(for an article) Who here is set up to do automatic water changes?

[Katrina71]

I'm dying to try it. I don't have an Apex. I was looking at the Smart AWC. Anyone with experience using that or another non Apex, please put your .02 in.

 

[BOWHUNTER4250]

DID 25 GALLONS A WEEK ON A 180 , EVERY SUNDAY MORNING I HAD IT SET UP TO DRAIN 25 GALLONS OF TANK WATER AND REPLACE 25 GALLONS WITH FRESH MIXED SALT WATER ......... RAN IT THRU MY APEX AND DIDNT EVEN NEED TO BE HOME !! WORKED GREAT !

 

[BZOFIQ]

DID 25 GALLONS A WEEK ON A 180 , EVERY SUNDAY MORNING I HAD IT SET UP TO DRAIN 25 GALLONS OF TANK WATER AND REPLACE 25 GALLONS WITH FRESH MIXED SALT WATER ......... RAN IT THRU MY APEX AND DIDNT EVEN NEED TO BE HOME !! WORKED GREAT !

Can you elaborate about your setup?

I'm looking to implement something like this where every few weeks - a system - would change 50 gallons within a day or two.

 

[BOWHUNTER4250]

Can you elaborate about your setup?

I'm looking to implement something like this where every few weeks - a system - would change 50 gallons within a day or two.

It was pretty simple , my set up allowed me to have a tank under my sump , i have a basement sump which is 220 gallons and is 10' long with the pump , on one side underneath i have a 75 gallon tank that i use for my new salt water mix and a 55 gallon tank that i use for my top off .... i had a pump in my sump and i figured how long to leave it on for to pump the desired amount i wanted changed , then 1 minute delay and then the same with the new salt water , that then pumped back into my sump and 5 minutes after that my top off switch turned back on and nothing ever shut down , the entire tank stayed running .

the only thing that shut off was my ATO but i had that programed to turn off a few minutes before the water change began ... pretty simple and staright forward and it worked great !! i took down the 180 and setting up a 300 and will do the same with this tank , the only thing i neede to make sure of was that i had enough water in my " fresh sat tank " and with a 75 gallon and 25 gallons a week i had enough to do 3 water changes a month before i neede to make a new batch , kept a power head and heater in the tank as well

 

[BZOFIQ]

Thanks Bow hunted.

So you use regular pumps (not dosing/peristaltic pumps) to move water and have 2 pumps for this purpose:, one empties the "extended sump" into a drain and the other is sitting in the mixed SW tank ready to pump it back until it hits a float; did I get that right?

So if the first pump failed and no water was pumped out the other wouldn't come on to pump water in because the float up top is CLOSED; I see.

I don't have space for an "extended sump" that would allow me to pump out such large quantity of water out of return section at once.

I'm thinking along the lines of 2 peristaltic pumps, one would empty say 3-gallons at a clip before the 2nd would add exactly that much (peristaltic pumps can be calibrated and are pretty accurate). Repeat this cycle say 8 times a day and I'll have 50 Gallons of water exchanged within 2 days without shocking anything. At 3 gallons a clip slowly pumped in I wouldn't even have to worry about heating the new water.

What do you think?

 

[choss]

the litermeter III as well and have documented my setup in my build thread. It was the best thing I ever did as far as my tank goes.

 

[Gonebad395]

Oh I so wish I was set up for auto water changes

 

[n2585722]

I do auto water changes via my Archon and two DP1's. Unfortunately The Archon and DP1's are no longer available new.

 

[lbacha]

I used two BRS 50ml/min dosers that would run at the Same time with one removing water and the other adding water (I used 2 10g trigger ATO containers one for fresh salt and one for waste water). This allowed me to keep the tank running while doing the change. It ran for 6 months before I moved and took it down. I just got a second DOS to set up an automatic water change in the new place where I’m going to pull from my saltwater make up container and empty it right into a drain.

 

[rickybrooks05]

I used two BRS 50ml/min dosers that would run at the Same time with one removing water and the other adding water (I used 2 10g trigger ATO containers one for fresh salt and one for waste water). This allowed me to keep the tank running while doing the change. It ran for 6 months before I moved and took it down. I just got a second DOS to set up an automatic water change in the new place where I’m going to pull from my saltwater make up container and empty it right into a drain.

I likes that idea- cheaper than DOS

 

[n2585722]

I used two BRS 50ml/min dosers that would run at the Same time with one removing water and the other adding water (I used 2 10g trigger ATO containers one for fresh salt and one for waste water). This allowed me to keep the tank running while doing the change. It ran for 6 months before I moved and took it down. I just got a second DOS to set up an automatic water change in the new place where I’m going to pull from my saltwater make up container and empty it right into a drain.

I pull from my storage container in the garage and empty to the drain in the kitchen under the sink. The two pumps are in the garage. The tank is 35 ft from the garage. I ran 1/4" tubing up through the ceiling and in the wall to a wall plate. The tubing is run through PVC conduit that has insulation around it. The ATO pump is also in the garage and the tubing for that is also in the same conduit. I change a little water at a time I don't worry about the temp of the water in the storage containers.

 

[LowLi]

i use apex + dos 1.7g water change daily on my 120
only been doing it for around 2 months.
Saw major changes in growth.

 

[lbacha]

I pull from my storage container in the garage and empty to the drain in the kitchen under the sink. The two pumps are in the garage. The tank is 35 ft from the garage. I ran 1/4" tubing up through the ceiling and in the wall to a wall plate. The tubing is run through PVC conduit that has insulation around it. The ATO pump is also in the garage and the tubing for that is also in the same conduit. I change a little water at a time I don't worry about the temp of the water in the storage containers.

Yeah that’s the nice thing about small changes, temp doesn’t need to be exact and you don’t get the crazy alk swings like you would with a bigger change if your salt is high or low alk so you can pretty much use whatever you want without worrying about matching parameters. I would recommend keeping an eye on alk usage if you change salts though as it may go up or down after changing based on what you use. I went from reef crystals to IO and had to increase my 2 part dosing up a bit after I changed

 

[pciscott]

I use the Genesis Renew auto water change system and currently change 8 gallons per day on a 600 gallon system. The system changes 1 gallon at a time every 3 hours. I have been running this for 4 years and have played with amount of water per day from 5 to 12 gallons per day and about 6 months ago bumped from 6 per day to 8 and saw lower nitrate and my system just seems very happy and my colors have improved so just leaving it for now. I mix 130 gallons at a time and top off my bin every 10 days.

 

[Gablami]

I use a masterflex with a 2 channel head. One head out to the drain in the crawl space, one tube in from the 65g salt water storage container. 2g/day.

 

[DangerDave]

220ish gallon system, I use a dos and do 3 gallons a day. Two 55 gallon tanks for my water making/salt mixing/ATO station.

 

[IronVulture]

I use the Genesis Renew for auto water change 3 gallons per day.

 

[BOWHUNTER4250]

Thanks Bow hunted.

So you use regular pumps (not dosing/peristaltic pumps) to move water and have 2 pumps for this purpose:, one empties the "extended sump" into a drain and the other is sitting in the mixed SW tank ready to pump it back until it hits a float; did I get that right?

So if the first pump failed and no water was pumped out the other wouldn't come on to pump water in because the float up top is CLOSED; I see.

I don't have space for an "extended sump" that would allow me to pump out such large quantity of water out of return section at once.

I'm thinking along the lines of 2 peristaltic pumps, one would empty say 3-gallons at a clip before the 2nd would add exactly that much (peristaltic pumps can be calibrated and are pretty accurate). Repeat this cycle say 8 times a day and I'll have 50 Gallons of water exchanged within 2 days without shocking anything. At 3 gallons a clip slowly pumped in I wouldn't even have to worry about heating the new water.

What do you think?

not exactly but close : yes i have 2 regular maxi jet1200 pumps , one is in my sump ( my sump is 8' long)
and the other is in my " fresh salt mix tank " ( 75 gallon under my sump ) i don't have float switches to turn them on/off i just use my apex program so essentially if say the pump in my sump failed and it did not pump out the desired amount of water then the pump in my fresh mix tank would still kick on and add the programed amount .... now for me im lucky and have enough space in my sump to allow for this should this ever happen .

the tank in the lower right corner is my 75 and that holds my fresh salt water mix , the tank in the lower left is my 55 gallon R/O top off water

Now personally i would not suggest to empty 3 gallons over 8 times a day because your essentially defeating the purpose of water changes by emptying fresh salt water you just added a few hours earlier that was mixed with old water , you would want to do a larger volume at once to make it beneficial unless im missing something ??

 

[P-Dub]

Have the DOS set to perform 1.7 gallons per day during the evening hours from midnight to 05:30 on my 125 gal system. I have a 20-gallon Rubbermaid trash can for each the new and old salt water. I installed a spigot on the bottom of the old saltwater container to run a hose off property so I don't dump salt water on my lawn when I need to empty. I use natural seawater or mixed depending on my mood. It was one of the best purchases I have made... so far.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

I do. have been for almost a decade.
I use Genesis Reef system to do water change. Its setup to do 30% water change per month which breaks down to 3 gal per day.
All i have to do is to make sure my mixing bin has freshly made saltwater at right salinity. Bin lasts about 3 weeks so i make saltwater every 20 days or so.