Help with Osmolator not working right?

Shooter7

Shooter7

New member
I posted this over in the Tunze forum, but thought I'd post it here too for those osmolator owners who don't peruse through the Tunze forum:

Just installed my osmolator into my sump and turned it on earlier today. Water in my sump was a bit low and needing topped off, so it ran and ran until it got to the bottom of the sensor at the level I wanted it to be and stopped. Cool. Walked off to do some other stuff and check it later. Checked it a couple hours later and the water level was a bit higher. hmmmmm

Checked it now, about 4 hours after turning it on, and the sensor thing is completely submerged. Light on the controller is green, showing level, but it's at the top of the sensor thing, not down at the bottom like it was when it stopped the first time. Can someone tell me what I've either done wrong or why it's not functioning properly? I'm going on a bit of a trip soon and was counting on this popular topoff unit to take care of things for me while I was away. thanks
 
you have a siphon drawing the water into the sump, the best way is to have the osmolator pump up into the tank and have it above water level so it won't back siphon.

kc
 
Yep, it happiend to me......I just put a bracket on the top of my stand and have the 1/4 hose fit into a 5/8 hose to carry the water down to the sump right were I need it.

This solution will break the back pressure and let you direct your water down were you need it. In my case it was the sponge section just before the return pump area.

But no matter what, the end of that hose from the pump HAS to be higher then the source water level. Mine was 1 foot higher just in case. Good luck and enjoy as this unit has been a great product to me :)
 
Ok, trying to see if this is the case. The way I have my system set up is that my sump is in the room behind my tank, sitting on the floor. It is a homemade acrylic sump, I have the brackets for the osmolator clamped onto the reinforcing trim around the top of the sump, in the return pump area. There is a shelf about 8 inches above this sump. I have a 20g glass tank sitting right by this sump as the reservoir of RO/DI with the osmolator pump in it, this tank is almost exactly the same height as my sump. The water tube from the pump goes up out of the 20g reservoir, goes up to the shelf above the sump where the extra tubing is coiled (temporary setup while testing the system), and then is directed down to the sump where the end of the tube was about 2 inches above the sump water line.

The 20g tank was almost full to the top. The sump maintains a water level that is about 4 inches down from the top. So you're saying that even though the tubing from the osmolator pump is nearly a foot above both tanks, that because the end of that tubing is slightly below the water level in my reservoir tank that it's still able to siphon and try to reach an equilibrium between the two? Here's a pic of my sump when it was first set up. There's now a shelf over it and the skimmer is in the middle compartment. The 20g reservoir is on the end where you can see the fan laying on the floor in the pic. You can see that the water level in the sump is a few inches below the top of the sump, if this helps any at all.

DSCN0133.jpg


thanks
 
"So you're saying that even though the tubing from the osmolator pump is nearly a foot above both tanks, that because the end of that tubing is slightly below the water level in my reservoir tank that it's still able to siphon and try to reach an equilibrium between the two?"

Exactly. I had the same thing happen to me. I couldn't belive that little tube could draw a significant siphon, but.... that's physics for ya ;)

I ended up just lowering the water level in my resevoir.
 
Thanks for the input. Yeah, I found it a little hard to believe too, particularly since there wasn't any water coming out of the line after it stopped at the right place the first time. Guess I'll set the feed line up higher and turn it on again when I get home today.
 
before i bought my osmo i did alot of research on ato's and i remember reading something about oils from manufacture causing surface tension and making the sensor read incorrectly. the tunze rep said to clean the sensor...
 
I had the ame problem when i first got mind. There is a brake in period with the sensor. I cleaned mind every day for a week and it worked fine.
good luck
 
Still, if the water level in your resevoir is higher, it will get to the sump eventually. For mine, it was a drip, drip, drip, that started a few minutes after the pump shut off. It continued until the sump and resevoir water levels were equal.

Actually, I use the Kalk dispensor as well, and it didn't start happening until the unit was a few months old (ie it's possible the little line valve got gummed up), but I think it will happen eventually for all osmolators.

I don't think its a problem with the sensor personally.
 
Well, I'm doing a water change this weekend, I'll get the water level where it's supposed to be, set the output end of the osmo above the water line of both tanks, and turn it back on. Hopefully, this will alleviate the issue and water topping off will be one less thing my tanksitters will have to worry about while I'm gone.
 
Ok, for anyone interested in this topic, got my water change done over the weekend and mounted the output end of the water tube from the osmo pump up higher than the water level in my RO/DI reservoir and turned it all back on again. Has been rock solid for about a day and a half now. Thanks for the input on helping resolve the issue. :cool:
 
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