LiterMeterIII water changing
- Thread starter cbort
- Start date
Awesome to hear guys! I am excited to get this thing going for the simple fact that I am horrible at remembering to do water changes and my water changes are never on schedule nor consistent. I think this plays a huge role on overall health of the reef.
My tank is a 43g tank. 30x24x14T with a total volume of around 55 gallons. Any advice on what my settings should be for this size of a tank?
Also, have you noticed your tank doing better overall with automated water changes? (no tank shock from temp, salinity, etc. fluctuating?)
My tank is a 43g tank. 30x24x14T with a total volume of around 55 gallons. Any advice on what my settings should be for this size of a tank?
Also, have you noticed your tank doing better overall with automated water changes? (no tank shock from temp, salinity, etc. fluctuating?)
doakota1
New member
figure out how many gallons of water you want to change per week,lets say you want to do 10 gals. convert that to liters 3.79x10=37.85 and then divide by 5. 37.85\5=7.57
now you set it up to remove 7.57 liters of old water, and then add the same amount of new water.
That way you will do a 5 day water change,giving you say sat to remix new salt water, let it set for a day, and then start your water change again Mon. morning
now you set it up to remove 7.57 liters of old water, and then add the same amount of new water.
That way you will do a 5 day water change,giving you say sat to remix new salt water, let it set for a day, and then start your water change again Mon. morning
Ok, so the way that I want to set it up: my “fish room” is in the basement along with the drain that will consume my old tank water. What I am wanting to do is use 2 55g food grade drums. The first is going to house my RO water. The 2nd is going to be my salt mixing container. They will be plumbed together via a ball valve with the RO water container sitting above the salt mixing container. So when I need more RO water all I have to do is open the valve, add more salt and I am good to go. I will have a salt mixing pump, a heater and a salinity meter monitoring the fresh salt mixed water. I will then run my LiterMeterIII unit from the salt mixing container up stairs to my display sump. With this setup I should be able to put my tank on a 365 day cycle. I am thinking about doing either 7 gallons per week to start out which would be 1 gallon per day. So that would be 3.79 liters per day exiting my tank, and add 3.79 liters per day? What should be LiterMeterIII say on the display for pump1 and 2?
I will try 1 gallon per day at first to see how everything reacts. I don’t know that I need to go to 2 gallons per day, but once I get it going, it will be as easy as just simply adjusting the figures on the LiterMeterIII.
I will try 1 gallon per day at first to see how everything reacts. I don’t know that I need to go to 2 gallons per day, but once I get it going, it will be as easy as just simply adjusting the figures on the LiterMeterIII.
slief
RC Sponsor
Just make sure you calibrate the LiterMeter pumps accurately with the actual lengths of tubing that you will be using. Also make sure you break the pumps in my running them dry for 20 minutes. If you don't calibrate properly, you will either take out or add in more water than the other. I'd also suggest using some sort of ATO in conjuntion with the water changes.
Make sure you check your salinity monthly as it is the best way to verify that your calibration is accurate.
I've been using my LiterMeterIII for automatic water changes for a few years now. It does work great but the pumps do tend to vary over time. That and the pumps should receive some maintenance every so often depending on how much water you are exchanging.
I change out around 25G per week and every 6 months or so I need to do some pump maintenance.
I've also run into situations where my salinity climbed substantially because I got complacient and didn't check my calibration and didn't check my pumps. One of my pumps stalled due to needing to be cleaned and wasn't pumping enough water out. Evaporation offset the water coming in so my water level was where it should have been but my salinity increased substantially because of the evaporation. It was only because of a not so routine salinity check that I caught it.
Point is, the solution works great as long as it properly calibrated, properly maintained and provided you test your water regularly. Make sure you read your manual and don't become compacient!
Make sure you check your salinity monthly as it is the best way to verify that your calibration is accurate.
I've been using my LiterMeterIII for automatic water changes for a few years now. It does work great but the pumps do tend to vary over time. That and the pumps should receive some maintenance every so often depending on how much water you are exchanging.
I change out around 25G per week and every 6 months or so I need to do some pump maintenance.
I've also run into situations where my salinity climbed substantially because I got complacient and didn't check my calibration and didn't check my pumps. One of my pumps stalled due to needing to be cleaned and wasn't pumping enough water out. Evaporation offset the water coming in so my water level was where it should have been but my salinity increased substantially because of the evaporation. It was only because of a not so routine salinity check that I caught it.
Point is, the solution works great as long as it properly calibrated, properly maintained and provided you test your water regularly. Make sure you read your manual and don't become compacient!
