After 6 years in the hobby I've done my final water change

[bearpeidog]

That's right, no more changes! My wife got be a liter meter 3 with the water change unit. SOOOOOO I'm going continuous water change. Gonna hook it up today as Lowes was open so I go the 50 feet of ice maker tubing that I needed.

Hopefully, this technology will be better than the reliance on myself to do regular water changes. Anyone else go with continuous and have success stories to get me jazzed up even more?

Man, all I got my wife got was some diamonds - I feel guilty now

 

[reefergeorge]

So what salinity is the change water? Or does it pump water out at the same rate, and you still use an ato? What percentage does it change per day?
Sorry for all the questions. Just interested in the mechanics.

 

[FiReBReTHa]

joining thread to learn about this as well!

how did you run it? thru ceiling, basement, 50ft for what?

comeon man details!!!

 

[eric@tampa]

maybe Randy will chime in on this one...this is what he does

 

[bearpeidog]

Its two calibrated pumps on a controller...so one pulls out the water from the sump the other adds it from a 55 gallon of salt water that I have mixed up. However, not at the same time.

I have the pumps in the basement with two 1/4" tubes passed through holes drilled in the floor and into my sump (directly under my display). One hole is for the "waste" water and other for the "New" water.

I needed 50' of tubing so that I can route the waste water over to my water softener's waste line. (Just saved me time and energy as all the proper plumbing is in place there.) It's more like 20 - 25 feet but I didn't want to have to go back to the store....

You set the controller for how many liters you want exchanged in a day. Not sure the max but I plan on 5 gallons a day or 35 gallons per week. The LiterMeter automatically takes that number and power's on/off the pumps as needed to achieve that volume in a given 24 hour period.

I do have an autotop off. I believe that so little water is removed during each cycle that the autotop off will not be affected. I'm going to have to keep an eye on it initially.

Finally, once I get the lines run, I need to calibrate each pump to ensure that the head pressure, differences in pumps etc, doesn't affect the amount of output. Once calibrated, I should have the same water going in as out.

I do have the salinity in the change water a little high as I'm trying to raise it a tad. I think this is the perfect way to do it slowly (over a week or until I remix a new batch)

My RO water is in the basement as well so its pretty much turn on the valve, fill the 55 gallon drum, add salt and mix and then let the litermeter do its things.

Wish me luck cause this is all on paper thus far and not setup yet

 

[bearpeidog]

maybe Randy will chime in on this one...this is what he does

Actually, Randy is the REASON I did this and what put the bug in my head. I had stumbled upon him doing it while researching some Mag questions. Thanks Randy!

 

[L98-Z]

I hope to do this eventually as well. It's the 340 or so price tag that's slowing me down.

 

[jhlbeef]

Vacating the premises

Vacating the premises

Do you think this will give a greater comfort level regarding the need for daily/weekly maintenance? (Like a week's vacation/)

 

[Mako]

Should work out great for you. Be sure to manually calibrate the two pump heads and check them every few months. 5 gallons a day is a good amount, so don't be shocked if you have to replace the tubing once a year.

 

[Doahh]

I'm about to start this also with my Profilux!

 

[bearpeidog]

Do you think this will give a greater comfort level regarding the need for daily/weekly maintenance? (Like a week's vacation/)

Nope. just the opposite I think when I'm on vacation I'll turn it off and let it go. The more simple things are the less that can go wrong. I can do without water changes for a week.

However, it will ensure I get my water changes done with minimal fuss. (I also like to tinker with Gizmo's so it has a cool factor for me).

I am good about mixing water, but not about changing it. I was setup to pump new mixed water directly from the basement into my sump with a mag12. I would first use a small pump to empty out 20 or so gallons into 5 gallons pails. For some reason I'd have the water mixed in the basement, ready to go and just not get to the bucketing part...

I do think that the more frequent water changes will be best for my inhabitants, which is ultimately why I'm doing it.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

I'm doing the same thing as part of an auto water change, Kalk ATO and 2-part dosing. I'm using 2 BRS peristaltic top off and 3 dosing pumps managed by an Apex controller. How are you planning on affixing the lines in the sump? Working on how to submerge the waste water line in a way that limit the change of blockage.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth the hassle of setting up floats as a fail-safe in the event one of the water change pumps or lines fails. (I'd hate to have the ATO dumping Kalk top off water instead of SW in the event of a pump failure.)

 

[sowellj]

Along these lines there is a 30 gallon per day reef filler dual head pump that acccomplishes the same thing at a bit of lower price tag than the liter meter. Randy pointed me toward this unit (thanks). I have the equipment at this point, hopefully will get it set up soon.

 

[nathan.hales]

i have never researched this, and this is the first i have heard of this, can anyone give me a link to some of these products?

 

[JNye]

anyone doing this with slightly lower salinity change water and dosing it at a slightly higher rate and ditching the ATO completely?

 

[Blown76mav]

tagging along. This sounds interesting.....

 

[malawinovice]

Why dont you have your ATO top off the ro/di water first to stabilize the DT salinity.

Then have a pump out your daily amount of salt water change, with a 2nd top off unit returning the fresh mixed saltwater.
You could have an aqualifter pump to an cup or small basin, this being above the sump, therefore no siphon. The cup have a drain to your sewer line.

The second ATO would recognized the level drop in the sump and pump freshly mixed saltwater into the sump.
Put the aqualifter pump and the second ATO and pump on timers.


No need to calibrate pumps and calculate head.

 

[Plan>B]

Why dont you have your ATO top off the ro/di water first to stabilize the DT salinity.

Then have a pump out your daily amount of salt water change, with a 2nd top off unit returning the fresh mixed saltwater.
You could have an aqualifter pump to an cup or small basin, this being above the sump, therefore no siphon. The cup have a drain to your sewer line.

The second ATO would recognized the level drop in the sump and pump freshly mixed saltwater into the sump.
Put the aqualifter pump and the second ATO and pump on timers.

+1 Have the ATO do it's thing up till the given time is for the WC.... during the water change turn off the ATO so no RO is dumping into the sump. Then when the WC is complete, turn back on the ATO/RO.... cycle complete.

 

[Doahh]

Why not?
Because thats way more complicated with more room for error than:
one pump pumps out 500 ml
one pump pumps in 500 ml
one pumps does its thing for auto top off.

 

[kermit_criminal]

Why not?
Because thats way more complicated with more room for error than:
one pump pumps out 500 ml
one pump pumps in 500 ml
one pumps does its thing for auto top off.

thats what im building right now.

one pump w/ float switch for ATO
one pump for exit waste(set on timer)
one pump for enter freshly mixed saltwater(set on timer)