Auto Topoff Problem

[Budman912]

I'm having a big problem with my auto top off. Actually it's not even auto yet as I havn't installed the floatswitch. I have a Rubbermaid Brute Container in the mechanical room next to my tank. I'm using a Mag 1.9 submerged in the Brute Container connected to my my Lifereef Sump with 3/8od polypropylene tubing. I'm just manually controlling the pump with my AC II. The issue I'm having is that when I shut off the pump, the ro water continues to syphon into the sump. Glad I caught it before a disaster happened. How can I stop it from syphoning or do I need to use some other dosing type pump that I can put above the Brute container. If this is the case, will an aqualifter work or will I need a more expensive peristaltic pump?

 

[Greg manton]

need more info but the simple pionts are keep the end of the top off line above the water levl in your brute container you could also tee in a line for air to break the syphon. now where did you get the info on auto top off iv looked all over and cant find anything any hep would be pretiated

 

[Budman912]

I read most of my info on Reefcentral for Auto Topoff. Eventually I'm gonna hook up a floatswitch in my sump up to my Aquacontroller and have that switch off and on my Auto Top off. If I tee off the line coming from the Mag pump in my Brute container toward the top of the Brute container and leave it open, I wonder if my pump will have enough power to pump water to the sump also. I don't get a very big flow into the sump as it is.

 

[coralguy1]

Raise the exit end of your top off line so that your top off water falls into your sump. If it is not submerged, the siphon will break.

 

[Budman912]

The exit line of my auto topoff isn't submerged. I have a Lifereef sump that was had a tapped hole that I could hook up to and it's above the level of the water in my sump. It still continues to siphon into the sump after the pump turns off. My Rubbermaid trashcan is pretty full. Maybe I'm gonna have to keep the level lower in that. I like the idea of keeping it full though.

 

[BeanAnimal]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6515602#post6515602 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralguy1
Raise the exit end of your top off line so that your top off water falls into your sump. If it is not submerged, the siphon will break.

This is not correct. If the pump flow is enough to fill the line, then a siphon will occur even if the discharge end is out of the water.

A work around has already been advised. That is to put a tee on the output line of the top-off pump ABOVE the maximum water level of the resevoir. Part of the water will go to the sump, part of it will exit out the tee. When the pump turns off, the tee will act as a siphon break.

The second option would be to end your top off hose at a height above the sump that is higher than the maximum water level of the resevoir. The top-off hose would feed into a larger diamter pipe that runs into the sump and is open at the top end. Look into your toilet fill hose and overflow for an idea of how this would look. In other words, the water will free fall from the end of the top-off hose into the pipe that guides it into the sump.

The third option would be the incorporation of a kent or similar float valve onto the end of the fill hose. In conjunction with your float switch, this will add a bit of safety. I would however be cautious of the fact that if the float valve fails your sump could overflow with fresh water.

My setup uses a float valve and electric float switches. My TOP-off container holds 5 gallons and can therefore not cause my sump to overflow or salinity to drop in the event of failure. The 5 gallon bucket is only allowed to refill once every 24 hours (software controlled but could as easily be a timer). My tank evaps 2 GPD in the summer and 3.5 in the winter. So even if I was out of town for a few days, the net gain in the event of a fully failed open float valve, would be about 6 gallons, after evap.

I know this sounds complicated, and others may well have better or simpler ideas... I am just trying to get you thinking.


Bean

 

[Budman912]

Thanks Bean,
They are all great ideas. I think I'm gonna try to Tee off in the resevoir above the water line and see if that works. I had figured that I wouldn't get much going to the tank, that it would all come out of the open T, but sounds now like it will work. The way your doing your top off sounds pretty full proof. I'm just manually turning my top off on and off right now until I get my floatswitches hooked up. I plan on using electrical floatswitches in my sump (one higher to shut the water off it the lower one fails) hooked up to my Aquacontroller II to turn the pump on and off in my resevoir. I was thinking that maybe I could put some type of timer statement in my Aquacontroller program that would only allow the pump to be on a certain amount of time per hour or day that would limit the amount of water that could be pumped into the system. I just got my Aquacontroller so I'm still learning and playing around with that.

Thanks for your help!

Buddy

 

[BeanAnimal]

Once you get the AQ running, I would still use a floatvalve in the sump side. This will at least add a measure of safety. Put the float valve at a level just above the point where the float switch turns off the top-off pump. This will help to ensure that of something does go wrong, the water level will not rise.