I am in the process of setting up the fishroom in my new house, and will have a sump room for my main display. I want to have 2 water storeage containers, one RO one salt. and have it set up to automatically change 2% of the water daily. So I need some help on what parts I need. I am guessing some sort of micro processor, flow gage. Or is it possible to use high low flow switches. The main system will have about 300 gallons so I am looking for a 6 gallon water change daily. The sump will have a drain hole in it so the water will overflow out. If the new water is a degree or too cooler than the system it will sink to the bottome of the sump and push the warmer out of the overflow drain. In order to do this there will have to be a shut off to the main system pump to shut it down during the water change. Is any of this possible?
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Auto water change set up
- Thread starter Rob Top
- Start date
I have some comments.
1, 2% daily is a bit excessive and too frequent 8O . You will be making better use of your resources if you do say, 5% to 10% weekly unless your design can only handle smaller amount.
2, You have many options, and your imagination is your limit for these setup. For majority of us, it is usually the cost and space needed. The amount of time it takes per water change will be affect by the flowrate of the system. In general, the quicker you want to get the process done, the more expensive the system will be.
3, using density differential is not going to be easy since the sump must be having also no flow as cool, fresh water is added. Unless the pump is off, and there is no additional drainage from the display tank, it is not going to work. Baffles and partition inside the sump also complicate things, and the rate of new water adding to to sump will be limited.
4, If you have a u-processor doing the work, you may want to have a metered/volume based setup in which a fixed amount of water is pump out of the tank, and a fixed amount of water is added afterward. It is more reliable than the density differential method.
1, 2% daily is a bit excessive and too frequent 8O . You will be making better use of your resources if you do say, 5% to 10% weekly unless your design can only handle smaller amount.
2, You have many options, and your imagination is your limit for these setup. For majority of us, it is usually the cost and space needed. The amount of time it takes per water change will be affect by the flowrate of the system. In general, the quicker you want to get the process done, the more expensive the system will be.
3, using density differential is not going to be easy since the sump must be having also no flow as cool, fresh water is added. Unless the pump is off, and there is no additional drainage from the display tank, it is not going to work. Baffles and partition inside the sump also complicate things, and the rate of new water adding to to sump will be limited.
4, If you have a u-processor doing the work, you may want to have a metered/volume based setup in which a fixed amount of water is pump out of the tank, and a fixed amount of water is added afterward. It is more reliable than the density differential method.
Space is not an issue, that I have. I'm not too concerned about the speed of the water change. I know the temp differance way of exchanging water will be a challenge. I thought about the fact that the main pump would have to be off, but didn't think about back flow from the main display. That can be taken care of with 1 way valves. At this point all I have is the concept and no idea what I need or where to get it. Anyone want to help me with that one? Kind of an important part of this idea.
Just want to say again, that it is better to go with a metered method than one relies on the density differential. From an engineering point of view, your method is very "kewl" and "novice" but it is not the best when it comes to practicality. The difficult part is to make sure as little newly mixed saltwater is not wasted, and holding the water still in the sump will be a challenge. The metering method, you just need to make sure your system can handle the difference in volume when a fixed amount of water is drain, and ensure no more than the expected amount of newly mixed water is added. This is pretty easy specification since it is pretty much a beaten dead horse for chemical process control.
If you do decided to go with either method, you pretty much just need to look at some of the equipement that we used in chemical process control. There are a few companies that specialize in it, such as plast-o-matic, ashasi, GFisher, and even industrial hardware distributors will have all the part you need.
If you do decided to go with either method, you pretty much just need to look at some of the equipement that we used in chemical process control. There are a few companies that specialize in it, such as plast-o-matic, ashasi, GFisher, and even industrial hardware distributors will have all the part you need.
Metering does not mean you need a meter. You can use a float valve at a specific level. Pump the water from the tank out to the container until the float valve shut off. Turn off the pump and discard the old water. Now, when the container is emptied, pump new saltwater to the container until the same float value is triggered. Now pump the water from the container to the tank instead. Done.
You need a container, a float valve (or a level sensor). For simplicity, use two powerheads (you don't care about speed, so no need to get a real pump), a few motorized ball valves, and a controller for the ball valves and the level senosr with programmable timer, and you are all set.
You need a container, a float valve (or a level sensor). For simplicity, use two powerheads (you don't care about speed, so no need to get a real pump), a few motorized ball valves, and a controller for the ball valves and the level senosr with programmable timer, and you are all set.
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