auto-water change in a nano how much how often?

[claymax]

i wanna set up an auto water change in my jbj 28, how much should i be changing monthly?(i know this question is pretty open ended, more or less just looking for what guidelines)

[phi delt reefer]

10% weekly is pretty standard.

so 2-3 gallons.

[beefORchicken]

how will your water changes be automated?
you might find monthly water changes too far apart. weekly or bi-weekly can work well. but hey, everyone's tank is different.

[FishyFishy!]

I do a 5 gallon water change once every 2 weeks on my BioCube 29.

I'm also skimmerless. Everything is doing fantastic with this frequency.

[claymax]

I was thinking of using two of those brs 50ml/min on timers one to pump out tank water and then one to pump in fresh sw, spaced out once or twice a day. I'd have to cut power to any ATo system of course, and time them to run in the appropriate order.

I feel like I could use a controller but those aren't cheap

[FishyFishy!]

I would do some more research on this method before you do it.

I tried this type of a setup, and it really dosn't work well at all.

[lastlight]

I think the risks involved skyrocket too with such a small volume of water to begin with. Not saying that's a reason not to try it =)

[claymax]

What risks are we talking about?

Your critiques are greatly appreciated

[lastlight]

I don't really know exactly. I think there was a thread about doing these and salinity shifts are possible. A shift when you're working with smaller volumes seems likely or no? How will these be done?

[claymax]

With brs peristaltic dosing pumps(50 ml/min) on digital timers, they say they're quite accurate....

[kien]

For starters, if one of those timers or pumps die and you don't notice, the result would likely be catastrophic. Especially in a nano.

This approach is ok so long as you are there to observe the process and can intervene if something goes wrong. I certainly would not rely on it to just work automatically 100% of the time. And by Murphy's law, that ONE time that you're not there is when it will fail.

[lastlight]

Even my profilux dosing motors vary greatly in the amount of drift they have as they get a bit dirty. I'd be so concerned about the setup that continually testing the source water and the tank water to ensure it's always working would be far *more* work than regular changes. I could be worrying about nothing though I do that...

[syncro]

Continuous water changes are an option with your setup i.e. dozens of small water changes each day to equal 10% change per week.

Try some sort of feedback to detect problems. E.g. float switches hooked to a controller to trigger when too much water is added or not enough removed.

[phi delt reefer]

the brs 50ml/min units are LOUD. heard that from the two people who i know own one. One even sent it back twice - both times BRS advised it was normal noise.

for such a small tank bite the bullet and just do it weekly or every two weeks. Its not going to be more than what fits in a 5 gallon bucket.

if you still want to do it and automate it - get one of those auto water changer things. Expensive but it has fail safes in place which is what you want incase something goes wrong.

[The Grizz]

WHAT!! Auto WC!! Seriously, your young & only have 29 gals :lol: I really don't think it's worth your trouble to try to automate, might cause you more trouble & money then it worth. Just my 2 cents.

P.S WHERE'S THE PICS OF THE TANK DUDE!!

[claymax]

most pumps and timers are more reliable than me so i dont mind putting the life of my tank in their hands lol, if something goes wrong i should be around.

greg: im one stand a bit of plumbing, about 10-20lbs of branch rock, and an mp10(at least thats it for now) away from starting a build thread, lots of pictures i promise

[The Grizz]

It would be sweet to have a AWC for sure, can't wait to see some pics after the mods that I helped you with.

[claymax]

oh its gonna be nice, thanks again for the help man!