Need Help with 1st Auto Top off on a BC 29

[Wingnutt021]

Hopefully I can get a good answer here, as its always been a helpful place.

My new biocube 29 has a pretty high evaporation rate. It is no longer feesable just to add RO/DI water with some kalkwasser every day.

I am looking into this ATO system:

How should I set this up? I was thinking of buying a 5 gallon bucket to keep full of top off water. What else do I need. I think I need a pump to get the water out of the bucket and into the tank, but I need suggestions on what pump to use. Is that all I will need?

While I'm on the topic of top off water, should ALL of the top off water be kalkwasser, or should I mix the settled kalk water into the RO/DI water?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Anonymous]

My plans for my topoff on the 29 Biocube.

I have a Litremeter III. I plan on having a ~5g container in the stand then have the Litremeter pump the water up to the tank's sump area all day/night. I will match the evaporation rate the best I can. The Litremeter will be plugged into a float switch in the left have sump area where if the sump does not need top off then the Litremeter will be shut off. I used this pump and method on my old 58G with great success. I used to run it through a Kalk reactor on the 58G but now it will be top off only.

 

[Wingnutt021]

Would a Tom's Aquatic Aqua Lifter work?

 

[Jimmy G]

I'm not familiar with that ATO unit. I use a LitermeterIII and have for years. Very reliable but not cheap either.

As far as using kalk for all your top-off, if you evaporate quite a bit in that little of a tank you could easily over shoot your alkalinity. You could use a weaker kalk solution rather than a saturated kalk solution but I would definitely test your Alk. until you get a feel for it.

Good luck!

 

[Wingnutt021]

The Litremeter III is just too expensive for what I'm looking to do for now.

 

[Wingnutt021]

As far as using kalk for all your top-off, if you evaporate quite a bit in that little of a tank you could easily over shoot your alkalinity. You could use a weaker kalk solution rather than a saturated kalk solution but I would definitely test your Alk. until you get a feel for it.

Good luck!

That's pretty much what I've been doing. I keep a one gallon container about 3/4 full of saturated kalk. I've been adding some to the display every day and testing the calcium and alk trying to get level numbers. It's only about a month old now so still a work in progress.

 

[Jimmy G]

How much are you losing to evaporation? I would imagine you could use one of those cheap Kent Aquadosers for that small a tank. They are gravity fed though so it would have to be above your tank...HTH

 

[Wingnutt021]

I already looked into that. First, its overpriced for just being a plastic gallon jug and a hospital IV kit. Second, there is nowhere for me to put something that needs to be higher than the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Aqualifter should work as long as it doesn't have to pump too high.. I want to say around 3 feet is the max height.. but I really am just pulling numbers out of my ass here.

Not sure how the ATO unit works, I'm guessing its just a float switch hooked to a relay/power supply, but I'd put it on a timer, maybe over 2 hours or so (depending upon your evaporation) that way you fill up once a day, rather than every time the water level drops, either through evaporation or something as simple as cleaning your glass with a mag-float and making the water level slosh up and down.