Your experience with Tunze "top off" Osmolators

[bureau13]

As long as you have it configured so that it tops off a small volume of water at a time relative to the total volume in your tank it works just fine running through a kalk reactor. If your sump is set up such that a small change in water level corresponds to a large volume of water relative to your total tank water, then in that case you probably shouldn't use it with kalkwasser, but otherwise it works great.

jds

 

[LeeMc]

Perhaps I am not understanding the limewater OD issue - for those with that experience vs. using it soley to compensate for evaporation I presume the osmolator was being used to supplement Calcium in the top off tank?

 

[macawdad2003]

I have the osmolator set up in my 75 and has been running about a month. It's awesome. The only drawback is the pump is a bit noisey. I have it in my bedroom and the rest of the tank is silent. Then the osmo pump will kick on and it makes a buzz/humm. Now, that buzz/humm is pretty quiet by some standards but it does wake me from time to time

Great unit.

 

[Philwd]

Love my osmolator. Only issue I've had is my original pump gave out after 2 yrs which is expected but the replacement only fills at about 1/4 the rate the original did. So occasionally it will time out trying to top off. I have a new pump to swap out so I'll see if it makes a difference.

I also have the Litermeter 3. I agree with the others it is better for kalk as it's design does not lend itself to overdosing

 

[carlos_fb]

I love my osmolator too, very nice unit. The only complain I have is that the pump is kind of noisy, is that normal?

 

[MadTownMax]

I think y'all are mis-understanding how I dosed so much top-off - I had a refugium connected to the system that overflowed onto my floor when a sea cucumber climbed into the drain and plugged it......

The osmolator did not malfunction in any way - it did it's job - the water level was low, so it pumped water up to the tank to replace it. Water never reached the secondary sensor.

The osmolator topped-off up to the set-level, my refugium dumped more water onto the floor, the osmolator topped-off, the refugium dumped more water onto the floor... over and over until it had dosed all 8 gallons.

Here's a few other situations where this could happen - your tank gets a small crack, your skimmer overflows, your calcium reactor leaks - in any case, your tank starts to lose water much faster than normal - IF - you have this type of "small leak" in your system somewhere, the osmolator will dose until it reaches the same water level that you have it set at.


This could be avoided by connecting the osmolator to a timer or something - but my simple solution to avoid any more of Murphy's Laws is to just use a peristaltic pump...

sorry for any confusion

 

[crab0000]

Ohhh, I see now. Sorry to hear about your mishap!

 

[gcarroll]

Thanks for explaining that Max, I now understand. Were you using the Tunze Calcium dispenser for the kalkwasser or were you just adding it right to the reservoir?

 

[MadTownMax]

I had the kalkwasser in a bucket - the outlet was above the water so there was no back-siphoning. The pump worked great for over a year - never had a problem with it

 

[Emster]

I have my osmolator plugged into my PH controller. If the PH spikes like max is talking about it shuts it off until the PH drops.I'm not using my controller for my reactor so this works for me. I love it.

 

[bureau13]

Mine is a bit noisy as well. Fortunately it never runs very much at one time.

jds

 

[skyfireblaze]

I just hooked mine up last night, and I have to admit that I really like it.

 

[Mogrash]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9397451#post9397451 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ralphie16
the pump shuts off in 10 min, and I measured the amount it doses in this time: ~2.4 gallons. ask roger at tunze and he'll tell you the same thing. maybe you created a siphon by having the end in the water in the sump instead of above it. did that happen? because that would explain why it kept going.

Well 2.4 gal of Kalkwasser could do some serious damage in a smaller aquarium, possibly even in a large aquarium.

I honestly believe it should be left as a water evaporation tool only, not a kalkwasser dispenser. Either use a gravity feeding method or peristaltic pump for kalkwasser. MUCH safer.

 

[Mogrash]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9403094#post9403094 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Emster
I have my osmolator plugged into my PH controller. If the PH spikes like max is talking about it shuts it off until the PH drops.I'm not using my controller for my reactor so this works for me. I love it.

If you aren't using it for your reactor why would the pH change from adding water? Seems unnecessary. Or did you mean to say you have your reactor plugged into your pH controller? That would make more sense...

 

[bureau13]

I do the same thing. I think. What I think he meant was he has the reactor simply running, and the top-off runs through it. If the pH spikes, the controller shuts down the top-off. If it were to shut down the reactor, that would really just mean shutting down the mix pump or stir bar....top-off water would still stir it up and dispense kalkwasser into the tank in that case. Of course, this is all moot if you're not running your top-off through your reactor.

jds