Osmolator question

[sjediets]

Just setting up my Osmolator and have a question.

My pump turns on for about 10 seconds when the system is powered up even if the water level is correct. Is this working correctly?

I'm assuming I need to power off the osmolator when I do water changes and once I get the water level right after the change, why would I want more fresh water added.

Plus, every power glitch is going to add water to my tank?

Am I missing something?

 

[JetCat USA]

it's working correctly, on a small nano tank I'd recommend diverting the water when hooking it back up after a water change. on the power blink if you have the float shut off set sufficiently it'll keep the pump from activating when the power blinks if it's over filled.

 

[MalHavoc]

It may be helpful to have the power adaptor for the osmolator plugged into a power strip that has a battery backup for a few outlets. That would help with any short power outages. The power in my house goes off once or twice a week for a minute or two, usually when I'm not home - it's really annoying.

 

[sjediets]

I can't really understand why it works that way.

1. The float (emergency) sensor is going to sound an alarm if the tank is overfilled. Not exactly something I need in the middle of the night after a couple storm induced power blinks.

2. Who would expect to have to battery backup the topoff system?

3. Why should every water change (or power cycle) involve a 10sec shot of fresh water if the primary sensor says the level is OK?

To compound my issues with the osmolator...I tested the mechanism, sensors etc, then installed it in my sump and filled up the topoff container. Two hours later my wife says...."whats that noise"...head into to look at the tank and the d@mn infrared sensor is underwater and my sump is full of fresh water. The emergency sensor saved me...but why did this happen?

I touch the sensor and it goes green again...power down the topoff...drain 2.5 gallons from my tank and readjust the salinity. Luckily my tank is still cycling and there's nothing in it to really harm. Any ideas why this would happen on it's debut performance?

Subsequent tests have worked as expected, but needless to say, I'm not terribly confident in the future.

 

[JetCat USA]

when the sensor is new it needs cleaned as it will hold an air bubble on it and give a continued low level after it's reached the sensor, i do believe thats covered in the book now.

 

[Krazy]

I just bought one of these, YIKES!~!

 

[MalHavoc]

I had an osmolator on my tank for years and I never had these sorts of issues.

Battery backup for your top off? I put everything except my lights and heater on a battery backup, because I'm paranoid. I also had my tank go through a hurricane and I lost power for 9 days, so maybe I'm taking it to an extreme.

 

[rvitko]

New sensors being plastic attract air bubbles. This is probably the most reliable product we make I see very, very few returns, far less than even 1%. It runs for a second or two as it takes a while for the current to travel, the light signal to transmit and be recieved and all the components to come on line and work together. In all but the smallest of tanks this should be a non issue.

 

[dhogan]

If I knew this prior to buying it, I would have looked elsewhere. The problem is even worse when you are using a kalkreactor, I have my AquaController turn the osmolator off if the pH gets above X, so when the pH gets below X by .01 it turns the osmolator back on causing the osmolator to pump kalk into the tank, thereby causing the pH to go up even higher... it is a problem.

The other stupid thing is, I turn my return pump off to feed, so the alarm goes off because of the mechanical float valve. Well as soon as the mechanical float valve drops after turngin the returnback on the tunze pumps water into the tank.

This is just bad engineering, not very happy with how it works, wish I went with something else.

 

[JetCat USA]

i use an Osmolator with a Kalk reactor and it's never a problem, works just as perfect as it does on other non Kalked tanks I've used them on.

on the alarm you can simply raise the float up to just above the return pump off water level and that'll solve that problem.

 

[dhogan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10778725#post10778725 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JetCat USA
i use an Osmolator with a Kalk reactor and it's never a problem, works just as perfect as it does on other non Kalked tanks I've used them on.

on the alarm you can simply raise the float up to just above the return pump off water level and that'll solve that problem.

I'll try that out - thanks.

 

[JetCat USA]

You're Welcome.