Automatic Water changes. It doesnt get any better then this.

[Swine]

I think it's a very cool idea. Has anyone considered the amount of new water they are taking out while adding new water. I know in very small amounts but it does happen. I would think that if you had a sump big enough I would prefer say take out two metered gallons then put in two metered gallons but not at the same time. I would have to do 3.5 gallons daily for myself.

After a whole year how much new water are you taking out while adding. I really like the take out then put in method myself but think it would be really cool to automate it with an apex. I gues you would need two pump setups then.

This was my concern as well. Since I will have an arduino running it I am trying to figure out if I should have two motors running and have the arduino shut off various devices like return pump, ato and skimmer, remove water then pump the new stuff in. So it is automated water change, not continuous. I also don't really like having saltwater stored.

It never made sense to me that red sea pro salt says to use in an hour or so after mixing. Does this mean that in the next couple hours if my corals don't use the trace elements they will be useless?..

The pumps are made to be stacked together, no mods were made other the the screws needed to be longer.

Thank you! Great pictures!

 

[Sacohen]

So at 2.8ml per rev and 200 rpm that comes to 560ml a min.
On a 60 gallon tank 30% a month would be 18 gallons a month replaced.

It takes 6 3/4 min to replace a gallon of water.
To do 18 gallons is 121.5 min over 30 days comes to about 4 min a day for me.

 

[TonapahNorth]

So what is the general consensus for placement of hoses to ensure that you aren't immediately cycling out the water you're putting in at the same time.

 

[Swine]

I would say you take water out from the drain from the DT before the skimmer chamber because you don't want to pull out potentially cleaned skimmer water. Then put new water in directly after your skimmer chamber. And run the pumps as fast as possible I guess. The new water is going to get mixed in fast

If you are going for the continuous water change.

 

[gtbarsi]

I plan on setting up as:

Take water from the DT return chamber, skimmed or not makes no difference to me
New salt mix to the sump return chamber so it can go right in to the DT. There should be plenty of volume moving in the return chamber, the return pump, and the return nozzle, to insure that it is well incorporated and any imbalances mitigated within a moment of hitting the DT.

 

[ddavies564]

So what is the general consensus for placement of hoses to ensure that you aren't immediately cycling out the water you're putting in at the same time.

I was planning on putting a t in the input of my return pump for the new water. And the old water is gunna be pulled from just out side the tee. I feel this would give you the longest time before the new water makes it back through the sump.

 

[gtbarsi]

It never made sense to me that red sea pro salt says to use in an hour or so after mixing. Does this mean that in the next couple hours if my corals don't use the trace elements they will be useless?..

Thank you! Great pictures!

I believe the point they are trying to make is that Red Sea salt is fully ready to use after an hour as apposed to many other brands that take many hours to mix and become ionically balanced.

 

[AquamanE]

I take water out of the overflow (very high flow area), and replace water in the return where the water gets quickly to the return lines hooked up to Seaswirls, so the possibility of contamination with return water id doubtful.

 

[Swine]

I was planning on putting a t in the input of my return pump for the new water. And the old water is gunna be pulled from just out side the tee. I feel this would give you the longest time before the new water makes it back through the sump.

I think that would be a great way and leave the longest possible time between the two. Only thing I was thinking about is if the pressure from the return would mess with the motor and force more water through the pump? Yeah yeah, youll have the same going in as out but adding stress on the gears/motor might not be good?

I believe the point they are trying to make is that Red Sea salt is fully ready to use after an hour as apposed to many other brands that take many hours to mix and become ionically balanced.

Aha, I hope that is the case. I keep getting mixed (lol, pun intended) results about storing saltwater.

 

[KoleTang]

No need to get too complex with a fail safe. The pump runs off of 12volts so a relay can be powered by the same source as the pump and a inline float switch is connected to the trigger of the relay. Float switch sits near to bottom of the salt bin.

How do you go about wiring this? (Sorry for all the questions. I can build just about anything... but only if I have instructions LOL)

 

[ddavies564]

How do you go about wiring this? (Sorry for all the questions. I can build just about anything... but only if I have instructions LOL)

Something like this would work good.

 

[KoleTang]

Something like this would work good.

Thanks. But if you don't mind, I could use some more explanation. (Please excuse my electronic nooby-ness)

So the float switch gets powered by the power supply. And gets attached to the positive part if the relay. The negative power gets split and part goes to negative relay. I'm confused about what positive power is doing.

Would something like this work? PCH-112L2MH - TE CONNECTIVITY - POWER RELAY, 12V, 5A, SPST-NO, PCB | Newark element14 US)

Could you explain what connects to what with this?

 

[Acroholic]

Pull water out from the skimmer section, and put new water in the return section of the pump. It then gets mixed in the DT before going back into the sump.

Man, all these complicated setups with solenoids, timers, meh! A dual headed Masterflex peristaltic pump and a timer on your controller are all you need. The more complex you make it, the more room there is for failure.

 

[Swine]

Man.. all those expensive controllers... Haha. Some times you make it more complicated for fail safes ;-)

 

[Acroholic]

Man.. all those expensive controllers... Haha. Some times you make it more complicated for fail safes ;-)

No failsafe required with a Masterflex pump.

 

[gtbarsi]

perhaps not to protect the pump, but if do not have something to insure you have not run out of fill water you are going to be pumping out with out replacing it.

 

[Acroholic]

perhaps not to protect the pump, but if do not have something to insure you have not run out of fill water you are going to be pumping out with out replacing it.

I refill my AWC reservoir once a week by turning a couple valves at my SW mixing station. Takes 2 minutes.

 

[Swine]

Doesn't matter if it takes a milli second, I don't trust my memory

 

[Acroholic]

Doesn't matter if it takes a milli second, I don't trust my memory

That's not good for you. I've never had an issue. If I can't check a level once a week in a barrel next to my sump, I probably have no business in reefing. Daily or alternate daily visual inspection of equipment for proper functionality, like sumps, skimmers, pumps, socks, media reactors, etc., is how you find and correct small issues before they become big issues.

 

[Peanut]

awesome thread