Automatic water change using dosers

[lbacha]

Hello all

I wanted to run my automatic water change system plans by the group here and see if I'm missing anything

At its core I plan on using 2 50ml/min BRS dosers to remove and add saltwater at the same time

My system is only 20g so my plan is around 1/4 gallon a day which will work out to about 10% weekly. I have a lot of bioload in the tank so my hope is the water changes add trace elements back (I dose alk, cal, no3 and PO4).

I'm going to control the dosers with a apex so I can use it to measure salinity swings and shut things down if a doser fails. I'm going to use a 5g trigger ato container for fresh saltwater which will give me over 2 weeks of water. For waste water I'm going to use a 10g trigger ato container. I can plumb this into a drain and I went bigger in case something malfunctions I figure it would save me from overflowing the waste water container.

So is there anything I have missed. I have tested the brs dosers and they arn't quite equal in flow so I may have to adjust full and empty amounts slightly to handle this. It was pretty minor. I let them run for an hr and I was about 15ml off so about 1/2% variance that would only cause a salinity issue after quite a few days (I pull more than that every day for tests)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Len

 

[ihavecrabs]

I have tested the brs dosers and they arn't quite equal in flow so I may have to adjust full and empty amounts slightly to handle this. It was pretty minor. I let them run for an hr and I was about 15ml off so about 1/2% variance that would only cause a salinity issue after quite a few days (I pull more than that every day for tests)

Len

#1 - As long as you are "calibrating" so you can adjust the time for both adequately, you are good. For example, I have had one run 46ml/min and another at 43ml/min.. so if I want to do 50ml an hour they run different times.

#2 - These dosers also tend to change slightly over time and sometimes they stop working all together. Keeping an eye on them (I checked daily or every other day when they ran to ensure they work both functioning) and kept an eye on my salinity measurements weekly to adjust accordingly.

#3 - Lastly, make sure you are using the appropriate outlets. These dosers will sometimes stick on with Apex TRIAC outlets and need to be on a Relay outlet (for the classic, this would be outlet's #4 and #8).

 

[lbacha]

#1 - As long as you are "calibrating" so you can adjust the time for both adequately, you are good. For example, I have had one run 46ml/min and another at 43ml/min.. so if I want to do 50ml an hour they run different times.

#2 - These dosers also tend to change slightly over time and sometimes they stop working all together. Keeping an eye on them (I checked daily or every other day when they ran to ensure they work both functioning) and kept an eye on my salinity measurements weekly to adjust accordingly.

#3 - Lastly, make sure you are using the appropriate outlets. These dosers will sometimes stick on with Apex TRIAC outlets and need to be on a Relay outlet (for the classic, this would be outlet's #4 and #8).

Thanks for the input

As for calibrating and failures I plan on using my apex salinity gauge and optical level sensors as my first line of checking. This is in my living room so I will also be visually checking in a regular basis

As for the relays I'm using a eb4 which I believe is all mechanical relays vs the eb8 which has 6 triacs and 2 mechanical

I'm running 4 brs dosers on the eb4 (two 1.1ml/min and the two 50ml/min dosers for the awc)

 

[Blitzie]

I have been doing this for a few years now using the BRS 50ML dosing pumps
I chose the simple route in regards to apex so I have no need to calibrate anything

I have the two outlets labeled as AWC_OUT and AWC_IN
The AWC_OUT is programmed like this
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/025:00/215:00 Then ON (This make it run 25 minutes every 4 hours or about 5 Gallons/Day)

To refill I use this on the AWC_IN
Fallback OFF
If Output AWC_OUT = ON Then ON
Defer 015:00 Then ON (This gives a 15 minute delay to stop the float switch from triggering to quick in case the AWC_OUT is going slower than it should.
If ATO_HI OPEN Then OFF (I am using the ATO float Switches, primary and emergency to shut off the refill)
If ATO_Lo OPEN Then OFF

It works for me

 

[lbacha]

I have been doing this for a few years now using the BRS 50ML dosing pumps
I chose the simple route in regards to apex so I have no need to calibrate anything

I have the two outlets labeled as AWC_OUT and AWC_IN
The AWC_OUT is programmed like this
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/025:00/215:00 Then ON (This make it run 25 minutes every 4 hours or about 5 Gallons/Day)

To refill I use this on the AWC_IN
Fallback OFF
If Output AWC_OUT = ON Then ON
Defer 015:00 Then ON (This gives a 15 minute delay to stop the float switch from triggering to quick in case the AWC_OUT is going slower than it should.
If ATO_HI OPEN Then OFF (I am using the ATO float Switches, primary and emergency to shut off the refill)
If ATO_Lo OPEN Then OFF

It works for me

Do you have code on your ATO to not turn on when the AWC_OUT is on

 

[Blitzie]

Yes I do
Here it is if you care

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If ATO_Lo CLOSED Then ON
If ATO_HI OPEN Then OFF
If ATO_Lo OPEN Then OFF
Defer 002:00 Then ON
Min Time 002:00 Then OFF
If Output AWC_IN = ON Then OFF
If Output AWC_OUT = ON Then OFF

 

[lbacha]

Yes I do
Here it is if you care

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If ATO_Lo CLOSED Then ON
If ATO_HI OPEN Then OFF
If ATO_Lo OPEN Then OFF
Defer 002:00 Then ON
Min Time 002:00 Then OFF
If Output AWC_IN = ON Then OFF
If Output AWC_OUT = ON Then OFF

I have a Tunze but it is plugged into my apex, I could use an optical sensor to indicate the off with a max time for the fill doser of slightly longer than the doser that drains the water. This way if the optical sensor fails I still don't add too much water

I may still just go the calibration route and use the optical sensor as an emergency cut off

 

[lbacha]

This is all in my stand for my vivarium

Dosers

ATO and AWC containers

Going to let it run a few days into a container before I turn it on for the tank