automatic water change

frankly, i'd just test salinity once every week or two. That's all I plan on doing with the very very marginal difference

I'm more of a calculated neglect kind of guy, Once every month or two if I'm lucky I'll remember to test and adjust the salinity in each tank, about the same schedule I clean out my skimmer..............

So for me the closer it is to the same pumping rates the better.
 
Some video:

Pump doing it's thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpIQLVWHCU0&feature=youtu.be

Fresh Saltwater into the display tank sump. Seems to be dripping slower but that may be my imagination, will check volume next weekend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yQXo2LJA-Y&feature=youtu.be

Water from Display tank sump down to my frag tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFdPA-9iAgI&feature=youtu.be

And finally water from the frag tank down the drain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elj-4WE8he4&feature=youtu.be
 
Seems to be so far. I'ts only ran twice so far but I will definitely not have it running when I'm home once I'm sure it's all working. It's a little bit too loud as it reverberates off the floor and joists where I located it and even with the basement door closed I can still hear it with the bedroom door closed upstairs. (was hoping I could have it run at night for four times per day but that's not going to happen :( I may try Dread240's idea of using a pwm controller to slow it down to see if that makes enough difference......

Here's a couple of pictures of the setup that you can actually see. the video was rather dark as I don't have a light up in that part of the ceiling in my basement.
 

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Turns out I have a light week this week at work so will be getting a bit more done than expected.

Fiddled with measuring insitu flow rates and found with test one:

head 1 to display 1: 940 ml
head 2 to frag tank:1,002 ml
head 3 to drain:1,028 ml

Swapped the lines for head 1 and 3 and got:

head 1 to drain: 960 ml
head 2 to frag tank: 1,005 ml
head 3 to display: 1,015 ml

So tubing runs and variences in head pressure don't seem to make much of a difference on flow rate. I'll probably fiddle with the valve idea and see if that changes anything just for the heck of it but it's running close enough to not be an issue now as the frag tank and display will each be pulling out skimmate so the little extra delivered should be a good thing in the long term stability of the two tanks!!!!!! Display skims more than frag tank so...... I think I'm good but will still "test" the valve Idea just for the fun of it unless I get side tracked with another project :lolspin:
 
Ok, i though i saw someone mention a kodak photo printer power supply but I cant find the reference now. Either way I checked my wife's (which she never uses) and lo and behold it was 24V and 1.8A and worked perfectly. The power supply is Kodak model number HPA-432418A0.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1391631844.148648.jpg

Tested a few on and offs and it worked great. Here's some video candy of it running. Doesn't seem that loud...

http://youtu.be/FjTK5itivYE
 
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Looks good. Finding the right power supply for my ThermoFisher D3138 was the hardest part.

I finally found a 12v 2A laptop PS that worked perfectly.

IMAG0160_zpsnqzctdg1.jpg
 
Ordered 3 - 100' rolls of 1/4" line from amazon...Now I need to figure out how I'm going to get this through the wall or floor or attic back to the mixing station...
 
This thread is GIANT!

I've been reading thru this and wondering how many have their automated water change systems up and running????

Show me pics!!

<img src="http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx43/tomdigiacomo/_I0V2238.jpg" border="0" alt>

Found your thread 2 months ago and have been up and running for the last month. This is setup in the basement, directly below a 70 gallon corner reef tank in the family room.

Thanks for all of your info and getting me pointed in the right direction - and putting a big dent in my bank account!:D

Tom
 
Ordered 3 - 100' rolls of 1/4" line from amazon...Now I need to figure out how I'm going to get this through the wall or floor or attic back to the mixing station...

you can use a snake that is used for running networking cables into the walls and could prolly even rent one on the cheep...
 
you can use a snake that is used for running networking cables into the walls and could prolly even rent one on the cheep...


Yeah but I would need to drill through either the floor or through the bottom 2x4 of the walls to get into the space between the joists...thats the part holding me back...
 
2x4 should be like butter and even the floor would be nothing with the right bit....is the spot where its needed not accessible....how about a pic
 
2x4 should be like butter and even the floor would be nothing with the right bit....is the spot where its needed not accessible....how about a pic


Theres a 65g tank in the way...lol

The basement underneath the tank is finished so I'd need to open the wall to drill down. I can do that next to the tank but want to try and do it without major construction. The floor would be easy, theres hardwood floor under the carpet though. The biggest problem is there is baseboard heating along the wall so just an obstacle more than anything. Need to find someone local who is good at this part :)
 
Drill thru the tank. HAHA.
No baseboard heating here in FL.

It sounds like the easiest thing would be to open a small hole (about the size for an outlet) in the wall near the bottom, then get a long drill bit and drill thru the top plate in to the cavity below.

Keep the piece of drywall that you cut out so you can use that for a patch or get one of these to put in the hole you cut.

spin_prod_45905601
 
Yea well I'll need a hole for the tubing to come out, i just have no experience doing that kind of wiring...floor I can do..I'll figure it out. I'll post on the local forums, I'm sure I'll find someone willing to help :)
 
<img src="http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx43/tomdigiacomo/_I0V2238.jpg" border="0" alt>

Found your thread 2 months ago and have been up and running for the last month. This is setup in the basement, directly below a 70 gallon corner reef tank in the family room.

Thanks for all of your info and getting me pointed in the right direction - and putting a big dent in my bank account!:D

Tom

Tom- please describe that system some. It looks great.

I see 2 dosers, a single head Stenner, then a dual head Stenner. Three Vats, 2 being white containers and then a Brute. I gather there is a pump between the two whit ones.

PLease describe. More pics? :)
 
Tom- please describe that system some. It looks great.

I see 2 dosers, a single head Stenner, then a dual head Stenner. Three Vats, 2 being white containers and then a Brute. I gather there is a pump between the two whit ones.

PLease describe. More pics? :)



The pump is a Pan World NH-40PX which is programmed to run for 10 minutes every 3 hours to circulate the saltwater. By switching the direction of the valves I can then pump 20 gallons of ro/di water, into the Brute container, for mixing fresh saltwater. I then use a submersible Eheim pump to pump the new saltwater, from the Brute container, into the 35 gallon tank on the right.



From the left, of the photo, are the containers for the two part dosing system followed by two BRS 1.1 ml dosing pumps.
Next is the Stenner single head pump which is controlled by the Tunze Osmolator ATO and draws fresh water from the ro/di 35 gallon tank (left tank in previous photo).
Followed by the Stenner dual head pump which draws old saltwater, from the sump, and pumps new saltwater into the DT. It is programmed to run for 2 minutes every four hours.



All tubing and control wires are bundled and run thru a 2" PVC pipe. At the opening, on the right, the two leftmost tubings go to the drain while the main bundle goes thru the floor to the sump and DT.



I ran the lines for the ro/di waste water and the old saltwater into the drain for the Culligan water softening system.



Another shot of the two 35 gallon horizontal stand tanks which I purchased from my local Tractor Supply store.

Again, I must thank Dr. Dave for all of his work which I just copied.

Tom
 
Yea well I'll need a hole for the tubing to come out, i just have no experience doing that kind of wiring...floor I can do..I'll figure it out. I'll post on the local forums, I'm sure I'll find someone willing to help :)

I'll be glad to try to help you as much as I can.
If you want PM me and I'll give you my # and we can talk about it more.

Unless I'm missing something in your situation, it's not difficult.
 
@zachts What relays are you using in your SW barrel to make sure it doesn't run dry. Thinking of just getting an autotopoff.com switch but open to alternatives.

Until I get another controller to automate the whole mixing station, I'm just gonna get a cheap digital timer to run it 5 minutes every 3 hours or use my crappy analog one for 15 minutes 4x a day.

Anyway, for those of you that have this up and running, has it affected your dosing routine at all? I would think not but seeing as how my alk is usually lower than my WC water not sure how this will affect that. Just thinking out loud :)

Steve, i think I'm good, I'll figure it out, I know its not hard, I just have no experience doing it. :)
 
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