automatic water change

I think it'd be even better personally. I don't particularly need it to pump THAT fast. Right now I'm setup to run for 8.5 minutes once a day, though if I could slow it down to like 50rpm's and keep it quiet I could run for like 90 seconds an hour every hour of the day and keep it really consistent
 
eddie is correct, our stenner pumps are rated at 35gal/day/head. They have higher rated pumps. I run mine for 12min every 4 hours (72min/day) for a 2gal water change per day.
 
Nope, that much is not needed, that's why I'm going to try a few things with voltage and possibly pwm to drop the speed of the motor. Ideally if I could get down to 25rpm it'd be perfect compared to the 200rpm it runs now.
 
dread240 said:
Nope, that much is not needed, that's why I'm going to try a few things with voltage and possibly pwm to drop the speed of the motor. Ideally if I could get down to 25rpm it'd be perfect compared to the 200rpm it runs now.
Click to expand...

Dread and Sacohen- For educational purposes for all following: How much did you guys spend between pumps, head , tubing, bolts, fittings, adapters, hours of labor and shopping etc....? and be honest please, this is for educational and teaching those that are following this thread.
 
2 Pumps shipped $53.
5' of tubing $12.67
8 23 threaded rod $3.12
8 32 wing nuts $1.25
Power Supply $0 I have one

Total $70.04

2 hours of shopping and labor.

And I have a spare motor in case 1 craps out.

What did you spend on your Stenner total?
 
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Sacohen said:
2 Pumps shipped $53.
5' of tubing $12.67
8 23 threaded rod $3.12
8 32 wing nuts $1.25
Power Supply $0 I have one

Total $70.04

2 hours of shopping and labor.

And I have a spare motor in case 1 craps out.

What did you spend on your Stenner total?
Click to expand...

Got my factory direct brand new stenner pump back in Nov for $200 shipping incl. on a closeout special. I think you can get one online now for about $280 at lockewell dot com

As far as the pump you bought; I checked the ebay seller, looks like he sold out of those 12v pumps with the masterflex heads.
 
Sacohen said:
2 Pumps shipped $53.
5' of tubing $12.67
8 23 threaded rod $3.12
8 32 wing nuts $1.25
Power Supply $0 I have one

Total $70.04

2 hours of shopping and labor.

And I have a spare motor in case 1 craps out.

What did you spend on your Stenner total?
Click to expand...

Sacohen- Your product for others that dont have the power supply ends up being ~$100.

I spent $273 shipping included for pump, fittings, hoses (weighted strainer, so they fall deep into SW and intake area), two sets of extra tubing for peristaltic pump, and a year warranty.

No doubt you ended up with a more economic product, but IMHO well have to see longevity of both items, and how they pan out.

Dont misunderstand, im not knocking your choice. On the contrary, my goal is to have folks do everything they can to make waterchanges happen. Whatever it takes.

If it works, its a great savings. I just dont think its a viable option for all that want to do this.
 
Still curious to see how the pump works out for you Sacohen :) Please post pics/video/impressions..etc when you get it up and running :fish2:
 
53 bucks for 2x motor/head assemblies
14 bucks for replacement tubing
less then 5 bucks for hardware at home depot

12v 1a DC supply I already had

72 bucks total for a dual head pump assembly for AWC
 
DRThompson said:
As far as the pump you bought; I checked the ebay seller, looks like he sold out of those 12v pumps with the masterflex heads.
Click to expand...

DRThompson;

I'm not sure where you see that this seller is out of stock.
I just looked at the EBay listing I bought it from and he still has "More than 10 available / 30 sold"

AquamanE;

I don't have money to spend I'm barely making ends meet as it is now.
I have a 9 year old son who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of Cerebral Palsy so most of the money that my wife and I make goes to his needs, wheelchairs, Physical, Occupational, Speech and Vision therapy 3 times a week and then Intensive Therapy (2 weeks/4 hrs a day 4 x a year).

I really don't have the money to be in this hobby, but my tank is my escape from reality so I have to make every purchase as economic as possible.

I'm have no problem trying something less expensive, I was one of the first to give the Jebao WP-40 pumps a try and I have to say I love them.

My tank is not the most beautiful or stocked with the rarest most expensive corals but it helps deal with life.

If this doesn't work or dies after 6 months it's not catastrophic, I can always go back to manual water changes until I can save the money to replace the pump or motor or whatever went.

I appreciate you help, knowledge and support and AquamanE I can tell by the way you are stating things that you are not trying to be confrontational, but just trying to educate others.

I'll have the pumps working in a test mode by next weekend and I'll put up a video of them doing a test run of both pumps filling 2 separate gallon jugs.

As far as a full working SW change set up it's going to be sometime.
I'm want to move my tank from one side of the room to the other where it backs on the garage and it's going to take a bit of time, money and planning to do that first.

Sorry for being long winded.
 
Sacohen said:
DRThompson;

I'm not sure where you see that this seller is out of stock.
I just looked at the EBay listing I bought it from and he still has "More than 10 available / 30 sold"

AquamanE;

I don't have money to spend I'm barely making ends meet as it is now.
I have a 9 year old son who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of Cerebral Palsy so most of the money that my wife and I make goes to his needs, wheelchairs, Physical, Occupational, Speech and Vision therapy 3 times a week and then Intensive Therapy (2 weeks/4 hrs a day 4 x a year).

I really don't have the money to be in this hobby, but my tank is my escape from reality so I have to make every purchase as economic as possible.

I'm have no problem trying something less expensive, I was one of the first to give the Jebao WP-40 pumps a try and I have to say I love them.

My tank is not the most beautiful or stocked with the rarest most expensive corals but it helps deal with life.

If this doesn't work or dies after 6 months it's not catastrophic, I can always go back to manual water changes until I can save the money to replace the pump or motor or whatever went.

I appreciate you help, knowledge and support and AquamanE I can tell by the way you are stating things that you are not trying to be confrontational, but just trying to educate others.

I'll have the pumps working in a test mode by next weekend and I'll put up a video of them doing a test run of both pumps filling 2 separate gallon jugs.

As far as a full working SW change set up it's going to be sometime.
I'm want to move my tank from one side of the room to the other where it backs on the garage and it's going to take a bit of time, money and planning to do that first.

Sorry for being long winded.
Click to expand...


Steve- Im glad this wonderful hobby of ours helps you with lifes challenges. Youde be surprised at how many on here are in the same boat.

And thank you for the kind words, yes Dr Thompson and I are on here to help others with this project as we feel it is a worthy one to share our experiences and knowledge about. Ive already received a few calls and PM's of others doing this.

A $200 savings, which you, and Dread have come up with is a significant one. My fingers are crossed that it works. That will make it easier for others to jump on the AWC bandwagon.
 
There is absolutely no "if it works" at all at the moment. It works, it's dead nutz on, no problems.

My only thing that I'm working on is to quiet it up some. I have it mounted on the side of my tank atm (didn't want to put it underneath due to salt creep) and I don't have anywhere else to put it, so I'm just working on making it a bit quieter.

I'll be ordering a pwm control board with a pot this week to see if I can get this girl down to say 25-50rpm's
 
yea, it's a 200rpm motor, and then you get a bit of noise from the heads but 95% of the noise is the motor/gearbox assembly. That's why slowing it down a bit is going to make all the difference in the world
 
I got mine running, but don't know if a 12v 1 amp Power Supply is enough to drive both pumps.

To get it going I have to turn the shaft with a screw driver, once going it moves pretty well .
Also I let it run for about 10 min while I did some other things so that it can break in the new tubing (I thought maybe it was too stiff be cause it was new).

When I got back to it the plug seemed a little hot, not so bad that I couldn't touch it, but still hot.

It's not that loud, the peristaltic pump for my ATO is louder that this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ4nJjvvGYk

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zQ4nJjvvGYk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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Steve- looks good, but louder than the Stenner for sure. Youll have to place where it doesnt bother your family, :)
 
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