Doing a AWC with maxi along with running tunze 3155?

[Be102]

So here’s my little dilemma... I have a tunze ato and want to buy a maxi to do awc daily. I want to find either a work around as I feel my ato will trigger when I do an awc (unless I pull from somewhere different in my sump and do it few times smaller sizes rather than a large one daily.

I’m thinking either turning my ato off on my control bar at the same time as I do the awc and have it turn back on after (it does run for 15 seconds every time it turns back on as a startup period).

Anyone have this setup / dilemma? Am I overthinking?
I can always get two maxis and have the second one be an ato but don’t see the reason as I have one already.

My Ato sensor is in my return section along with the output for my ato itself. I am thinking to maybe raise the baffle of my skimmer section and then pulling water from there perhaps 1/4 a gallon or something every so often.


do I need to worry about siphoning when I use the maxi? Like if the water container is higher than my sump? I wanted to have my saltwater and ato reservoir stacked on top of one another.

 

[Ditto]

Merry Christmas!!!

As long as the maxi above the water line no issues. I have had one below the water line in the basement and it did do a small drip when the tube started to wear so better to be safe

mine are on top of each other and the maxi is above it no issues what so ever

 

[Be102]

Merry Christmas!!!

As long as the maxi above the water line no issues. I have had one below the water line in the basement and it did do a small drip when the tube started to wear so better to be safe

mine are on top of each other and the maxi is above it no issues what so ever

lol even when I don’t want to bother you; you still help me
Merry Christmas my friend!

 

[Auquanut]

I have the Tunze 3155 ATO and I'm using the Maxi as a stand alone AWC. I draw water from the overflow section of the sump and new water goes in the return section. Both pumps run simultaneously, so it doesn't affect the ATO at all. I'm changing a total of 1.5 gallons daily in my 125 over 12 aplications (2 hours apart), and it seems to be working well. I've only had this going for a few weeks, so I can't really say how well it will perform long term, but I really like what I'm seeing so far.

 

[Be102]

I have the Tunze 3155 ATO and I'm using the Maxi as a stand alone AWC. I draw water from the overflow section of the sump and new water goes in the return section. Both pumps run simultaneously, so it doesn't affect the ATO at all. I'm changing a total of 1.5 gallons daily in my 125 over 12 aplications (2 hours apart), and it seems to be working well. I've only had this going for a few weeks, so I can't really say how well it will perform long term, but I really like what I'm seeing so far.

Great!! Didn’t even think about that I can easily take it from my overflow section!

Do you still do water changes along with awc? Or does a awc schedule overtake water changes in a large scale overall?


Do you have level sensors or anything or just take x amount for x amount of time daily?

 

[Auquanut]

Great!! Didn’t even think about that I can easily take it from my overflow section!

Do you still do water changes along with awc? Or does a awc schedule overtake water changes in a large scale overall?


Do you have level sensors or anything or just take x amount for x amount of time daily?

The plan is to vacuum the sand monthly and replace the water drained from vacuuming with water from the SW reservoir (shouldn't take much). Other than that, it will all be AWC.

I just entered the amount that I want to change daily and the schedule of daily changes, and it figured out how much to change each time for me. It's really kind of cool.

 

[Be102]

The plan is to vacuum the sand monthly and replace the water drained from vacuuming with water from the SW reservoir (shouldn't take much). Other than that, it will all be AWC.

I just entered the amount that I want to change daily and the schedule of daily changes, and it figured out how much to change each time for me. It's really kind of cool.

Is that from GHL? Or is it like an online calculator?
I have probably less than 100 gallons total volume but would be interested in whatever size water changes would go well as long as I have both reservoirs that can handle it ( pre-made salt water) ato reservoir and a reservoir for dirty water from the tank.

maybe I can think about buying a large ato reservoir and feed water from that into a salt bucket so it’s continuously filled. I don’t want to run my ro from my basement but if I can bring up water once a week or something it will be worth it.

 

[elic173]

If you checkout the video of setting up AWC using a the maxi, you can share the level sensor with both ATO and AWC and the profolux won’t add RODI when the water change is underway.

 

[Be102]

If you checkout the video of setting up AWC using a the maxi, you can share the level sensor with both ATO and AWC and the profolux won’t add RODI when the water change is underway.

Only problem is there are two different devices and they don’t communicate.
if I bought a maxi for ato it would work fine as one would be for awc the other would be for ato.
Because as of now the tunze sensor is different than the GHL

 

[Auquanut]

Is that from GHL? Or is it like an online calculator?
I have probably less than 100 gallons total volume but would be interested in whatever size water changes would go well as long as I have both reservoirs that can handle it ( pre-made salt water) ato reservoir and a reservoir for dirty water from the tank.

I just figured I wanted to change about 10 gallons a week to start. I'm sure I'll adjust over time. Of course every tank is different, so I don't think there is one calculator that would be appropriate for all tanks.

maybe I can think about buying a large ato reservoir and feed water from that into a salt bucket so it’s continuously filled. I don’t want to run my ro from my basement but if I can bring up water once a week or something it will be worth it.

I'm fortunate in that my shop/equipment room is behind the wall where my tank sits. I don't have a dedicated AWC station. I use 2 55 gallon brutes on wheels for new SW. As one is depleted, I can set up the other. My ATO reservoir is a 40 gallon brute. When it's time to make water, I just wheel them over to my RO unit.
Oh yeah. My waste water is directed to a floor drain, so that aspect is a non-issue for me.

 

[Be102]

I just figured I wanted to change about 10 gallons a week to start. I'm sure I'll adjust over time. Of course every tank is different, so I don't think there is one calculator that would be appropriate for all tanks.



I'm fortunate in that my shop/equipment room is behind the wall where my tank sits. I don't have a dedicated AWC station. I use 2 55 gallon brutes on wheels for new SW. As one is depleted, I can set up the other. My ATO reservoir is a 40 gallon brute. When it's time to make water, I just wheel them over to my RO unit.
Oh yeah. My waste water is directed to a floor drain, so that aspect is a non-issue for me.

What type of tubing is used with the maxi? It doesn’t appear any comes with it and I don’t know what to buy lol.

Sounds simple enough tho as I just need to figure out how much water I want to change out weekly.. as of now I’ve done one 20gallon water change in the past like 6 months so anything above that is progress lol

 

[Auquanut]

What type of tubing is used with the maxi? It doesn’t appear any comes with it and I don’t know what to buy lol.

I got 3/16" food grade tubing from BRS.

Sounds simple enough tho as I just need to figure out how much water I want to change out weekly.. as of now I’ve done one 20gallon water change in the past like 6 months so anything above that is progress lol

As I said, every tank is different. Some folks pretty much never do a water change and get away with it. I've got a pretty aggressive nutrient export system, so I don't feel the need to change nearly as much as I used to.

 

[elic173]

Only problem is there are two different devices and they don’t communicate.
if I bought a maxi for ato it would work fine as one would be for awc the other would be for ato.
Because as of now the tunze sensor is different than the GHL

How about using the timer function for the water change and using programmable logic to control the Ato?

 

[Des Westcott]

How about using the timer function for the water change and using programmable logic to control the Ato?

I do my ATO and AWC with just the Reef-Pi Iset it up to work with 2 x float switches, but in hindsight, I could have done it with just 1.

Details in my build thread here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dewds-big-cube-reef-pi-build.658048/

 

[Be102]

How about using the timer function for the water change and using programmable logic to control the Ato?

I did however use this but I do not want to rely on it to be my ato unfortunately. I would use it as an auto off schedule to turn the outlet on and off

 

[AZMSGT]

How about using the timer function for the water change and using programmable logic to control the Ato?

Problem here is the Tunze alarm will still sound upon regaining power.

@Be102 I was going to set up a system just like yours. Utilizing the Tunze ATO. I then thought to use the GHL sensor system and AWC. But instead of using the Tunze, I was going to eliminate the Tunze sensors and just use the pump with a wall powersupply plugged into the GHL powerbar.

I came up with 20 ways to skin this cat. I decided to wait and look at my long term goal. FWIW, I went to a huge mix system in the garage and will pull water from there for ATO and AWC. Going to end up with 2 Maxi systems one dedicated to AWC, the other ATO and Kalkwasser feed.

 

[Be102]

Problem here is the Tunze alarm will still sound upon regaining power.

@Be102 I was going to set up a system just like yours. Utilizing the Tunze ATO. I then thought to use the GHL sensor system and AWC. But instead of using the Tunze, I was going to eliminate the Tunze sensors and just use the pump with a wall powersupply plugged into the GHL powerbar.

I came up with 20 ways to skin this cat. I decided to wait and look at my long term goal. FWIW, I went to a huge mix system in the garage and will pull water from there for ATO and AWC. Going to end up with 2 Maxi systems one dedicated to AWC, the other ATO and Kalkwasser feed.

I agree the alarm is a problem I am thinking about. I’m thinking if I can either turn it on and or off at a specific time then it wouldn’t be as much of an annoyance

 

[Des Westcott]

I agree the alarm is a problem I am thinking about. I’m thinking if I can either turn it on and or off at a specific time then it wouldn’t be as much of an annoyance

Use a digital timer something along these lines

Electronic Weekly Programmable LCD Digital Switch Relay Timer Controller(220V) | eBay

Industry standard chip, high precise, strong interference resistance. Display: LCD. This product is designed to turn on/off electric appliance power automatically. Included:1 X Switch. 1 X User Manual.

www.ebay.com

Use it to power your Tunze ATO. Once you know how long it takes the Maxxi unit to do your required water change, turn the Tunze off 1 minute before the Maxxi is scheduled to run and turn it back on like 5 minutes after it is scheduled to finish.

 

[Be102]

Use a digital timer something along these lines

Electronic Weekly Programmable LCD Digital Switch Relay Timer Controller(220V) | eBay

Industry standard chip, high precise, strong interference resistance. Display: LCD. This product is designed to turn on/off electric appliance power automatically. Included:1 X Switch. 1 X User Manual.

www.ebay.com

Use it to power your Tunze ATO. Once you know how long it takes the Maxxi unit to do your required water change, turn the Tunze off 1 minute before the Maxxi is scheduled to run and turn it back on like 5 minutes after it is scheduled to finish.

I actually have a ProfiLux 4 with a power bar which does this.

i was originally thinking about it too much as the turn on time will then schedule the pump to pump water in but it is minuscule I feel.

 

[Kyl]

I run my AWC as I did when using a DOS. It does 200ml every hour and a bit at speed 2 pulling from my sock exit, adding in my return section. It has never affected water levels with the 3155 to cause the ATO to kick on. People arguing that this is less effective than using a float to remove then add are splitting hairs over like 2-3% of "effectiveness" of the automatic water change being done. Since starting this in September? my salinity hasn't changed from 1.026sg on the Hanna tester.

I do hope that in 2020 GHL takes some time to focus on improving the doser setup ability with variable block-duration profiles (like Apex), and increase the vessel size limit. My daily dose is reading zero as I've disabled the AWC while my fresh batch of water mixes up for a day or so. I do that by setting the profile to Switch channel 64, which is permanently off.