simple water changer

[rschneid]

I am bringing up a new reef tank (my first). Its a 75g primary with 30 gallon sump. I have added an ATO (5 gallon bucket,aqua lifter, couple of floats). So my question is why wouldn't two more 5 gallon buckets, two more aqua lifters and 2 floats be all that I need for a gradual week long water changer? It seems simple enough, schedule the saltwater bucket to discharge via the apex over a very slow rate, run its partner to pull water out of the system at the same rate into a waste bucket. A float at the bottom of the saltwater tank to tell me when its empty and stop the apex. A float at the top of the waste tank to also stop the change and alert me. Seems simple... what am I missing?

Rich S.

 

[mcgyvr]

It basically is that simple..
Except you can't expect 2 pumps to pump at the same rate consistently even the same model/brand..

 

[rschneid]

Wouldn't two aqua lifters be close enough that it wouldn't make enough difference that I could not adjust it at the end of each 5 gallon cycle?

Rich S.

 

[usingthejohn]

I may be wrong in my understanding, however you said you were going to place a float switch in each container (one for new salt and one for old) which would trigger apex to shut off the corresponding pump when it was either empty (new salt) or full (old salt)?

If so, I don't think the flow rate between 2 aqua lifters or brs pumps should matter then

 

[rschneid]

exactly. Each bucket has a float. Once the change begins, each bucket goes until its related float trips. In the case of the waste bucket, I will actually put two floats, because if one fails then I could have a flood on my hands. (except that I have lots of leak detectors around which would also shut everything down). Also now that I think about it I should have something to test that the waste extraction pump is really working or I could end up over filling by 5 gallons (not that big a deal though).

 

[bwrag]

Im doing something similar with the dual head stenner

 

[mcgyvr]

Wouldn't two aqua lifters be close enough that it wouldn't make enough difference that I could not adjust it at the end of each 5 gallon cycle?

Rich S.

Probably..

But what if one of the aqua lifters stops working?

It really is that simple but problems can occur..

 

[usingthejohn]

Probably..

But what if one of the aqua lifters stops working?

It really is that simple but problems can occur..

On the apex can't you set a duration for pumps to work? After the time elapsed power is cut off?

 

[dattack]

Why not just use one pump? An aqualifter to pump saltwater in, and drill a hole at top of tank or sump where the water in the main tank drain out via gravity. This will insure water in and out is at the same rate.
The ATO for RO/DI water should be shut off at this time so it won't effect salinity,.