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Auto - waterchange, batch mixing, topoff
- Thread starter RichT
- Start date
malulu
NJRC Member
Rich,
thanks for the info... i have been thinking to build something like this for awhile, this is just a great sample for me to follow...
however, i have few questions:
- the placement of C, should it be lower? in the chart it seems way high, how's the water flow from INLINE to SUMP? how do you prevent the INLINE's water won't overflow the sump via C?
???
- is it have to be this complicated? everytime you need to operate this great invention, it would be a piece of cake for you to open this, and close that...etc. but i am sure it is going to be a challenge for many of us... imaging some days while we are out and call home to ask our significant others to operating these switches?
- if you have to redo everything again... would it possible to have it work differently? meaning - to be very SIMPLE to operated?
;D
thx and regards,
David
thanks for the info... i have been thinking to build something like this for awhile, this is just a great sample for me to follow...
however, i have few questions:
- the placement of C, should it be lower? in the chart it seems way high, how's the water flow from INLINE to SUMP? how do you prevent the INLINE's water won't overflow the sump via C?
???
- is it have to be this complicated? everytime you need to operate this great invention, it would be a piece of cake for you to open this, and close that...etc. but i am sure it is going to be a challenge for many of us... imaging some days while we are out and call home to ask our significant others to operating these switches?
- if you have to redo everything again... would it possible to have it work differently? meaning - to be very SIMPLE to operated?
;D
thx and regards,
David
I planed on setting the outlet of the Inline drum as high as possible to prevent the inline drums water from overflowing the sump and allow sediment more of a chance to fall out of the system water to the bottom of the drum for later removal to waste. I was even anticipating on using an upturned elbow or dorso type overflow. Think of it working just as your display tank overflow dose.
As far as being complicated, I'm not really sure how to simplify the process. Hopefully someone else will chime in with some suggestions. IMO, there are three components of reef care that are made realitvly simple by this system. It may look difficult but it really isn't if you look at each component separately.
The first part of the system, your isolating 50g of water from the system by changing 2 valves and bypassing the inline drum. Once isolated, drain the drum and refill with new saltwater from the mixing drum by turning on a pump and opening a valve. Once full of new water, the inline drum is un-isolated and 50g of new saltwater flows into the system. One of the best parts is the main system pumps, skimmers and so on are never turned off.
The second part of the system is just an easy way to mix 50g of saltwater for the next waterchange. Now that your mixing drum is empty from the last waterchange your using the RODI water that is being stored in the drum that is raised above the mixing drum and making up a new batch of saltwater. The design component I liked is the fact that you only need one pump (for the whole system) to mix the new batch and transfer the saltwater into the inline drum.
The third part of the system is just a way to keep the sump topped up without the need for another pump. Best part of that component of the design is that there are 2 backup shutoffs to the main shutoff to help prevent over topping and flooding.
The only suggestion I would have for the significant other is to maybe mark the valves and post directions on the wall.
I haven't actually built it yet so I'm sure things will change, for the better I'm sure.
As far as being complicated, I'm not really sure how to simplify the process. Hopefully someone else will chime in with some suggestions. IMO, there are three components of reef care that are made realitvly simple by this system. It may look difficult but it really isn't if you look at each component separately.
The first part of the system, your isolating 50g of water from the system by changing 2 valves and bypassing the inline drum. Once isolated, drain the drum and refill with new saltwater from the mixing drum by turning on a pump and opening a valve. Once full of new water, the inline drum is un-isolated and 50g of new saltwater flows into the system. One of the best parts is the main system pumps, skimmers and so on are never turned off.
The second part of the system is just an easy way to mix 50g of saltwater for the next waterchange. Now that your mixing drum is empty from the last waterchange your using the RODI water that is being stored in the drum that is raised above the mixing drum and making up a new batch of saltwater. The design component I liked is the fact that you only need one pump (for the whole system) to mix the new batch and transfer the saltwater into the inline drum.
The third part of the system is just a way to keep the sump topped up without the need for another pump. Best part of that component of the design is that there are 2 backup shutoffs to the main shutoff to help prevent over topping and flooding.
The only suggestion I would have for the significant other is to maybe mark the valves and post directions on the wall.
I haven't actually built it yet so I'm sure things will change, for the better I'm sure.
Phyl said:
I'll get them posted as I put it together. The only odd-ball part would be the solenoid valve and that can be had at autotopoff.com (or something like that) for under $10 I think. The float switch (1 needed that I can see which I won at the MACNA raffle
) can be had at floatswitches.net. Other than that, everything else can be had at HomeDepot. Unless you want to really get crazy and automate the valves and pumps with actuator valves and timing circuits (the valves themselves will cost over $200), we would also need a automatic scaling system for adding the salt which should run $1000's . OR, we could just turn the HD ball valves by hand and add the salt from a precut piece of 4" PVC with a closet flange and cap and save the $ for the fish.
malulu
NJRC Member
Rich,
thanks for the reply... I totally understand how this work...
this mean, these elements are very crucial for this setup to work perfectly:
- the placement of the C (height)
- the size/height of the sump
- the size/height of the inline drum
- the size of the mixing drum
if any of the drums or sump is defected in the future, it will need to be replaced with the almost EXACTLY same size plus same dimension of parts. you better don't pick anything special for now - like the one that are posting on sales within this site the 55 gals barrels, those barrels are great (i got 3 for myself), it is just if you ever need to replaced anyone of them for whatever reasons, but can't find an exact match... this setup MAY need to alter... which could be a pain (depends on how much rooms or how much luck to have at that time...)
if the setup have to be this way, i guess it is probably not too bad to operated (if we provided enough HINTS for the significant other) like marking EACH valve with a pointers... (i have an idea... but it is difficult to explain...) :-\ Marking Chart
CW-1-11 (mean ChangeWater step 1 of 11)
CW-2-11 (mean ChangeWater step 2 of 11)
CW-3-11 (mean ChangeWater step 3 of 11)
CW-4*-11 (mean ChangeWater step 4 of 11 - then WAIT...)
...etc.
Where are you located? is it possible for me to stop by when you started to implement this invention? i would like to know more details...
thanks and regards,
David
thanks for the reply... I totally understand how this work...
this mean, these elements are very crucial for this setup to work perfectly:
- the placement of the C (height)
- the size/height of the sump
- the size/height of the inline drum
- the size of the mixing drum
if any of the drums or sump is defected in the future, it will need to be replaced with the almost EXACTLY same size plus same dimension of parts. you better don't pick anything special for now - like the one that are posting on sales within this site the 55 gals barrels, those barrels are great (i got 3 for myself), it is just if you ever need to replaced anyone of them for whatever reasons, but can't find an exact match... this setup MAY need to alter... which could be a pain (depends on how much rooms or how much luck to have at that time...)
if the setup have to be this way, i guess it is probably not too bad to operated (if we provided enough HINTS for the significant other) like marking EACH valve with a pointers... (i have an idea... but it is difficult to explain...) :-\ Marking Chart
CW-1-11 (mean ChangeWater step 1 of 11)
CW-2-11 (mean ChangeWater step 2 of 11)
CW-3-11 (mean ChangeWater step 3 of 11)
CW-4*-11 (mean ChangeWater step 4 of 11 - then WAIT...)
...etc.
Where are you located? is it possible for me to stop by when you started to implement this invention? i would like to know more details...
thanks and regards,
David