automatic water change

Another question..
I have setup this avast marine magnetic probe holder such that it will hold the new salt water in and out as seen in the pictures below. Can someone help give me some opinions on good or bad with this? The NSW will drop into the lower portion of the sump while the old saltwater will be removed right “upstream”. There is no way the new water can ever go backwards towards the uptake tube. I’m not sure if you can tell, but I have the uptake tube is probably 1/4inch below the surface. I have my 170dmp5 arriving this weekend.. Excited!!

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Try to have your OSW taken out further upstream of the NSW. I have my OSW in my overflow, and the NSW in the sump.

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This is how I set up mine with my office tank, and hope these pics will help anyone who is interested setting up one. I have been running it for about a month now, and I do see obvious coral growth and coloring. I use a simple timer running about 1 hour to change about 1.5g per day.
 

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2000SE-

Imho it's too close for chance.

I agree with Delma.

Mine takes old water from Sump overflow area and new goes into return chamber of Sump right above return pump suction.
 
how is everyone programming their pumps via apex? like a stenner or something similar? xxx minutes on and xxx off?
i am debating between the DOS and a stenner, and am curious how it gets programmed.

Thanks

corey
 
I use a stenner and here's mine. Also I have my mixing pump run for 10 min every hour from 6-10 to mix the water again and make sure the salinity is equal throughout. Then my stenner cuts on for 20 min after that to change the water. The process repeats 4 times every hour and runs 5 days a week. That gives me all weekend to refill my salt container for the next week. I have an optical sensor as well in case my water level in the bin drops too much before I mix up a new batch. Don't want to be pulling water from my sump without putting anything back in. Here are my programs

Mixing pump:
OSC 000:00/010:00/050:00 Then ON
If Time 22:00 to 17:59 Then OFF
If DoW S-----S Then OFF
If Float OPEN Then OFF

Stenner
Set OFF
OSC 010:00/020:00/030:00 Then ON
If Time 22:00 to 17:59 Then OFF
If DoW S-----S Then OFF
If Float OPEN Then OFF


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I know my Stenner pumps 20 gallons per day. (Kept it on the low side for safety reasons). This equates to .83 gallons per hour. By running the Stenner 259 minutes per day, I exchange 3.6 gallons (2% tank volume) per day.

Apex setting:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 13:00 to 17:19 Then ON
If pH > 8.75 Then OFF
If pH < 6.50 Then OFF
 
The DOS is programmed by volume over time in mL. It has a "wizard" that you type in from what time you want it to work, how much volume in ml's and whether to run forwards or backwards. For each of the 2 pump heads. It then makes the program for you like this:
Fallback OFF
tdata 12:45:00,1,16,30,147,2,88,7,30,148,1,44,10,0
If FeedC 000 Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF
If Output V_NSW_LO = ON Then OFF

I added the FEED lines so it will turn off if I choose those feed options for pump maintenance, and or if my water level sensor in my NSW reservoir is too low.



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My Dual head Stenner with apex OSC function. Runs for 15 minutes every 4 hours and changes out about 2.5 gal/day

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 025:00/015:00/200:00 Then ON
 
biecacka said:
how is everyone programming their pumps via apex? like a stenner or something similar? xxx minutes on and xxx off?
i am debating between the DOS and a stenner, and am curious how it gets programmed.

Thanks

corey
Click to expand...

Osc is too complex for me. Mine just has 2 times per day. If time=x then on. If time =x then off. I calculate the volume based on the x of gallons/mls per minute and figure out minutes. To do 2 gpd= 1% of my volume for me.

I have a float switch in SW bin hooked up to a breakout box on Apex. If water in bin falls( bin is expty) them pump is off and sends. Me alert
 
OK. I will figure out something. But i do have a few more questions, do you find it is better to do smaller more frequent changes, say "x gallons a day" or larger more infrequent changes like "x gallons a week".
is there a point of diminishing returns so to speak, like my tank is young for SPS so my demand is low on most trace elements is that a concern. My tank reads 5-10 on N03, 1200 on mag, 0 on p04(but i need a hanna low checker), alk is 8.9-9.2 typically. I have a 240 gallon cube, 30 fish in it, and 15 SPS frags or so.

corey
 
I can speak for myself in that I do smaller daily changes in order to reach a 10% per week value. The reason I choose to do it this way vs maybe doing it in 1 go vs 5 is that it will have less of an impact of my critical parameters. What I mean by that is I have my mixing station in my garage and live in Texas. It's high 90's outside right now and my water temp in my storage tank is 87*. I don't want to dump too much water in there and cause a big temp swing.

Also when you mix up saltwater and store it like I do the alk level will drop while it sits there. I also didn't want to cause a big alk swing by changing 20g all at once vs 4g spread each day for 5 days in my 200g system. I no longer have to worry if my critical params are much higher/lower than I keep my tank at since the impact will be so small each change.


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that makes sense to me. I am now really just trying to figure out how to incorporate the water set up system into my apartment.

corey
 
biecacka said:
OK. I will figure out something. But i do have a few more questions, do you find it is better to do smaller more frequent changes, say "x gallons a day" or larger more infrequent changes like "x gallons a week".
is there a point of diminishing returns so to speak, like my tank is young for SPS so my demand is low on most trace elements is that a concern. My tank reads 5-10 on N03, 1200 on mag, 0 on p04(but i need a hanna low checker), alk is 8.9-9.2 typically. I have a 240 gallon cube, 30 fish in it, and 15 SPS frags or so.

corey
Click to expand...

I agree with ClownCoo- Smaller more frequent water changes. I shoot for a 30% monthly WC, based on Randy Holmes-Farley article where he demonstrates why 30%. Very good read, you should be able to find it in the water chemistry forum under archives. Lots of good water parameter articles there.

As far as your concern for SPS and trace elements, I have no bases to make an opinion, but with 30 fishes I think you should consider the fact that water changes will help reduce the organics they produce. So its just as important what you are taking out as what you are putting in. Thats IMHO.
 
The plumbing and placement. So now I have 1 50 gallon container in a closet a few feet from my tank. It is plumbed into my rodi using with a float valve to stop the flow when it's full. I then throw a bag of salt in there and use a mag5 to mix it. Now when I do a water change, I use an open line on my manifold and run it into my kitchen sink, while simultaneously pumping the mag5 into my sump. The big problem is he mag5 pumps faster, now I could get a ball valve on it to tone it down.
But ideally I would get a DOS or Stenner and put it in that same closet and drill a small hole in that wall to run the waste line to the washer drain(right next to said closet). I am just trying to figure out if I absolutely need a second container, so one rodi and one salt water.
If not then I need to replumb mine so it doesn't keep topping off fresh water into salt water. If I do need a second container, how can I plumb them together the easiest. I only want to transfer water from the rodi to then unit used for salt water mixing, so no float valves or anything for that container. Then should I just use the fresh rodi unit as my ATO unit too? Or keep using a separate ATO unit? My concern here, is my ATO u it is also plumbed into my rodi line for constant filling up, which I know is not ideal for failure purposes. However, with limited space, ease of use, and only 5 gallon bucket for the ATO container I would hope the unit is so small the pump in there would shut off before it pumped 20 gallons of fresh water into my sump. I just really like the ease of the current set up and the fact it's hidden in my stand so it takes up no real space.
So in conclusion, can I do AWC with one container, or is 2 that much better? Best, most simple way to plumb them? And anything else I forget. :lol:

Corey
 
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