what about this
What I have at the moment is a 30 gal tank for mixing saltwater, and a feed off my pump that runs to my basement drain. The mixing tank has a power head that has a "closed loop" and a feed to the sump. To do a water change, I just open the valve to the drain and pump out 20-30 gal, close that valve, open the one from the mixing tank and pump in until I'm back up to the proper level.
What I was thinking about doing is this: drill the sump just a smidge about the normal water level (and ATO float switch level) and pump in a bulkhead straight to a drain. Then putting the pump from the mixing tank on a timer to run for a few minutes each day. The water level would rise in the sump and almost the same amount of water I pump in would overflow into the drain. This would allow for my existing ATO to work as normal and the only thing I would have to do it manually refill,and salt and mix the mixing tank. The water changes would happen a few gallons at a time each day.
This risk is that during a power outage or some other event that changes the sump level, the excess water would flow out the drain an be replaced by fresh water when the power returns. But I've only had 1 power outage in 2 years and the fresh water is topped up real slow. So, I'd only loose a few gallons of water on about 250 gal total system volume.
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