100gal Build: New Pics

[sphelps]

Yes there is some water damage but it's not that bad. I did actually had an overflow drain added when I rebuilt the fish room however I didn't get around to actually connecting it up to the drain before I left. I also had salinity control ready to go as well but again didn't spend the time on it prior to leaving as I didn't really want to add such things so close to my departure. In hindsight these two things would have saved the tank and prevented damage but it's not worth thinking about now.

The damage is minor as the new tile contained most the water limiting the damage to replacing the carpet underlay in the adjacent room. The basement only being partially developed defiantly saved a significant amount of work and parts that will need to be replaced.

[gregzz4]

'nuff said

[StirCrazy]

sucks to hear about this, but is there a possibility of setting it up with a manual float valve some how so that if the water is full and no top off is needed, it can't get to the tank? might have to use a PSI relief valve in conjunction which will relieve to a drain if the float is closed and the proflux wants to pump.

Steve

[sphelps]

The top off will be certainly be reconfigured to prevent such failures in the future. Such things have always seemed unnecessary in the past and profilux staff has confirmed many times in the past the use of additional safety is not required.

[Myka]

Ugh...that's about as "worst case scenario" as you can get. Sorry to hear about it.

[sphelps]

So I did some planning today for a new ATO system and would like some feedback.

I've added salinity control which really is just something I wanted to add anyway. I've used this saturated salt method before with success on other systems. This will allow for automatic water changes if I add later.

Note some features may be disabled or modified for vacations depending on length and given circumstances.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by sphelps

So I did some planning today for a new ATO system and would like some feedback.

I've added salinity control which really is just something I wanted to add anyway. I've used this saturated salt method before with success on other systems. This will allow for automatic water changes if I add later.

Note some features may be disabled or modified for vacations depending on length and given circumstances.

I like the mechanical float, but I tend to like a mechanical failsafe on electronic stuff I have never heard about the saturated salt mixture thing befor, is there anything that I can read to explain what it does and how it works?

Steve

[sphelps]

The float does work with a solenoid and timer to control how long it can activate for and when. I could have added another electronic float but that just seemed pretty pointless as the tank also has a overflow drain so worst case involving that mechanical float is I waste a little water.

The saturated solution method is just something I came up with a few years ago and I experimented with it on a couple tanks I was caring for. I never looked much into it to see if others have done it so I can't suggest any links. The idea is for auto water changes but rather than storing a large container of say 100 gallons or constantly having to refill and mix up a smaller container this method utilizes your controllers salinity probe if available and uses up very little space. You use a container around 20 gallons as the example above and you add a full box of salt. You obviously end up with supersaturation but with proper settings controlling display tank salinity, the controller will switch between the two top off containers to keep tank salinity constant. You can then program a pump to remove water from the sump directly to a drain and the two top offs keeps salinity constant. Best of all, all that's needed is every so often is to add another bucket of salt when you notice little to no undissolved salt. The key is setting an alarm when tank salinity drops too low which will turn off the pump that removes water encase you forget to add more salt from time to time.

The only concern I had before I tried it was relating to solubility of various elements in the salt causing a constant imbalance. However, I constantly measured a system over a year and saw no noticeable fluctuation of measurable elements. It's probably not much different than only mixing a small portion of a salt container per water change which is common practice.

[StirCrazy]

ya, looks good, just make sure you add cleaning the mechanical float valve to your schedule. I used to clean mine once a month, or right be for I would go away anywhere.

as for the saturated salt, neat idea. I had wondered about that but was worried about chemicals falling out of solution at a saturated level. have you had any issues with that?

Steve