Water usage in AP system

[Dan Lieder]

Has anyone kept track of how much water you have to add into your system. If so, how big is your system, how much water do you add and how often? 

This is my system. It's about a 600 gallon system with 6 grow beds ( 3ft x 6ft x 12inch). I have about 60 - 70 plants planted. The temperature is about 75 degrees all day every day. I have no leaks. I've had to add about 100 gallons over the last three days since introducing the plants. Is this typical? 

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Dan,

That's almost 800 gallons of GB's!. I see from your picture that some of the GB's are in direct sunlight also. Sunlight on GB's help speed up evaporation as well. You can also have an underground pipe leaking. At any rate observe the system for a few more days and see if it levels out. Here in the tropics with 50% shade cloth, i get about 20% evaporation per week. I use a float system with chlorine filter for topping up automatically.

[George]

If it was 175 degrees F instead of 75, adding 100 gallons would seem OK.  I believe you have a leak.

[Dan Lieder]

Perhaps its a combination of both. I didn't use any glue on any of the connections so I do have small drips at some of the joints but very small drips. I wouldn't think that would account for 100 gallons in three days. What about uptake of water from the plants?

Harold Sukhbir said:

Hi Dan,

That's almost 800 gallons of GB's!. I see from your picture that some of the GB's are in direct sunlight also. Sunlight on GB's help speed up evaporation as well. You can also have an underground pipe leaking. At any rate observe the system for a few more days and see if it levels out. Here in the tropics with 50% shade cloth, i get about 20% evaporation per week. I use a float system with chlorine filter for topping up automatically.

[Dan Lieder]

I Think you may be right. I didn't use any glue on any joints. 

George said:

If it was 175 degrees F instead of 75, adding 100 gallons would seem OK.  I believe you have a leak.

[Jeffrey Ihara]

Sounds like my pool. I re-plastered two years ago because it was cracked and I was losing water. Now the plaster is beautiful, but I'm still losing water. Grrr.

Your setup is a LOT prettier than mine. I've got to get some paint.

[George]

I tried that and was never able to stop the leaks until I glued.  It may work with small pipe.  Those small drips add up.

Dan Lieder said:

 I didn't use any glue on any of the connections

[Alex Veidel]

Yeah, same here. I tried not gluing the pieces and it never worked for me. Especially since I was doing it indoors. 100 gallons over three days? Seems a tad high.

George said:

I tried that and was never able to stop the leaks until I glued.  It may work with small pipe.  Those small drips add up.

Dan Lieder said:

 I didn't use any glue on any of the connections