Holy crap that's incredible.
The one thing that's missing from that render is the opening in the central baffle that cuts the water change chambers in two. I have no way of drawing in 3-D so I just marked it up in pen on my drawings.
Here's the theory:
When the sump is running, the two gate valves in to the water change chamber are open, so that water enters the sump in the skimmer chamber, goes past the bubble trap, through gate valve 1 in to the front section of the water change chamber, through the opening in the baffle that cuts the water change chamber in two, then through the back gate valve in to the channel in the refugium. Essentially, during normal operation, the full size of the sump (except for the 4 dosing containers) will have tank water flowing through it. The only time water will pour from the skimmer chamber in to the refugium is when I'm doing a water change.
Water changes will happen by first closing the gate valve between the skimmer chamber and the water change chamber. Water will then fill up the skimmer chamber and pour over in to the refugium. Once everything has levelled out again, I'll close the second gate valve between the return area and the water change chamber. This will totally isolate half of my sump and divert the water temporarily directly in to the refugium.
Now, I will have the auto-top off feed line and sensor inside the water change chamber. There will also be a pump with a line directly out to the sewer inside the water change chamber. Once the water change chamber (or two chambers I guess) are isolated, I will kill power to my auto-top off system and turn on the drain pump on that side of the sump. Once the water change chamber is drained, I'll turn power to the auto-top off system back on and let it fill the water change chamber up with fresh R/O water (the reservoir is in the basement beneath the tank). Then I add and mix salt, open the gate valves, and return the water change chamber to the circuit of the sump.
It forces the water to completely change direction in the sump. Originally I didn't have a central baffle that divided the water change chamber in two, but I wanted to forces it to flow through the whole sump and not end up with dead spots in the corners of the water change chamber. I *hope* that it's possible to make the opening between the two halves of the water change chamber be at the bottom of the sump, as opposed to a cut out at the top, as this will allow me to completely drain the WC chamber with just one pump.
The logic behind this design:
I have no fish room, the only remote equipment I can have is the R/O reservoir. Everything else needs to fit under the tank. It's getting built in to the house, so I wanted to be able to automate water changes as much as possible, but not sacrifice sump volume by taking up floor space with a separate water mixing container. I also need to be able to do a significant enough of a water change to make it worth the whole endeavour, hence the height of the sump, and the 17" water depth within the sump while it's running.
Is what I'm thinking about even possible?
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