Continuous water changing set up

YNot

Member
On another thread, a user asked for more detail about a continuous water changing set up that I'm putting together.
I did not want to hijack someone's post so I will create a new one for this topic.

The details are as follows: Red Sea Max 250 with the basic stock everything plus two side circulation pumps, 6 stunner LED strips, Tunze ATO and a full Apex controller.
On the controller I have a salinity & PH probe.

I've recently added a chiller to help keep the temps at 78 degrees.

The tank sits in my living room.
Just below the tank, in the basement, I have my RO/DI system, mixing station, mini frag tank.
Part of my mixing station includes two, 30 gallon water storage tanks.
One fresh, one salt.

For the continuous water changing set up, I have a LiterMeter III Dosing Pump with two pumps connected to it.
One pump pulls water out while the other pump replaces it. The goal is to remove polluted water at the same rate that it's created. As well as keep the minor & trace elements at a known, stable level.

I've not worked out the math on the water exchange rate yet but as I mentioned, I'm still in the process of putting this together.

In short, the LiterMeter III Dosing Pumps will pump X amount of fresh saltwater into the tank while at the same time, pumping out the same, X amount. The desire is to have it change water, every minute of every day, 24 hours, 7 days a week until I get to the 10 gallon (hopefully less) weekly water change amount.

The old water is pumped directly into the household water drainage system.

All of the water is carried to & from via the 1/4 inch ice maker hose.
The LiterMeter III Dosing Pump has a max head of something like 26 feet. Of course, there is no limit to the horizontal distance.

Once I get everything setup and running, I'll post photos so that everyone can get a visual of what it's doing in real life.
 

goma

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
I think it's a great idea and there are several manufacturers that make these things.

One thing comes to mind, how is the ATO going to react to this?
 

YNot

Member
I think it's a great idea and there are several manufacturers that make these things.

One thing comes to mind, how is the ATO going to react to this?


As long as the the water out equals the water in, the ATO has no clue that something is occurring. Evaporation will still occur and when it does, the ATO will kick in and replace the evaporated water.
 

YNot

Member
Apex will detect a salinity drop or increase. If either happens, then kill power to the ATO & the water changing pumps. This is already in place for the ATO. Just copy the code to the Liter Meter pump controller and it's taken care of.
 

Choff

Well-Known Member
LM has a companion ato module. We have an rsm owner in the board who bought one, but he has not updated his thread in a while.

...stupid auto correct
 

YNot

Member
LM has a companion ato module. We have an rsm owner in the board who bought one, but he has not updated his thread in a while.

...stupid auto correct

Yeah, they have an ATO as well as a auto water changing configuration.
The auto water changer is simply doing the same as most of us do. Pull X gallons, pump X gallons in.
 

jvelkgrove

Member
YNot,

Thanks for posting the information about your water change system, I'll be looking for the pic's.

I think it's a great idea and there are several manufacturers that make these things.

Might anyone have a link to the manufacturers that make the auto water changer?

Thanks....
 

YNot

Member
Short cuts will burn you in this hobby. If you don't like the maintenance, then this is not the hobby for you.

Very, very true.
The 4 other tanks, are an all manual.

It's the main tank that I'm trying to automate as much as possible so that when I'm out of town, all my wife needs to do is feed and top off the small tanks.
It'll always be a hands on (in) tank. Just trying to make it easy to care for while I'm away.
 

YNot

Member
Agree with others to watch the salinity issue.

I'll be doing water tests, every day for two weeks until it's dialed in just the way I want it.
I'm not shooting for the purest of water. Some of my LPS & SPS need a little poo floating around. :yummy:
 

Choff

Well-Known Member
Arman on this board has the Genesis system. He is in the midst of his build and has not posted in a couple of months. Hopefully he will come back and give us an update.

...stupid auto correct
 

theladd

New Member
As long as the the water out equals the water in, the ATO has no clue that something is occurring. Evaporation will still occur and when it does, the ATO will kick in and replace the evaporated water.
Might be safer to make a pvc overflow pipe instead to pump out water


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BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Might be safer to make a pvc overflow pipe instead to pump out water


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This thread is 5 years old and a lot has changed in our industry in that period of time.

I'm currently looking at getting this little unit to handle AWC and ATO functions all using optical sensors. The best part about this is it powers OFF the ATO function during the AWC process.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/auto-water-changer-autoaqua.html
 
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