WOW, look at my tank:D

[Woodstock]

Originally Posted by prow

i got the spa tubing here Flexible PVC Tubing& Clear Flexible Vinyl Tubing: Online ordering most others sell it in bulk rolls. at savko you can order by the inch. i also got my gatevalves there, love the white vs grey ones. but i think its all the same everywhere, pretty much. i got most of my plumbing at doitbest.com, a great DIY hardware store.

note: i used small pieces of that spa tubing to connect the pumps intake to the drain coming out of the sumps, where the ball valve couplings connect in. i also used it to connect that drain pipe to the bulk heads in the sumps aswell as the main tank drains to the common drain pipe everywhere where vibrations might occur. this really helps cut way down on any vibrations and noises most drains and return plumbing create.

doni i think you will like this next set of pics. my auto systems, the RO/DI topoff and overflow preventions came out real nice. shoild be able to get those up in the next couple hours.

Thanks for the link, I will order some now

I can REALLY appreciate your plumbing skills since I've plumbed a lot myself now.
Keep up the fantastic work! I can tell you've put a lot of thought into it.... very, very nice.

[prow]

thanks doni, i did do some serious planning. wait till you see my refugium in action.

alrighty then, now for my auto top off and overflow prevention systems. FYI: i think it was around $350 for everything on these systems.

here are the part for the auto top off. these here are for the holding tank. this has three sensors. the sensors here are plugged into a controller that then plugs into a solenoid, which is where the RO/DI unit connects to. how it works is the bottom sensor signals the solenoid to open allowing my RO/DI unit to start filling. once the water levels hits the middle sensor the solenoid closes, this allows my RO/DI unit to fill about 40ish gallons, maybe its 30gal, forgot, lol, at a time. which of course prolongs the life of my RO membrane and DI resign. i have noticed a big time reduction in DI resign. 9 months now and its not even half way used up. before i would have changed it already and woul have been getting ready to change it again. plus i love having 30gals ready to go for water changes if needed. the top sensor will close the solenoid if tripped, acts as a back overflow prevention. this placed just above where i placed a float valve. the float valve is also used as a back overflow prevention.

ok the parts. each sensor setup is pretty much the same, i ended up with 3 setups. got everything from here AutoTopoff.com FYI the guy that was helping decide what i needed was a great help. custom whatever i needed no problem. everthing came labled and ready to go. all i needed to do basically was place them and plug them in.

here is the setup for my RO/DI.

[Witfull]

somebodys been busy~

looks great so far!!

[Woodstock]

Originally Posted by prow

thanks doni, i did do some serious planning. wait till you see my refugium in action.

alrighty then, now for my auto top off and overflow prevention systems. FYI: i think it was around $350 for everything on these systems.

here are the part for the auto top off. these here are for the holding tank. this has three sensors. the sensors here are plugged into a controller that then plugs into a solenoid, which is where the RO/DI unit connects to. how it works is the bottom sensor signals the solenoid to open allowing my RO/DI unit to start filling. once the water levels hits the middle sensor the solenoid closes, this allows my RO/DI unit to fill about 40ish gallons, maybe its 30gal, forgot, lol, at a time. which of course prolongs the life of my RO membrane and DI resign. i have noticed a big time reduction in DI resign. 9 months now and its not even half way used up. before i would have changed it already and woul have been getting ready to change it again. plus i love having 30gals ready to go for water changes if needed.

ok the parts. each sensor setup is pretty much the same, i ended up with 3 setups. got everything from here AutoTopoff.com FYI the guy that was helping decide what i needed was a great help. custom whatever i needed no problem. everthing came labled and ready to go. all i needed to do basically was place them and plug them in.

here is the setup for my RO/DI.

I need one of those!

[prow]

i used a basic rubbmaid tube for the holding tank. added the board to keep my sensors straight and stable.


i just cut a slit in the top and pushed the bracket(sensor holder) through. then drilled a hole for the RO/DI line.


i jsut zip tied the seloniod to the hand.


so here it is.


goes to this kent floatvalve, which was replaced by a better valve, those white round ones.

[prow]

just a little silicone to prevent anything from dropping in. i zipped the wires to the back so they dont get in the way. i also ran my RO/DI tubing along the back.

[mps9506]

Cool, so you have the switches in there to cut off the water flow in case the float valve fails as well? Or is the switch in there just to keep the solenoid closed until you need like 15 or 20 gallons of RO...
Or did you cover this and I missed it. Sometimes I fail at reading

[prow]

i stuffed this all into a pretty unused closet.


ok this one is little into the future. i built a small shelf to hold my reactor and topoff pump. the wiring is cleaned up now, still setting up here. reactor not even hooked up here.


then i just drilled a hole for the topoff line in the corner support, so the top off goes into the skimmer section.

[AQTCJAK]

Very nice work Gary

[prow]

Originally Posted by mps9506

Cool, so you have the switches in there to cut off the water flow in case the float valve fails as well? Or is the switch in there just to keep the solenoid closed until you need like 15 or 20 gallons of RO...
Or did you cover this and I missed it. Sometimes I fail at reading

kinda covered it but you know my typing skills can not keep up with my thoughts, gets mixed up sometime, lol. but yup, it acts as a back up incase the first sensor(middle one) fails and the float valve fails too. so really i have 3 overflow cut offs, 2 sensors and a float valve.

[prow]

for the overflow/run dry prevention on the main tank i have a sensor i put in the overflow box, this will shut down the two return pumps if tripped.


cut my eggcreating so i can still slide it back for feeding and cleaning stuff.

[prow]

in the sump i have two sets. they are mixed on the mounting though. the two in the middle(one on each mount) is controlled so when the lower sensor is tripped my aqualifter pump turns on, this pulls from the RO/DI holding tank and will fill to the upper middle sensor. this allows for a bout 2 gallons to evaporate before topping off. saves my pump little tiny fills. i comes on like 1-2 times a day.




if you notice i have two sensors on the very top of the mounts. one is part of the autotop off system, this will shut off the aqua filter if tripped. just a back up.

the other sensor on top is linked with the main tank sensor and it also shuts the main pumps off if tripped. there is yet one more sensor, not sure if you can see it clear in the pics but this one will shut the main return pumps off if the water level fails below it.

[Intranick]

a trip switch is a good idea.. I might have to impliment that one on my tank when I set it up. Never thought of that.

Looks like you put a lot of time setting that stuff up. Very cool.

question is.. is there a market for setting up and installing things like that?

[prow]

i have tested these many times and they all work like a charm. its so nice to have this in place. worry free on overflow floading and pumps running dry. this turnned out really nice, the guy at autotopoff.com really took care of me on this one.

[mps9506]

Looking great prow. Looks like those threads from months ago about the top off switches worked out well for ya