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cowboycaddy
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wow.Seems like a good thread.Thanks for the help everyone.FDFiremedic you have pm.Thanks Jeff
If you are just starting out, I suggest trying a simple DIY drip method.
It's a very good way to learn, the simplest DIY imaginable, and you can even experiment with using kalk without causing too much trouble, all before you upgrade to a more complex (though also less of a hassle) system.
Get an old liter soda bottle (all parts completely washed out several times with hot vinegared water), some thin-airline size rigid tubing (usually less than 99c at the LFS), some regular airline tubing, and an a cheap plastic airline valve.
Drill two separate holes in the cap of the soda bottle the exact size of the rigid tubing (there is a standard drill bit that does this perfectly, though you may need to just use larger and larger size and test each time until you hit the right one to avoid getting holes that are too big), both generally in the center of the cap.
Screw the cap on the soda bottle
Cut a section of rigid tubing so that you have one long piece that can stick through one of the holes and almost, but not quite, touch the bottom of the bottle, while still leaving about an inch sticking out of the cap.
Cut another section that can just stick in the cap a little way in (less than an inch) and an inch out.
If you want, you can try to "seal" the tubes in the cap so that the bottle will be pressurized. Basic silicone can work good enough: doesn't need to be truly watertight, just clog the gap enough that air won't pass easily through anything but the inside of the tubes themselves.
Now fill the bottle with RO/DI water so that the long tubing will be submerged, and the short piece won't be, and screw the cap back on (screw the bottle around, not the cap, it's easier).
Fit a short piece of airline tubing on the short rigid tube sticking out of the cap. Fit a long piece of airline on the long piece of rigid tubing: long enough that it can reach from where you'll keep the bottle (anywhere above where you're going to be dripping into of course: i.e. into your sump, or into an overflow box, etc.) to where you want the drips to fall out of.
Put the valve on the end of the long airline, and attach/have it hang over where you want to drip.
You now have your basic siphon, with a simple starter (i.e. blow into the short tube, and the water will come out the long tube until it drains the bottle). Control the speed of the drips with the valve.
Obviously this setup can work with any size container: bigger is better (since less refills to do). Also obviously, if you can put the tubes somewhere solid into the container that ISN'T the cap, it will make refilling easier, since you won't have to worry about moving the tubes by unscrewing the cap.
You can fine tune the drips to exactly balance out daily evaporation (cheap autotopoff essentially, though it can't measure or react to the the real rate of evaporation so it still takes some adjustment) so that your salinity and other parameters stay super-stable.
You can also eventually try mixing some kalk in the bottle (though you will need to let it settle for awhile after mixing it up in the bottle (or use two bottles, one for settling while the other is being used for real), and you will need to make sure your long tube is NOT sitting in the kalk residue, but higher in the clearer water) and then dripping/testing that.
Long term this little setup is too much hassle (daily refills if you are using it for topoff, and if you do use kalk, it will clog and need to be cleaned quite often). But it's a fun way to start and experiment without spending more than, like, literally 3 dollars at most.
It's a very good way to learn, the simplest DIY imaginable, and you can even experiment with using kalk without causing too much trouble, all before you upgrade to a more complex (though also less of a hassle) system.
Get an old liter soda bottle (all parts completely washed out several times with hot vinegared water), some thin-airline size rigid tubing (usually less than 99c at the LFS), some regular airline tubing, and an a cheap plastic airline valve.
Drill two separate holes in the cap of the soda bottle the exact size of the rigid tubing (there is a standard drill bit that does this perfectly, though you may need to just use larger and larger size and test each time until you hit the right one to avoid getting holes that are too big), both generally in the center of the cap.
Screw the cap on the soda bottle
Cut a section of rigid tubing so that you have one long piece that can stick through one of the holes and almost, but not quite, touch the bottom of the bottle, while still leaving about an inch sticking out of the cap.
Cut another section that can just stick in the cap a little way in (less than an inch) and an inch out.
If you want, you can try to "seal" the tubes in the cap so that the bottle will be pressurized. Basic silicone can work good enough: doesn't need to be truly watertight, just clog the gap enough that air won't pass easily through anything but the inside of the tubes themselves.
Now fill the bottle with RO/DI water so that the long tubing will be submerged, and the short piece won't be, and screw the cap back on (screw the bottle around, not the cap, it's easier).
Fit a short piece of airline tubing on the short rigid tube sticking out of the cap. Fit a long piece of airline on the long piece of rigid tubing: long enough that it can reach from where you'll keep the bottle (anywhere above where you're going to be dripping into of course: i.e. into your sump, or into an overflow box, etc.) to where you want the drips to fall out of.
Put the valve on the end of the long airline, and attach/have it hang over where you want to drip.
You now have your basic siphon, with a simple starter (i.e. blow into the short tube, and the water will come out the long tube until it drains the bottle). Control the speed of the drips with the valve.
Obviously this setup can work with any size container: bigger is better (since less refills to do). Also obviously, if you can put the tubes somewhere solid into the container that ISN'T the cap, it will make refilling easier, since you won't have to worry about moving the tubes by unscrewing the cap.
You can fine tune the drips to exactly balance out daily evaporation (cheap autotopoff essentially, though it can't measure or react to the the real rate of evaporation so it still takes some adjustment) so that your salinity and other parameters stay super-stable.
You can also eventually try mixing some kalk in the bottle (though you will need to let it settle for awhile after mixing it up in the bottle (or use two bottles, one for settling while the other is being used for real), and you will need to make sure your long tube is NOT sitting in the kalk residue, but higher in the clearer water) and then dripping/testing that.
Long term this little setup is too much hassle (daily refills if you are using it for topoff, and if you do use kalk, it will clog and need to be cleaned quite often). But it's a fun way to start and experiment without spending more than, like, literally 3 dollars at most.
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