- Location
- Bellmore, NY
So, today I did my first bucket-less water change thanks to my new mixing station setup. Since my station was down for a bit of time during the upgrade I did about twice my usual volume and not a single bucket used!
First the rundown, The tank is a 65g with a 20g sump. Using an online calculator I've estimated my true volume at 72g. If you don't already know, I'm an avid ReefAngel user. A while ago I programmed my controller to do an uninterrupted water change using my reactor pump to drain water out and I use an auxiliary outlet to enable a secondary pump as an ATO with my new SW. With this setup, I get the added benefit of rinsing my media since it's running through my reactors. Typically I do weekly water changes of 20%. I change my carbon every other WC and my GFO every 6 weeks.
Anyway back to the routine...so the program I setup has a timer to drain the output into a bucket and while it's running, I would run up and down the stairs with new SW to keep the new water reservoir full. It's has worked great for quite a while, but it takes quite a number of trips up and down a very steep staircase and carrying lots of buckets to the toilet to dump out the old water. So, I though to myself, how can I make this easier... what if I could drain the water right into the toilet and get a strong enough pump so I could fill all my new water into a large tub instead of using 5g buckets.
This is what it looked like setup. I have a video I can upload later but for now just pretend water is draining on the left and refilling like an ATO on the right.
Here is the mixing station before shot:
The 35g brute on the left is my RO/DI storage which has the float valve installed too low, so I only get enough to fill the 20g brute and get a bucket and a half extra to fill my 5g ATO reservoir. I'm in the process of fixing that...I had a submerged pump in that container to fill the SW container and another pump and heater in the SW container to mix and heat my SW. The pumps were pretty big Rio's but they only had 6 feet of head.
Here's the after:
It only took about 16 trips to ACE and a few orders from us plastic, BRS and a few others to get right, Also a few trips to AV because the first two pumps I brought home were all having issues. I had to replace the bulkheads during the process and also tried out unseals to add the level gauge. I'm planning on adding a level gauge to the RO/DI side and I need to add an elbows inside both containers so I can get out every last drop
I also plan on redoing the output into the containers with a transition to vinyl tubing to hopefully reduce the pump vibration and make it a bit quieter. If I had to do it over again, I would use uniseals for everything, they were so nice and easy to install.
Originally I was going to use RV/Marine garden hose to connect to the faucet bibs but the ones that arrived were not the ones I ordered and had an anti-microbial treatment, I wasn't comfortable with that so I just returned it and found a great deal on clear vinyl tubing, I ordered a 100' roll of 1/2" ID 5/8" OD tubing for under $40. It came to $56.25 after shipping. If you need clear tubing definitely check out flexpvc.com.
It was the perfect amount to make one hose from the basement up to the tank and another from the tank to the bathroom. I used a bunch of 1/2" HB to garden hose pipe thread adapters so I can connect them to the mixing station, each other, and my reactor output which I have tee'd with ball valves to run to either the drain or the small filter sock my reactors came with. You can see the tee and valves in the WC shot with the buckets.
I'm pretty impressed with how it came out, it really made it a breeze to get 30g of water upstairs. The carbon made getting everything started a pain, maybe I need to pre soak it so that it doesn't clog up so easily in the beginning, once I got the output flow going, it really went smooth. I may need to upgrade the reactor pump. It was meant for one reactor and I plumbed two together... Once I get the new routine down, it should pretty much go unattended after the setup. Looking forward to my next WC now
First the rundown, The tank is a 65g with a 20g sump. Using an online calculator I've estimated my true volume at 72g. If you don't already know, I'm an avid ReefAngel user. A while ago I programmed my controller to do an uninterrupted water change using my reactor pump to drain water out and I use an auxiliary outlet to enable a secondary pump as an ATO with my new SW. With this setup, I get the added benefit of rinsing my media since it's running through my reactors. Typically I do weekly water changes of 20%. I change my carbon every other WC and my GFO every 6 weeks.
Anyway back to the routine...so the program I setup has a timer to drain the output into a bucket and while it's running, I would run up and down the stairs with new SW to keep the new water reservoir full. It's has worked great for quite a while, but it takes quite a number of trips up and down a very steep staircase and carrying lots of buckets to the toilet to dump out the old water. So, I though to myself, how can I make this easier... what if I could drain the water right into the toilet and get a strong enough pump so I could fill all my new water into a large tub instead of using 5g buckets.
This is what it looked like setup. I have a video I can upload later but for now just pretend water is draining on the left and refilling like an ATO on the right.
Here is the mixing station before shot:
The 35g brute on the left is my RO/DI storage which has the float valve installed too low, so I only get enough to fill the 20g brute and get a bucket and a half extra to fill my 5g ATO reservoir. I'm in the process of fixing that...I had a submerged pump in that container to fill the SW container and another pump and heater in the SW container to mix and heat my SW. The pumps were pretty big Rio's but they only had 6 feet of head.
Here's the after:
It only took about 16 trips to ACE and a few orders from us plastic, BRS and a few others to get right, Also a few trips to AV because the first two pumps I brought home were all having issues. I had to replace the bulkheads during the process and also tried out unseals to add the level gauge. I'm planning on adding a level gauge to the RO/DI side and I need to add an elbows inside both containers so I can get out every last drop
I also plan on redoing the output into the containers with a transition to vinyl tubing to hopefully reduce the pump vibration and make it a bit quieter. If I had to do it over again, I would use uniseals for everything, they were so nice and easy to install. Originally I was going to use RV/Marine garden hose to connect to the faucet bibs but the ones that arrived were not the ones I ordered and had an anti-microbial treatment, I wasn't comfortable with that so I just returned it and found a great deal on clear vinyl tubing, I ordered a 100' roll of 1/2" ID 5/8" OD tubing for under $40. It came to $56.25 after shipping. If you need clear tubing definitely check out flexpvc.com.
It was the perfect amount to make one hose from the basement up to the tank and another from the tank to the bathroom. I used a bunch of 1/2" HB to garden hose pipe thread adapters so I can connect them to the mixing station, each other, and my reactor output which I have tee'd with ball valves to run to either the drain or the small filter sock my reactors came with. You can see the tee and valves in the WC shot with the buckets.
I'm pretty impressed with how it came out, it really made it a breeze to get 30g of water upstairs. The carbon made getting everything started a pain, maybe I need to pre soak it so that it doesn't clog up so easily in the beginning, once I got the output flow going, it really went smooth. I may need to upgrade the reactor pump. It was meant for one reactor and I plumbed two together... Once I get the new routine down, it should pretty much go unattended after the setup. Looking forward to my next WC now
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