issue is that ill have to use 3 pipes to pump new water for 3 sets of tanks in a row.

In regards to water level for tanks... there would be only a difference of about 6 cm if i used a pipe that was 2cm wide. 6cm to me isnt that much of a different from the first and last tank.

I dont know really im just guessing at all this.... :)

[kitstyles]

Yeah 3 different pipe.. but then again you only using one to pump the water back up the top... and for you system the water for the top 3 tanks might have less water go in to them as the bottom part might have slightly more water pump in to the them.. dunno ^^ good luck

[brettc777]

Thanks Kitz,

Yeah i will have to take that into account.

Now come to think about it I wouldn’t even need to have the pipes joining the three tanks lower then each other... theoretically the water should pass through them all even if the pipes are all level... as the water level goes higher it should pass through all three. As long as there all getting new water it should work.

[brettc777]

Hey Kitz,

If I build it and test it and I find all my fish floating upside down ill let you know LOL. hmmm where can i find some test fish lol.

[kitstyles]

hehe don't worry your system is gonna work very well.. btw are they spwan tanks?

[brettc777]

LOL if i have 15 spawn tanks i would not have much time to go to work... which believe it or not.... im at work now LOL. hmmm 15 spawn tanks x average fry of 100 = 1500 fry!!!!!! lol. i dont think i could fit them all in my whole house when they grow up . Nah these are holding tanks for males. If there 9L each i could even half them so i could have 30 males.

Ok i got to slow myself down... im getting myself into this way to fast lol. :)

[Bettarazzi]

Here are some instructions for a drip system from the IBC website.

My issue with these systems is that I think somehow you have to find a way of getting the water out of each container/tank from the bottom rather than the top. I've got an idea in my head which I think might be ok but I need to experiment with it to see how well it works.

The whole reason to go to the trouble of setting up something like this is to reduce the workload related to changing water in lots of jars. So far all of these systems work in a similar way. Water goes in the top and also overflow at the top to go out of the tank. The poop at the bottom stays there and needs to be manually removed. If we could somehow get at least some of the water off the bottom of the tank, I think that would help a lot.

I've seen a customised acryllic tank that's been designed so that water comes in the top, flows along the bottom and up the rear wall out of the tank. But I've lost the link to the manufacturer and can't remember who they are. They were a US company that targeted science laboratories.

If you're using glass tanks you could put an extra piece of glass in as a false wall which doesn't go all the way to the bottom. Water goes into the main section, flows under the false wall and up to the outlet.

The other thing I think you should consider is for the outflow from each tank to go directly to the pipe which will carry the water to the sump, rather than going into another tank.

(Edit: typos)

[brettc777]

I haven’t thought too much behind a design to get all the rubbish of the bottom of the tank. It seems to me that it would be to difficult to design or regulate. I think even if you could get the water flowing from the bottom of the tank to get sucked out that not all of the rubbish on the bottom of the tank would come out anyway, and in the end requiring a siphon to get the rest out.

I don’t think it would take to much work to siphon the bottom of the tanks every 3 days or so. The main time saver is water changes. If a constant supply of fresh water is being added and same amount being removed then this does not allow nitrates and other chemicals to build up thus the process is a constant water change.

[Bettarazzi]

I missed the part about constant fresh water supply. How are you achieving this? Is there fresh water going constantly into the sump? The pic isn't working for me at the moment.

[brettc777]

yeah... the old water that drips out will either go back into the sump to be filtered (then every couple of days take about 30 litres out of the 150 litre sump and replace it with fresh water) or i can attach a bucket into the sump that collects the old water to be thrown out and it would be just a matter of everyday just topping up the sump so its a constantly receiving fresh water.