Quote:
Originally Posted by reefwithareefer
The apex turns on the Apex AFS at 6:56 am, this dumps the fish food into a funnel that is connected to a 1" pipe. The end of the pipe is in front of the external return pump inlet. The pellets fall down the pipe and are sucked up by the return pump and pushed into the DT.
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Hmmm, for some reason I've never thought of doing this, lol. I bought the Apex AFS during the boxing day sale but haven't hooked 'er up yet. I may have to borrow that one
Gobytron:
I'll explain this the best I can. Feel free to ask anything and/or criticize my thought process too. I'm learning a bit as I go and changing a few things I don't like about my existing set up. So, first up the 2 barrels: the one to the left is my RO/DI water. My RO/DI system will be mounted to the wall on the left - I haven't got it moved yet but probably will be by the end of the weekend. Right at the top of that barrel I'll be drilling the float switch that will turn the RO/DI on and off. Right now in my 30 gal bucket I only turn it on every 2 or 3 weeks for a day, depending on how fast the auto top off uses it up. I'm using a Tunze Osmolator as my ATO. LOVE IT! So nothing there will really change.
On the right is my SW barrel. Once a month I'll have to re-fill this and mix new SW. But it should last a month I figure. I'll get to that in a sec.
In the middle I have my Reefflo Dart. I have a line coming from each barrel, each with their own ball valve, tied to a "T" that goes into the pump. From the pump I go up and back into the SW barrel. Check my build page for the pipe I have inside. I just posted it this morning.
So when I want to fill my SW barrel with fresh RO/DI water I close the valve between the SW barrel and the pump, and open the FW to pump valve. Turn on the pump until the FW is empty and theoretically the SW is full. Turn off pump
Close the FW barrel valve and open the SW barrel valve and now you have a re-circulating pump. Into the pump from the bottom of the barrel and into the barrel at the top. Pour your salt in and let the pump run a while to mix. I'm thinking of having the pump on my Apex and have the pump come on once a day for a half hour to keep things mixed and aerated.
Now comes the part that will be new to me, the dual head peristaltic pump. It's rated at 100 gpd. So in theory I could actually change the entire volume of the barrel in a day, bit I'm going to be aiming for 3 gallons via a timed plug on my Apex. I'll be running roughly a gross water volume of 300 gallons a figure between display and sump. 3 gallons for 30 days is 90 gallons. My barrels are 100 gallons, so I should have some leeway. The pump has 2 individual heads so they pump exactly the same amount. So one will pump from that little 1/2" valve you see on the far right at the bottom of the barrels, through the dual head pump and into the return section of the sump.
Then on the other head of the dual head pump, I'll draw water from the filter sock area of my sump, through the dual head pump and into a drain I have plumber right where the pump sits.
So once a month, I'll need to re-fill the SW tank and fill the RO/DI water. Other than that I think that's it.
Ask away, I'm sure there's questions or comments