Easy Water Change Setup-DIY

Joel_155

New member
Hey All,
So Im very close to installing my tank and I have ideas for my water change setup and I wanted to see what everyone thought. I don't have any pictures of this yet as it hasn't been built but once I do they will get posted up.

MY tank is a 110 gallon 60Lx18Wx24H with a 30 gallon sump and a 10 gallon refugium (separate). The idea for the water change setup is to turn off the return pump, open a gate valve on the sump to drain it. Once the sump has been drained, I then want to have a pump in my salt water reservoir refill the sump with fresh mixed salt water.

I already have an ATO for evaporation (Tunze Osmolator) and I was thinking that I could build one for the pump for my salt water reservoir. My initial idea was to just set the pump on a timer and figure out how long it would take to pump a certain amount of water. So if I'm using a 300 gallon per hour mag pump that pumps 5 gallons/minute I would have the pump only run for 6 minutes. I was then thinking of combining the timer system with a float valve as well just in case. I'm not sure how exact the flow rating is on most pumps and I don't want to have salt water overflow from my sump. Also I would have a heater in the salt water reservoir that I would turn on like a day prior to the water change to make sure the water is the same temperature.

Any comments on this? I know its hard to picture without drawings or photos but once the majority of the setup is done (water storage and tank install) I'll post. I'm mainly concerned about the return pump from the salt water reservoir. I just want to make sure that I get that aspect dialed in perfectly. Thanks in advance for any help here.
 
Actual pump rates are very hit miss so you would need to do a couple measured runs to test yours. I would be very hesitant to try to make the system full auto (timer etc) but that is me. To drain I placed a T-section with a ball valve on my return line and ran the outlet to a floor drain. When I want to drain water I just open the valve and let the return pump run until the water level in my sump hits my stop mark (masking tape line) on outside of my sump. Make sure your drain line has an air gap between it and the drain to prevent water being sucked back into your sump.
 
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