"NetMax" wrote in message
...
"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...

"NetMax" wrote in message
...
"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
I'm looking for some info on drip irrigation parts. I'll be setting up
a continuous water change system down the road (tank needs moved
first), so I'm doing a bit of research. I've seen that some people use
a pressure regulator valve and others use a "drip irrigation
controller". I gather the drip irrigation controller is more precise
and more expensive. Perhaps someone can give me the details of their
setup and the pros and cons of the two methods. Also where to buy
parts, HD for a water pressure valve?

My plan is two use a water pressure regulator, water filter with GAC
cartridges, siphon overflow and a solenoid with float switch for
backup. BTW, should the pressure regulator go before or after the water
filter? I may also have to add an auto doser for dechlor, but I'll have
to do some testing first.

TIA


Use activated carbon to de-chlor. For chloramines, carbon still works,
but Centaur carbon would be the recommended choice (there are many
carbon grades available). You want about 2.5gpm or slower for carbon to
de-chlor. Position the carbon filter downstream of other filters as
carbon will exhaust itself on other contaminants as well.

LOL, I only need about 10 gpd, so GAC s/b good. Although the GF do like
their fresh water.

Oops on 2.5gpm. I was just copying notes from when I was last researching
this. At the time I had the water changer running 10 minutes 4 times a
day on 4 banks (one at a time), and I was hitting 5gpm, so I had to
throttle the entire system down (or increase my carbon bed to 2 sq.ft.),
but I was doing 27 tanks at a time. If you are doing less tanks, or are
using a low pressure continous drip, then that spec is not applicable to
you. For home use, I prefer the continuous drip with a reserve capacity
(before overflow) of about 24 to 36 hours. As long as I'm home once a
day, I'll catch a non-critical failure (usually a clog in the siphons).
Of course you can install overflow cut-offs, but it's nice to have system
redundancy.

I'm starting to wonder if a timer would not be a better idea. I did not see
any reliable/cheap slow drip systems. Most of the plastic valves I saw said
"NOT FOR CONTINUOUS USE". The few brass valves that I saw were still at
least 3gpm and varied widely depending on the pressure drop. (Although I
suspect I'm missing something here, as I doubt I get 3gpm at full pressure)
The other factor is solenoid life, most solenoids for irrigation are NC,
which means I would need to apply power continuously for a constant drip
system. I doubt the cheap solenoids are rated for continuous duty.

Also on the GAC, get a chlorine tester. There is no accurate method of
predicting the usable life expectancy of carbon as the chlorine/chloramine
and other contaminents can vary significantly, even by season in the same
location. We generally counted on 12 months of life, but chlorine tests
showed we got more than that (of course this varies by your water, type of
carbon and cc's of carbon used).
--
www.NetMax.tk


Research automatic lawn sprinkler systems for a bevy of applicable
components (controllers, valves etc).

Thanks NetMax, helpful as always. Some of the irrigation stuff is quite
cheap compared to aquarium products.

--
www.NetMax.tk