auto wc's using a neptune dos.

ddc0715 · Dec 4, 2022

im pondering reinstalling my auto water change using a neptune dos pump. i had it set up awhile back and determined that you can scoop out and add one too 5 gallons of water daily, way faster than the dos can pull it out. with very little impact to my WP'S... so why would One install an auto wc pump on a 150G REEF?

I understand the upside for massive water changs at 30g a day.. but for mi or water changes i do not see the up side....I also had to take time to prime the lines from Time to time.

Kodski · Dec 4, 2022

Well, you can technically change up to 30ish gallons of water a day with the Neptune dos. I'd say its less about how long the system takes to do a water change and more about the fact its not time and effort you spend doing it. I personally bought a Kamoer water change system during black friday. The DOS is only rated for 250mL/Min and the Kamoer system is rated at 900mL/min. So the speed and capability of the Kamoer is seperior to the DOS. So I'd say it depends on the AWC system you choose.

Mike1970 · Dec 4, 2022

Hmmmm I do AWC on my 150g using the versa pumps but I only do a little over 1% per day, 30g a day seems like a lot to me for AWC on a 150g

blaxsun · Dec 4, 2022

I think it depends entirely how much water you need to change daily, how much you hate water changes and whether you enjoy having things automated for you (I do).

Jason Scalise · Dec 4, 2022

You are right that the Neptune DOS pumps are not really set up for AWC in large amounts at a time, per se. That said, they do fine with smaller volumes more frequently.
You could easily do 1-2% per week on a simple schedule with the DOS (or similar hardware). Advantage comes with consistency of smaller and more frequent changes (hypothetically) and the “set it and forget it” approach.
That said, every solution has its potential downfalls.
In my 100g I had it put in NSW every other day and pull waste water into the drain at the same time and it was pretty flawless. Only issues occurred when I made mistakes to programming.
I found the DOS to be loud at higher speeds for my liking so I put them in the garage which was also near my reservoirs. Just ran the required lines through the wall to the garage.

biecacka · Dec 4, 2022

I use my DOS to change 1 gallon a day. Sure, I could scoop out a gallon and scoop in a gallon. But I like to not have to worry about doing it manually. Can go on vacation and still do water changes. Gets done daily, at the same time. Just easier for me.

corey

Waters · Dec 5, 2022

Mine pulls roughly 4 gallons a day, spread out all day long. In addition to not having to manually do the water changes, it keeps things more stable doing smaller amounts all day long as opposed to one large weekly change.

ScottW · Dec 5, 2022

Waters said:
Mine pulls roughly 4 gallons a day, spread out all day long. In addition to not having to manually do the water changes, it keeps things more stable doing smaller amounts all day long as opposed to one large weekly change.

Do you run code to turn off your ATO so it wont dump in fresh water while you are pulling out old wanter and dumping in new water?

Zach B · Dec 5, 2022

Waters said:
Mine pulls roughly 4 gallons a day, spread out all day long. In addition to not having to manually do the water changes, it keeps things more stable doing smaller amounts all day long as opposed to one large weekly change.

+1 but 3.8 gallons