Post by surferjoe86 on Dec 4, 2011 0:06:59 GMT
Hey
I’ve moved house so I’ve claimed the under stairs storeroom as my ‘aquarium things room’ the mrs isn’t really too happy because I wont let her keep all her shoes in it. But I won the fight! I glossed the floor and silicone the edges while she was out so it’s waterproof to a degree. I used that as my main excuse to keep my fish things in it... At my last house I caused a lot of problems with spilling water!
So here it goes I’ve set up a RO top up system in this room running from a 200-litre container through a wall under our front room carpet through another wall and then straight into the sump (in my kitchen). It’s a pretty straightforward set-up, a pump from my 200L container through a standard 8mm RO tube to my sump with a float valve on the end (no backup flood system as yet, silly I know)
So I have this all set-up working great. Then I have a mishap with a bucket of saltwater in our lovely new house by splashing about a bit. So I have inadvertently upset the other half.
So then I thought why not have a bucket of saltwater in my ‘aquarium room’ and pump it to my sump instead of messing around carrying buckets and causing arguments like ‘all you care about is that stupid fish tank’ or ‘you spend more time cleaning that tank that you spend with me’
So here’s how I’ve got it running: - (sorry if it’s a bit complicated)
I bought 4 digital plug timers
I already had a line and float valve going from my ‘aquarium room’ trough the living room (under the carpet) to my kitchen when the aquarium is.
So I fitted a T-junction to the auto top off system in my ‘aquarium room’ on the RO line.
I then added 2 check valves. 1 check valve on the RO side (so salt water doesn’t go up into my RO container) and the other check valve from the T to the salt bucket (so RO water doesn’t fill my salt mix)
It basically works like this...
After filling my Saltwater bucket with RO water and salt manually (once a week)
My RO top off is running constantly until 1600.
At 1600 my 1st digital timer knocks off the RO top off system.
Also at this time my 2nd timer that controls my skimmer knocks off as well (I had trouble with it overflowing during the salt water change, so I put it on a timer to try and eliminate this problem)
So basically at 1600 my skimmer and RO top off turn off.
At 1601 my 3rd timer turns on and my sump ejector pump starts working. This is set at a certain level in the sump so it drains 4.5 litres. Also the drain tube end is higher than the sump water level so as not to cause a siphon.
At 1603 the 4.5 litres has fully drained out and the pump turns off.
At 1604 the 4th timer activates the saltwater bucket pump. (The RO and Skimmer and sump ejector are all off) The Salt water line is the same as the RO top up.
So I used a T-junction in the RO top off line. And then a check valve to ensure the salt water is forced to the sump instead of the RO container.
At 1630 when the sump is back to full capacity the float valve shuts and shortly after the saltwater pump timer switches and finally at 1631 the RO top off comes back on, the check valve on the saltwater side of the T-junction ensures that the RO water is forced directly into the Sump. Also at this time the skimmer fires up.
In total through the week the salt-water change equates to 10% Hopefully being less stressful my fish/corals compared to 10% all in one go? You’re thoughts?
I could set it up to do one a week. Let me know what you think about this. In my mind the more often the change occurs only results in the increase of something going wrong. So once a week would be safer but I’m all for keeping my livestock in the best conditions possible.
Here’s few teething problems I am having:
1: the skimmer water level (without knocking it off) I have just about sorted it by knocking it off. But I’m not confident enough just yet to let the system do its thing without supervision. I may have to put an overflow onto the cup back into the sump as I’m currently running it externally.
2: There is still salt water in the line from the T-junction to the sump, after the saltwater change.
Making the RO top off system pointless until this saltwater residue has been put into the sump. (I don’t know how long it would take through evaporation for the whole line to be clear of saltwater, I’m guessing a long time!) I
may have to play about with timings. I.e. having my salt water cut off 1 min earlier and letting RO pump kick in to top off the last few hundred ml. But the idea of the system was to have a consistent SG in the tank.
If I don’t do this, the SG will slowly increase but if I do let the RO flush the saltwater out my SG my decrease.
Does anyone have any ideas of how I could overcome this?
I know could have a dedicated Salt line and dedicated RO line but that means 2 floats and 2 back up systems and turfing up the front room carpet (again) drilling the walls and so...
3:Another issue I’m facing is that my check valves don’t last long! I’m using 8mm RO pipes and fittings throughout the system. The RO check valve don’t seem to cope well with constant back pressure from my pumps (My RO line has pushed through my salt water check valve and filled the salt bucket to the point of overflowing!)
I’ve gotten through 4 check valves in 2 weeks. So I may have to go down the solenoid route. I’m a strong believe in mechanical before electrical so I have my doubts about electric solenoids. Any advice about this would be great too.
4: backup system? Do I rely on electronic solenoids?? Any idea’s on a backup system I could use in case my pumps for some reason stay on or my float valve fails.
If you have any questions please ask
Or if you have an auto saltwater change system I’d love to hear how it works
Any advice would be great too
Cheers Joe
I’ve moved house so I’ve claimed the under stairs storeroom as my ‘aquarium things room’ the mrs isn’t really too happy because I wont let her keep all her shoes in it. But I won the fight! I glossed the floor and silicone the edges while she was out so it’s waterproof to a degree. I used that as my main excuse to keep my fish things in it... At my last house I caused a lot of problems with spilling water!
So here it goes I’ve set up a RO top up system in this room running from a 200-litre container through a wall under our front room carpet through another wall and then straight into the sump (in my kitchen). It’s a pretty straightforward set-up, a pump from my 200L container through a standard 8mm RO tube to my sump with a float valve on the end (no backup flood system as yet, silly I know)
So I have this all set-up working great. Then I have a mishap with a bucket of saltwater in our lovely new house by splashing about a bit. So I have inadvertently upset the other half.
So then I thought why not have a bucket of saltwater in my ‘aquarium room’ and pump it to my sump instead of messing around carrying buckets and causing arguments like ‘all you care about is that stupid fish tank’ or ‘you spend more time cleaning that tank that you spend with me’
So here’s how I’ve got it running: - (sorry if it’s a bit complicated)
I bought 4 digital plug timers
I already had a line and float valve going from my ‘aquarium room’ trough the living room (under the carpet) to my kitchen when the aquarium is.
So I fitted a T-junction to the auto top off system in my ‘aquarium room’ on the RO line.
I then added 2 check valves. 1 check valve on the RO side (so salt water doesn’t go up into my RO container) and the other check valve from the T to the salt bucket (so RO water doesn’t fill my salt mix)
It basically works like this...
After filling my Saltwater bucket with RO water and salt manually (once a week)
My RO top off is running constantly until 1600.
At 1600 my 1st digital timer knocks off the RO top off system.
Also at this time my 2nd timer that controls my skimmer knocks off as well (I had trouble with it overflowing during the salt water change, so I put it on a timer to try and eliminate this problem)
So basically at 1600 my skimmer and RO top off turn off.
At 1601 my 3rd timer turns on and my sump ejector pump starts working. This is set at a certain level in the sump so it drains 4.5 litres. Also the drain tube end is higher than the sump water level so as not to cause a siphon.
At 1603 the 4.5 litres has fully drained out and the pump turns off.
At 1604 the 4th timer activates the saltwater bucket pump. (The RO and Skimmer and sump ejector are all off) The Salt water line is the same as the RO top up.
So I used a T-junction in the RO top off line. And then a check valve to ensure the salt water is forced to the sump instead of the RO container.
At 1630 when the sump is back to full capacity the float valve shuts and shortly after the saltwater pump timer switches and finally at 1631 the RO top off comes back on, the check valve on the saltwater side of the T-junction ensures that the RO water is forced directly into the Sump. Also at this time the skimmer fires up.
In total through the week the salt-water change equates to 10% Hopefully being less stressful my fish/corals compared to 10% all in one go? You’re thoughts?
I could set it up to do one a week. Let me know what you think about this. In my mind the more often the change occurs only results in the increase of something going wrong. So once a week would be safer but I’m all for keeping my livestock in the best conditions possible.
Here’s few teething problems I am having:
1: the skimmer water level (without knocking it off) I have just about sorted it by knocking it off. But I’m not confident enough just yet to let the system do its thing without supervision. I may have to put an overflow onto the cup back into the sump as I’m currently running it externally.
2: There is still salt water in the line from the T-junction to the sump, after the saltwater change.
Making the RO top off system pointless until this saltwater residue has been put into the sump. (I don’t know how long it would take through evaporation for the whole line to be clear of saltwater, I’m guessing a long time!) I
may have to play about with timings. I.e. having my salt water cut off 1 min earlier and letting RO pump kick in to top off the last few hundred ml. But the idea of the system was to have a consistent SG in the tank.
If I don’t do this, the SG will slowly increase but if I do let the RO flush the saltwater out my SG my decrease.
Does anyone have any ideas of how I could overcome this?
I know could have a dedicated Salt line and dedicated RO line but that means 2 floats and 2 back up systems and turfing up the front room carpet (again) drilling the walls and so...
3:Another issue I’m facing is that my check valves don’t last long! I’m using 8mm RO pipes and fittings throughout the system. The RO check valve don’t seem to cope well with constant back pressure from my pumps (My RO line has pushed through my salt water check valve and filled the salt bucket to the point of overflowing!)
I’ve gotten through 4 check valves in 2 weeks. So I may have to go down the solenoid route. I’m a strong believe in mechanical before electrical so I have my doubts about electric solenoids. Any advice about this would be great too.
4: backup system? Do I rely on electronic solenoids?? Any idea’s on a backup system I could use in case my pumps for some reason stay on or my float valve fails.
If you have any questions please ask
Or if you have an auto saltwater change system I’d love to hear how it works
Any advice would be great too
Cheers Joe
