Quote:
Originally Posted by Sidius
- RO/DI plumbed with a solenoid and float switch to keep my ATO reservoir topped off
|
I just noticed this line in your first post. If you do something like this make sure there is redundancy because I can tell you about several tanks that have crashed when an ATO fails to turn off and it's attached to an unlimited supply of freshwater. Murphy's Law says you won't be home when this happens - you'll be on a beach in Mexico or something.
I prefer to have a limited supply of RO available in a reservoir. I aim for 10% of the tank volume. That's enough for a week's worth of top off for most tanks, and it's little enough that if the ATO pumped it all into the system the salinity won't drop so much that it will kill everything. I also design the sump so that it will hold the entire volume of the ATO reservoir so that if the situation does happen the floor doesn't get wet. Redundancy, redundancy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sidius
That water change article is a great read. I'm still reading through it but there's some great info in here. It's possible that this question is answered already in that article and I haven't found it but I wonder if the benefits of daily, continuous water changes would out weigh the fact that they're slightly less effective? Exporting nutrients seems so crucial for some corals. If it's just straight up wasteful and not very beneficial (or not enough to be worth it) then I will definitely reconsider my plan.
|
My thoughts on the automatic WC is just that it's one more thing to go wrong. If you do design an automated system make sure there is redundancy.
My preferred method is like this:
- Tee off your RO/DI so you have a line and a float valve going to RO tub (not the ATO reservoir) and a line going to your SW mixing tub. You can use manual ball valves, or you can hook it up to the Apex with solenoid valves so it will automatically refill these once a week (OWHY).
- Use a pump and hose to refill the ATO reservoir from the RO tub.
- Use the same hose (sans pump) to drain the tank via siphon to either a floor drain, laundry tub, or bathtub. While draining, use a gravel vac and bucket to vacuum sand (you'll only need to do maybe 3-4 buckets for a tank that size) and dump down toilet.
- Once draining is done, refill with hose and pump. Just drop the pump into the SW mixing tub.
I use quick connect hose fittings for hoses, and I use a Quiet One 6000 for a pump which moves water pretty quick. Pick up a few plastic spring clamps to hold your hoses in place while you draining and refilling. If you have space you can plumb in the pumps and use ball valves so you don't have to use a hose. You can hook the pumps up to switches so you just have to flick a switch to refill the tank.
The reason I like this is that "nothing" can go wrong. Sure, you can forget the siphon hose and drain too much out. Fix that by submerging the hose only to the line you want to drain to. If you had solenoids doing this, one could fail so it drains but doesn't refill (return pump runs dry), or it fills but doesn't drain (wet floor).
It's up to you, but this is something I just don't trust to complete automation. You can do all sorts of things to partially automate it.