automatic water change
- Thread starter DRThompson
- Start date
I'll see what I can do on the video later this evening.
I'm using the 3 head Cole-Parmer with Ametek motor same setup that was just linked to.
Will be transferring water from my display, to the frag tank, then to the drain, and pumping new SW back up to the display.
iced98lx
New member
that's about what my plan is too. had a hard time thinking of what to use the 3rd head for.. lol
I'm setting it up on a 180 gallon DT with another 2-300 gallons of system behind it, so it'll move plenty of water.
I sent the seller an offer of $70 shipped (60+$10 shipping) so we'll see if he wants to sell a little below asking.
iced98lx
New member
8-32
Up and running! (well mostly) First, two tank auto water change complete. I've got it set to run 3 times per day and change out approximately 3/4 gallons a day. So between the two tanks that will be about 5 gallons per week or 5%. I've only got a tall Instant ocean bucket for now that holds I think 7 gallons. Float switches for empty fresh SW reservoir will have to wait on the pesky relays to arrive. (and then I need to find some large plastic barrels preferably 55gal or so)
So, for now I have to just make sure that I don't let the bucket run dry and I have to keep up with top up on my frag tank as that is waiting on the relays as well to complete the ATO (right now it just has a pump on timer that doses for a set time per day with an estimated evap and I make up the difference)
Only other thing I didn't get around to doing this weekend was checking the in place flow rate to each output. (next weekend) Two of the heads pump almost exactly the same with equal lengths of tubing in my tests and I used the faster head for the longest run, so hopefully the extra head pressure evens things out a bit more.
Sacohen, my camera battery died as I was shooting some pics and a video but I'll try to get them posted as soon as I can.
Now after running 150' feet of tubing all over and wiring up a new outlet, etc, etc, it's time for a hard earned......:beer:
So, for now I have to just make sure that I don't let the bucket run dry and I have to keep up with top up on my frag tank as that is waiting on the relays as well to complete the ATO (right now it just has a pump on timer that doses for a set time per day with an estimated evap and I make up the difference)
Only other thing I didn't get around to doing this weekend was checking the in place flow rate to each output. (next weekend) Two of the heads pump almost exactly the same with equal lengths of tubing in my tests and I used the faster head for the longest run, so hopefully the extra head pressure evens things out a bit more.
Sacohen, my camera battery died as I was shooting some pics and a video but I'll try to get them posted as soon as I can.
Now after running 150' feet of tubing all over and wiring up a new outlet, etc, etc, it's time for a hard earned......:beer:
My tests after replacing the pump tube used equal lengths of RO tubing about 2' long. the results over 30minutes were:
1st test
head 1 = 1980ml
head 2 = 1980ml
head 3 = 2030ml
2nd test
head 1 = 1950ml
head 2 = 1940ml
head 3 = 2020ml
So the difference is negligible (approximately 1 gallon per 24 gallons pumped) and I will occasionally still need to manually adjust the salinity to account for skimmer production anyway.
I'm not sure how things will measure out now after setting up the runs as now there are different amounts of head pressure on each lines output and the input sides also have different levels of suction required, save for the drain line from the display which has gravity working for it.
I will have to check flow next weekend with it all set up, but the plan to compensate if needed is to swap the faster pump around as the first resort and if that is not adequate to keep things within ~3-4% then I will get a couple plastic needle valves and add very small amount of back pressure to the fastest two lines until they are near equal (might need occasional recalibration, but we'll see, next weekend)
