smallet pump possible?

T

timrandlerv10

New member
i'm working on my ato setup, and i'm looking for the smallest pump possible...i've seen adjustable down to 42 gph, but i'm looking for smaller.

my set up will be to have the ato 'sensor system' trigger the pump, but for safety sake the whole system will be on a digital timer, allowing it to run only so many minutes every six hours (timer will hold 4 events).

if i could find a 20 or 30 gph pump, with 0 to 1 ft of head, i figure i could go 2-3 minutes for the 75, 1 min for the 44 (which seams to lose about .5 gallons a day) and 1 min every 12 hours for the 10.
(tim why are you putting an ato on a nano? easy--its at work, so i dont see it most weekends)

i would love to get a 10 gph pump and make the times a little longer...i would just feel more comfortable that way.

anyone have any experience i can learn from before i start gluing?

:)

tim
 
Then you could just use a MiniJet pump.. They are pretty small and a simple ballvalve could adjust the output to a trickle.

Or you could use a Peristaltic Pump.. They go way down to the ML per min. What most people use for constant water changes and to dose topoff through Kalk reactors. You could probably find one that did 10 GPH.. Just search google

Will
 
put a ball valve on the business end of a pump? thats not bad for the pump?

i have an extra mini sitting here as i type...which makes this much easier!

really no problems?

wow...
 
I use a micro jet pump for the auto top-off of my 15 gallon tank. I don't really worry about a small amount of water going into the tank fairly quickly. I have the discharge end of the pipe right above my other micro jet pump to disperse the water quickly since it contains a small mount of lime. I never had any issue doing it this way for over 5 years.

Tomoko
 
I just pour it out of a bucket into the sump, 2 or 3 gallons at a time. You can see it coming out of the return like fumes out of a gas tank when you're filling it. All the fish run up in that to try to snag whatever pods get flushed through. Been doing that for several years without a problem.
 
Why do you want such redundancy? It makes sense only if you have the reservoir directly connected to a RODI fill line. Are you trying to set up a common reservoir to supply both your nano and 75 G tanks?

What is your sensor system? If you use a float switch in each of your tank, you can run your pumps independently. I believe in simplicity. The more parts you have, the more often the system breaks.

Float switches are very durable. If you let your reservoir get empty and let your display tank water level go down and your float switch exposed to air for a long time, then you may have the switch sticking with a salt build-up. Otherwise, they function really well for a long time.

If you have not purchased your system yet, here's a site for some simple ones:
http://autotopoff.com/products.html

Of course, you can not go wrong with a TUNZE Osmolator.

Tomoko
 
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Well I think he wants the trickle for a failsafe. My ATO is like this also.. That way if it sticks on for the full length of what the timer is set for only X amount of water can be pumped.. I have mine set Exactly the same way.. My AC3 kicks on my ATO for 10 mins every hour.. My ATO is cut way down to just a trickle.. So for one your ato only as power for a short time on top of that only a trickle comes out.. So even if the timer or the ato failed the Trickle of water would take a long time to flood the sump.. I wouldn't go way out of the way to do this.. But its pretty simple and does add that extra bit of safety.

yes you can Retrict the output of a mag driven pump like a maxijet or minijet all you want doesn't hurt them.. They even pull less power.

LOL @ Harry.. I'm just to lazy to do it that way. I did for about a year.. If you automate stuff though you do have to consider failures
 
I used to use a completely closed container (except for two airlines sticking out of it) with air pump on a timer as an auto top-off. I had a gang valve on the air pump to restrict the air flow into the container with one valve (while letting the rest of the air out from the 2nd valve.) Air pushed the water via an airline into my tank very slowly - just a trickle. I let the air pump run just for a few minutes.

On the other hand, if you have a two or so feet of head on a smallest micro or mini jet by having your reservoir at the floor level, you will have only a trickle at your display tank.

Tomoko
 
exactly!

(exacltly what? i'm not sure..what was the question?)

for a small loss, say half a gallon a day, to be spread over at least two time periods, we're at a quart an instance. since the timer counts in minutes, i would need at most a 15 gph pump to cut it that low. the less the flow, the longer the time, the easier it seems to be to regulate.

i guess the next question is from where does the evaporation occur? i need this answer so i can place my float switch...it looks like it reduces the water from the return section--the tank is fine, the overflow from the tank makes it to the skimmer, to get over the last seperator wall it has to have a minimum, but the return section seems like there is no minimum there to be able to pump. so for now, i'm am planning on putting the ato in the return section.

i'm going to go with a mini jet on its lowest power at the bottom of the resevoir up over the top of the tank...there will be some help from pressure in the resevoir, but that will be mitigated by the 2' needed to get into the tank.

i'm also going to start with 2 minutes twice a day and see where we go from there.
 
You will be surprised how low the flow rate is going to be with 2 feet head on the mini jet. If I set my small minijet to its lowest flow rate setting, it won't even push enough water from the sump up to my tall refugium with less than 2 feet of head pressure.

Evaporation generally occurs evenly across the water surface. You want to place the float switch where water level is supposed to be the highest in the sump under the normal running condition. As you know, your water level must be low enough to hold the extra water coming from the display when a power outage occurs, but it should be high enough to keep the return pump submerged at all time.

Tomoko
 
CRA had a few of them not too long ago. Its flow rate appears to be about 3.3 gph (0.22 l/m.)

I periodically think about getting one of those to replace my micro jet on my auto top-off. I let my reservoir run too low (just lazy)and get my pump seized up every once in awhile. It seems to require less maintenance than a powerhead in my situation.

Tomoko
 
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Thats the other thing thats nice about the Aqualifters... They can run as an air or waterpump, so you don't risk the motor overheating if you run out of water...

Well, that and they're relatively cheap... :D
 
....3 gph, and i can set it to run for 5 min @ a time 4 x a day, and still have room to go up or down.

20 minutes total would be about a gallon, and thats about what i'm losing now, so that might work well...i can pick up one tomorrow!
 
Reviews are good except for a couple of concerns: Someone mentioned that it may lose suction over time and another said that his airline clogged. Either one is not a big problem at all. I might pick one up myself.

Tomoko
 
Most people that get the airline clogged are running them on CPR overflow boxes... They're used to suck the air out of the overflow box and keep them going... Theres a steady flow of tank water running through and then you have your lights running, and an algae buildup occurs in the airline... I would think that they might clog up with Kalk after a while too, I've never had that problem, but as long as you do normal pump maintanence you will be fine... Kalkwasser/excess calcium is hard on all pumps, and they have to be cleaned periodically... Running a bit of vinegar or myriatic acid through them occasionally removes the excess buildup... No different than your return or skimmer pumps... I also replace my air line every 3-6 months... Again, its not that expensive, so I figure better safe than sorry...
 
It's that time again that I clean my pumps and powerheads (sigh.)

Replacing air line every 3 - 6 months is not bad, especially running kalk through it :)

Tomoko
 
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