Daily AWC help

Broly_PT · Nov 12, 2017

Hello everyone,

I'm thinking of starting to do WC daily, instead of the usual 10% weekly.

My po4 and no3 are always in 000 and I think I do not gain anything in making 10% water changes per week.

As I have a Kore 5Th I am thinking of buying the AWC module.

But I have two doubts,

1) My ATO system is independent of Kore 5th so it will not turn off when the water exchange is happening, any tips on how to solve this problem?

2) The SALT manufacturer, indicates that the salt after mixing has about 5 days to be used, confirm this?
There will always be a quantity of water that the pump could not suck and did not want to dump that water out.

My ideia is when make new water, mix whit the old one.

Does anyone have any tips?

Regards

ihavecrabs · Nov 14, 2017

AWC are an amazing thing.

I am not familiar with the Kore 5th but there might be a few solutions for you.

You can always add the new water before removing the old water (this will keep the ATO sensor in off mode)
If possible with your setup, you can disable the ATO for the time of your AWC. For example, I utilize the Apex and I turn off power to my ATO for the first 10 minutes of the hour when my AWC runs.
Utilize a dual head peristaltic pump (which moves the exact amount of water in and out at the same time. This will keep your water level stable.

Some considerations for this..

If you are not using dual head peristaltic pump,
1. Ensure you calibrate (and re-calibrate) your pumps often.
2. Validate the pumps are working (and you are not just adding or removing water... )
3. Calibrate each dosing head individually.. They will not all be identical.

I utilize two BRS 50ml dosing pumps and each pump operates at slightly different speeds, so I adjust my run times accordingly. I also re-calibrate often and check salinity often. My biggest fear is having one stop working and I make an effort daily to visually validate the pump heads are rotating and make any salinity corrections weekly (although this rarely needs to happen).

As far as the salt, which do you use?

Some salts have additives like bacteria, organics (like Aquaforest Probiotic Salt) that will cause the water to go stale if not used within a period of time. I use regular salt like Aquavitro and I keep mine in a 40g brute and use it over a 30 day period without any ill effect.

Hope this helps.