Drip emitters
- Thread starter Arowana718
- Start date
My setup with those emitters works like a charm for 3 years. There is a ceramic filter, a solenoid valve (normally open), a flow restrictor (not necessary), a pressure restrictor, and an emitter with pressure compensation. No maintenance except cleaning the filter once a year. The 1/4 tube with fresh water is inside the 1" pipe from the aquarium (10 m). It's a pipe-in-pipe heat exchanger. Pretty effective at low flow.
On the right - return pipe with foam isolation.
On the right - return pipe with foam isolation.
Kinda hard to find, but they make little plastic locking clamps you can add on for extra assurance or even just a zip tie. A drip line should be stepped down quite a bit from ur house water pressure. Nothing over 40 psi… 5-20 psi is even fine IME. I never blew off a drip emitter in over 10yrs now, even before i had proper pressure regulation in my lines. Check out “mr. Drip” and “dripworks”. Ordered from them both many times over the years. I also recommend the pressure compensating emitters over the other style. There a bit beefier and last longer.
Aye… didnt notice it was even plastic tubing. The sprinkler type places that i mentioned offer a 1/4” rubber type hose. I do use the rubber hose down to the emitters and the cheaper plastic/ice maker line around the fish room. Both work well in the push connect fittings
Arowana718
Use a reverse osmosis flow restrictor 150cc after the filter. Then just unrestricted 1/4 pipe to the sump/aquarium. This should give close to 2.4 gph. Not much pressure after it. Safe. No connections.
My 1/4” fresh water supply line runs around the ceiling of my fish room then i use t’s to drop it down to the tanks. I use the cheap poly ice maker tube for the main run and this softer black tubing from a sprinkler supplier for the drop downs and emitters. This example is a 450g with 4gph… 2gph per emitter. I recommend 1gph per 100gal as a starting point. 2gph per 100 gal is fairly accurate also for higher stocked tanks. You can also see the small black clamps on the emitters also. They lock on with pliers but can be removed.
Which are you worried about popping off? The drip emitters or the push fittings? Looks like those drip emitters are good for 50PSI, the quick connect fittings are usually good for 150+ PSI. I think you can get some teeny little hoseclamps for the drippers.
