Automatic Water changes. It doesnt get any better then this.
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So... what do you do when your pump heads don't pump the same volumes? :squigglemouth:oh:
They're the same model heads with the same tubing, but one is faster than the other by maybe 2 ounces per gallon. Not terrible, but enough to count. What do you guys think? One pump is going to have to push water quite a bit further than the other, but I'm not sure that will actually affect these pumps... heh...
Brandon
Steve is correct, if you have the eBay set up then just loosen the head/housing and give it a slight tug to tighten up. This is on the head that is putting out more.
On the Stenner, you can not do this. This is one of the flaws so far as Chris and I found out on his. We did lots of troubleshooting and elimated a lot of factors. Only thing left to place blame on is the roller assembly. We changed tube sets, mixed around tubes, rollers, etc., same results each time. I assume using a needle valve on the intake side that is taking in more water will resolve the problem.
Chris if you read this, chime in. I haven't had time to do much but I will try to get in some testing with my Stenner.
NeveSSL
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Awesome. Thank you for the reply, Eric. I will give that a shot. I think I'll also run it overnight tonight and let it break in a bit since everything is new.
Is anyone aware of any issues using Norprene tubing for water changes?
Brandon
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AquamanE
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Ok so as requested, I finally had a chance to actually measure the output of both pumps at the same time. I was surprised to find a difference. I ran this experiment over 10 minutes, using 2 one liter bottles, and then ,measuring the out put of each side with a 250ml beaker (or whatever they are called).
The bottle on the left is the water being drained. The bottle on the right is the fresh SW going into the tank.
After 10 minutes the bottle on the left received 1,158 ml's, the bottle on the right received 1,094 mls. A difference of 64ml per 10 minutes= 384 mls per hour. (576 ml per 1.5 hours)
So am I worried??, not really. Knowing that a gallon has 3785 mls, I came up with the following conclusion.
I run the pump for 1.5 hours per day. A difference of 576 mls per day is a fraction of a gallon, 0.15 to be exact. In a volume of approx 250 gallons this is equivalent to approx 0.06% of the total volume of my tank. IMHO insignificant. What this does mean is that since i am taking out more water than is coming in by 576 mls, my ATO is dumping 576mls more per day than it would if it was just evaprating water it would be replacing. Again IMHO insignificant. All it means is that long term i have to watch my SG, which i do anyways, and again over the period of 3 months or so that i have been doing this have not seen it budge. It also means i have to watch and adjust my ALK/CA since its Kalk water going in. Again something I do anyways, and have not had to adjust anymore than usual since doing this.
BTW this experiment also confirmed the exchange rate of 2.6-2.7 gallons per 1.5 hours as i was hoping since this gives me a 1% gallon water change per day, my goal. (1,158mls per 10 minutes= 10,422mls in 1.5 hours= 2.75 gallons)
Math gurus, feel free to check my math, hopefully im not that far off. :tongue:
Hope this helps...:thumb:
The bottle on the left is the water being drained. The bottle on the right is the fresh SW going into the tank.
After 10 minutes the bottle on the left received 1,158 ml's, the bottle on the right received 1,094 mls. A difference of 64ml per 10 minutes= 384 mls per hour. (576 ml per 1.5 hours)
So am I worried??, not really. Knowing that a gallon has 3785 mls, I came up with the following conclusion.
I run the pump for 1.5 hours per day. A difference of 576 mls per day is a fraction of a gallon, 0.15 to be exact. In a volume of approx 250 gallons this is equivalent to approx 0.06% of the total volume of my tank. IMHO insignificant. What this does mean is that since i am taking out more water than is coming in by 576 mls, my ATO is dumping 576mls more per day than it would if it was just evaprating water it would be replacing. Again IMHO insignificant. All it means is that long term i have to watch my SG, which i do anyways, and again over the period of 3 months or so that i have been doing this have not seen it budge. It also means i have to watch and adjust my ALK/CA since its Kalk water going in. Again something I do anyways, and have not had to adjust anymore than usual since doing this.
BTW this experiment also confirmed the exchange rate of 2.6-2.7 gallons per 1.5 hours as i was hoping since this gives me a 1% gallon water change per day, my goal. (1,158mls per 10 minutes= 10,422mls in 1.5 hours= 2.75 gallons)
Math gurus, feel free to check my math, hopefully im not that far off. :tongue:
Hope this helps...:thumb:
Peanut
Valuable Member
Ok so as requested, I finally had a chance to actually measure the output of both pumps at the same time. I was surprised to find a difference. I ran this experiment over 10 minutes, using 2 one liter bottles, and then ,measuring the out put of each side with a 250ml beaker (or whatever they are called).
The bottle on the left is the water being drained. The bottle on the right is the fresh SW going into the tank.
After 10 minutes the bottle on the left received 1,158 ml's, the bottle on the right received 1,094 mls. A difference of 64ml per 10 minutes= 384 mls per hour. (576 ml per 1.5 hours)
So am I worried??, not really. Knowing that a gallon has 3785 mls, I came up with the following conclusion.
I run the pump for 1.5 hours per day. A difference of 576 mls per day is a fraction of a gallon, 0.15 to be exact. In a volume of approx 250 gallons this is equivalent to approx 0.06% of the total volume of my tank. IMHO insignificant. What this does mean is that since i am taking out more water than is coming in by 576 mls, my ATO is dumping 576mls more per day than it would if it was just evaprating water it would be replacing. Again IMHO insignificant. All it means is that long term i have to watch my SG, which i do anyways, and again over the period of 3 months or so that i have been doing this have not seen it budge. It also means i have to watch and adjust my ALK/CA since its Kalk water going in. Again something I do anyways, and have not had to adjust anymore than usual since doing this.
BTW this experiment also confirmed the exchange rate of 2.6-2.7 gallons per 1.5 hours as i was hoping since this gives me a 1% gallon water change per day, my goal. (1,158mls per 10 minutes= 10,422mls in 1.5 hours= 2.75 gallons)
Math gurus, feel free to check my math, hopefully im not that far off. :tongue:
Hope this helps...:thumb:
Were all the lines fully primed before starting the experiment. I am not sure how this could be possible. I thought this was the whole point of using this type of pump??
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Pumps don't really lose suction since they have rollers that pinch the tubing. Like anything there are pros and cons to it, this is a con. Same can be said about the eBay set ups. All I can say is to either buy needle valves to correct the minor issue or use something to pinch the tube to restrict flow. If your tubes are adjustable like a few of the eBay set ups, you can adjust the tubing against the rollers to offset it.
Acroholic
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Guys,
Just checking in. I am loving my auto water changer.......been set up about 10 months now. Work like a charm. One of the best things I have done for my 465 gallon. Still using the same ebay used $250 MasterFlex dual head setup. Basically haven't touched it except to change out the tubing sets once since I posted in this thread the last time.
Setup:
Pump does a 1% daily change (4.6 gallons) on this 465 gallon SPS reef. Takes 46 minutes.
Just checking in. I am loving my auto water changer.......been set up about 10 months now. Work like a charm. One of the best things I have done for my 465 gallon. Still using the same ebay used $250 MasterFlex dual head setup. Basically haven't touched it except to change out the tubing sets once since I posted in this thread the last time.
Setup:
Pump does a 1% daily change (4.6 gallons) on this 465 gallon SPS reef. Takes 46 minutes.
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slayeroftheshadow
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Gotta figure this out for my next tank.
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AquamanE
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Guys,
Just checking in. I am loving my auto water changer.......been set up about 10 months now. Work like a charm. One of the best things I have done for my 465 gallon. Still using the same ebay used $250 MasterFlex dual head setup. Basically haven't touched it except to change out the tubing sets once since I posted in this thread the last time.
Setup:
Pump does a 1% daily change (4.6 gallons) on this 465 gallon SPS reef. Takes 46 minutes.
Awesome- and very nice tank!!!
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AquamanE
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No i did not prime the lines and one line was maybe a foot longer ( didnt think of this), but i doubt it makes that much of a differnce since its 1/4" tubing. What difference couldt it have made 10mls???
Im going to get a pinch valve and re-tweek.
AquaSwap
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Question.... Does it matter what orientation the pumps are at? I do see on the mounting plate it says this way down but I was wondering if anyone else mounted them in any other orientation and if they had issues or not.
lilmonster
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I Read this whole thread and bought a Stenner pump, and i love it!
No more lugging those darn 5gal containers for water changes.
I don't have any way to connect my tank to my water supply permanently,
they are about 25" apart, so I run the lines to the tank when i use it,
and then just set a timer to tell me to turn it off.
i go the 100gpd unit and it moves about 2.4 gallons in an hour, shouldn't this be more?
(took 2 hours to almost fill a 5gal water jug)
No more lugging those darn 5gal containers for water changes.
I don't have any way to connect my tank to my water supply permanently,
they are about 25" apart, so I run the lines to the tank when i use it,
and then just set a timer to tell me to turn it off.
i go the 100gpd unit and it moves about 2.4 gallons in an hour, shouldn't this be more?
(took 2 hours to almost fill a 5gal water jug)
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AquamanE
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Congrats on dropping the buckets!!!! Thats been my whole goal with this thread and speeches i give at our local club. No reason anymore to lug buckets around, even if you cant do AWC systems. Many ways to drop the buckets with a little ingenuity and even can be done on a tight budget.
Specrapure reached out and they will be lending me a Liter meter with two heads for me to run an objective, and fair comparison. Stay tuned for results. It wont be here till May though. So hang tight.
If you have the 100 gpd, thats 4.16 gallons/per hour/PER HEAD. So thats 2 gallons per hour. Sounds about right.
Folks dont confuse the GPD as total volume. Its TWO heads. so a 100gpd does 50 per head per day. A 70gpd does 35 gpd/per head.
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AquamanE
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Specrapure reached out and they will be lending me a Liter meter with two heads for me to run an objective, and fair comparison. Stay tuned for results. It wont be here till May though. So hang tight.
Chris155hp
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Make sure you pinch b4 the pump or you'll burst the pump tubes. Stenner was VERY CLEAR on that
Peanut
Valuable Member
awesome!
