hob overflow

skelator · Apr 8, 2015

hey guys can you do a drip type automatic water change system with a hob overflow? my first thought was to use two toms lift pumps to do this one in and one out and measure the amounts and adjust as necessary. i like the over flow idea but i dont know of this would work with a drip type system. any thoughts?

Bryan47 · Apr 8, 2015

Just took a look at mine and it seems possible I just feel like getting the drop rates the same would be hard. Maybe someone who has attempted this will chime in.

skelator · Apr 8, 2015

i use one to do my ato and it works great. i only have a 46 g tank so its a gallon off i can easily see it. also if it screws up ill have plenty of time to catch it before i really run into trouble. i dont think it would have to be dead on or anything like that just fairly close.

Bryan47 · Apr 9, 2015

skelator said:
i use one to do my ato and it works great. i only have a 46 g tank so its a gallon off i can easily see it. also if it screws up ill have plenty of time to catch it before i really run into trouble. i dont think it would have to be dead on or anything like that just fairly close.

So are you saying you just take your bucket of top of water and use a Tom pump with a valve or whatever and drip the water in at about the same rate it evaporates or?

And what do you mean it's a gallon off?

Sorry I didn't really understand what you meant

beaslbob · Apr 9, 2015

I actually like the idea of some kind of drip system as an ATO.
With an ato the kicks in when sump level falls, The same thing will happen should the drain fail (break siphon, blockage, etc) which can happen with drilled or hob type overflows.
What happens is the ato kicks in raising the water level of the upper container/tank. Which can result in a food.
But with a drip system that won't happen.
my .02

skelator · Apr 9, 2015

Bryan47 said:
So are you saying you just take your bucket of top of water and use a Tom pump with a valve or whatever and drip the water in at about the same rate it evaporates or?

And what do you mean it's a gallon off?

Sorry I didn't really understand what you meant

yes i justr use that pump on a timer. it runs a few mins twice a day to replace evaporated water.

what i meant by a gallon off was that if my ghetto automatic water change system was outta wack and was draining more than filling. if it was a gallon or so off i would notice it before it really changed anything in the tank and i could easily be corrected.