Easiest Way to Setup a Daily Fully Automated Water Change System?

[Ryan S]

What's the easiest (and safest) way to setup a fully automated water change system that changes X gallons per day?  For this hypothetical, lets say the DT is 300g and the daily water change would be 4g.  Assume the waste goes down a drain, and added fresh saltwater is in a large container, lets say 100g, and the user will have to add salt to that bin, but once full, the system would run for 25 days on its own.

 

Apex DOS?

 

Genesis Renew?

 

Pair of BRS 50mL/minute Dosers?

 

LiterMeter III?

 

Other?

 

Does anyone here have a setup like this in place?

 

[Squishie89]

Although mine will not be 100% automatic as tubes will need to be placed in specific areas, I plan on using the DOS.

[Ryan S]

Bump. We must have members who have a daily water change setup installed?

 

If you had big enough water containers to handle enough daily water changes to last a month, in theory, your entire reef could be truly automatic and hands-off, except for once a month... To refill the auto feeder, to refill the ATO container, to refill the alk/cal dosing containers, to refill the fresh saltwater container, and that's really it...?

[DuffyGeos]

Bump. We must have members who have a daily water change setup installed?

 

If you had big enough water containers to handle enough daily water changes to last a month, in theory, your entire reef could be truly automatic and hands-off, except for once a month... To refill the auto feeder, to refill the ATO container, to refill the alk/cal dosing containers, to refill the fresh saltwater container, and that's really it...?

 

That is what I am planning once I get everything set up. I have the Reef Genesis Renew Pro & Storm Pro. I have a 180g tank as a ATO, and a 165g water storage tank to mix salt water for water changes. So I am hoping to have the water topped off while making water changes at the same time 100% automated except for the mixing of the saltwater when that runs out. Not sure how long that will take with my 300g tank and almost 600g system. Planning on automating all of the above.

[Matt LeBaron]

Not sure what your cost limit may be but this is something you could do fairly easy with a controller. The process could be automated fairly easily with a Reef Angel system, two pumps, and their Reef Angel Multichannel Water level expansion.

 

I'm envisioning something along the lines of once a day the controller suspends it's auto top off function (something else you'd need for a system like this) then pumps out the amount you would like to remove (this would need to be calibrated ahead of time) and then runs the pump in the new saltwater container for the same period of time or until it detects that the water level in the tank has reached the fill point that the auto top off monitors. Other controllers could likely be used but I have a Reef Angel so thinking more from the perspective of what I am familiar with.

[JeffG93]

I got one of these 

 

100DMP4 - Stenner Pumps Chemical Feeder

 

and set it up on a simple light timer.  I change about 5% per day.  I recommend also getting a float valve system for your water storage container, so that the timer will just shut off when it's empty (otherwise you'll be drawing water out of your tank and not putting any back in.)

Edited December 10, 2014 by JeffG93

[Ryan S]

I got one of these 

 

100DMP4 - Stenner Pumps Chemical Feeder

 

and set it up on a simple light timer.  I change about 5% per day.  I recommend also getting a float valve system for your water storage container, so that the timer will just shut off when it's empty (otherwise you'll be drawing water out of your tank and not putting any back in.)

 

Jeff,

 

How do you have your system setup? Does that pump simply drain 5% from your sump down a drain, X minutes per day; and then also add fresh saltwater from a bin/tank for the same X minutes per day?  And your ATO is separate?  Seems simple enough.  All you have to do is make sure the fresh saltwater tank always has water in it, but that's it?

[JeffG93]

Hey Ryan -

 

Yeah that's the gist of it.  I have one of the pumps pulling water and then dumping down a stationary tub in my basement.  The other pump pulls water out of a drum I have set up to my RO/DI.  I fill it about every other week, once it's been emptied by the change.  I have a separate ATO (That I also "plumbed" with murlock line and a float valve) that I fill up when it gets low.  No more lugging buckets for me.

 

One thing I will warn you.  For some reason, my pump draws out about 5% more water than it puts in.  I compensate this by making my saltwater a little 'hot' (about 1.029) and letting the ATO compensate.  My salinity is rock steady.  That said, this can be a downside if you need to use the water for other reasons, or if you can't dial in the right salinity.  

 

I have no idea why my pump does this - it's not supposed to.  I probably should have contacted Stenner but I was lazy.

 

If you want to do a little more research, here are two threads where I borrowed this idea from

 

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/141619-automatic-water-changes-doesnt-get-any-better-then.html

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2349824&highlight=automatic+water+change

[Ryan S]

The Stenner pump looks like the perfect pump for daily water changes. Awesome. Thanks for the links. That looks like exactly what I'm after.