Need some advice

[Trio91]

Hey guys,

I've been out of the "game" for a few years now and sure enough, I'm getting that itch to set up a tank again. This go around, I'm looking to set up a tank with an auto water changing function of some kind. Now I know I can always go the apex route, but I'd like to see if there's possibly some other, cheaper options or if I can steal ideas from someone else's build. I also would like to know what Apex pieces actually in particular I would need to make this happen. This way I can even look into the used market.

No tank yet as we just purchased some new land down in Fl, so my plan is to set up a tank (to avoid breaking it down) when the new house is built. In the meantime, while I'm waiting, I would like to purchase some of my wish list items, in particular some automation toys.

Let me know

 

[Trio91]

Also, can someone check to see if my account is still active?

 

[Rueric]

Hi Trio, and welcome back to the hobby..

First question is what's your budget lol

I've got 3 tanks setup, and I haven't done water changes on them in months.. Not saying it's the right thing, but I'm just at a point now where I don't have the time to keep up with it with little ones running around all the time.
That said, all 3 of my tanks are maintaing corals just fine.

My two frag tanks, I am dosing All For Reef
One of the frag tanks I did purchase this auto aqua automatic water changer for about $200 used. The device works as intended, can do daily incremental water changes, or just bulk. : Link
Device works, just a drag having to lug the buckets up and down a few flight of stairs.. then keeping said buckets in my office over time..

My main display, I'm running the Reef Moonshiners program: Reef Moonshiners
I've got about 14 dosing pumps hooked up to it to supply it the daily supplements, no water changes at all.

My office frag tank keeps corals alive, I don't see much growth from the corals, it's a 10g tank with an ai prime, no fish
My display is a 91g red sea, lots of corals, decent growth
My basement frag tank is quite new, still experimenting.

 

[MadReefer]

That's the thing about this hobby you always come back.

Good luck Trio91 and hope all is well.

 

[MadReefer]

Water changes always sucked in my opinion. I still do 10g monthly; mix water a day or 2 before then siphon out 10g and use a mag9 pump to add new water. It takes 15min to drain and refill and another 20 to clean up, pickup and put everything away. This is acceptable for me.

 

[Trio91]

Hi Trio, and welcome back to the hobby..

First question is what's your budget lol

I've got 3 tanks setup, and I haven't done water changes on them in months.. Not saying it's the right thing, but I'm just at a point now where I don't have the time to keep up with it with little ones running around all the time.
That said, all 3 of my tanks are maintaing corals just fine.

My two frag tanks, I am dosing All For Reef
One of the frag tanks I did purchase this auto aqua automatic water changer for about $200 used. The device works as intended, can do daily incremental water changes, or just bulk. : Link
Device works, just a drag having to lug the buckets up and down a few flight of stairs.. then keeping said buckets in my office over time..

My main display, I'm running the Reef Moonshiners program: Reef Moonshiners
I've got about 14 dosing pumps hooked up to it to supply it the daily supplements, no water changes at all.

My office frag tank keeps corals alive, I don't see much growth from the corals, it's a 10g tank with an ai prime, no fish
My display is a 91g red sea, lots of corals, decent growth
My basement frag tank is quite new, still experimenting.

Well right now, my budget is pretty "open" as in I'm willing to spend some cash if I need to.

I do want an "Apex-like" system as I'm really looking for some automation on this project. I did see that WC system @Rueric as I was also looking at getting a bubble magus roller mat from that same website. I am trying to stay away from supplements, so I don't fall into that long term spending hole......atleast to start as I am not sure what stock I plan on keeping inside the tank.

I am also looking to get something around the 75g to a 90g DT.

 

[Trio91]

Water changes always sucked in my opinion. I still do 10g monthly; mix water a day or 2 before then siphon out 10g and use a mag9 pump to add new water. It takes 15min to drain and refill and another 20 to clean up, pickup and put everything away. This is acceptable for me.

Thats why I am looking to automate them, If I can do something like 2-5g per day automatically then that works perfectly for me.

 

[ecam]

I’ve had the dos pump fail on me (water would be removed and not replaced so the ato would repalce) and not know it until my salinity when off and since u can’t trust that probe you can see the danger in this method of awc.

 

[Trio91]

That's the thing about this hobby you always come back.

Good luck Trio91 and hope all is well.

Yea, you know how that goes, it just sucks being down here as I don't have any LFS's that aren't 40+ miles away. Hence why I need to do my research before I go all in. I'm probably going to order my livestock too online when the time comes.

 

[Trio91]

I’ve had the dos pump fail on me (water would be removed and not replaced so the ato would repalce) and not know it until my salinity when off and since u can’t trust that probe you can see the danger in this method of awc.

There's always someone that has to be negative in the conversation.....just needed to rain on my parade lol

Now I don't wanna do it.....Thanx Ed

 

[Trio91]

I’ve had the dos pump fail on me (water would be removed and not replaced so the ato would repalce) and not know it until my salinity when off and since u can’t trust that probe you can see the danger in this method of awc.

But seriously, what about redundancies? Float switches, program timers etc via the Apex

 

[Trio91]

Also,

Does anyone use the Caribsea life rock? I was also looking into that for my scape. I like the idea of having rods to help support the crazy structures.

 

[Trio91]

Also what about the Hydros Launch? anyone has experience with that guy?

 

[redfishbluefish]

I looked into automatic water changes a number of years ago and didn't do it because of space considerations. However, what I was looking at was old school dual head peristaltic pump. They are commercial pumps that last forever (but having to change out the tubing every so often.) I'd also spec out the tubing needed and order that up by the foot. No fancy-pants Apex controller needed....just need a timer for how long the pump runs. The one issue is calibrating the two heads, which you match by making up the salt solution to fit the differences in the two pumps....it's explained in this video.

They are expensive, but can be found used for a reasonable amount of $$.

 

[reefsandrotts]

Also,

Does anyone use the Caribsea life rock? I was also looking into that for my scape. I like the idea of having rods to help support the crazy structures.

I do,I really like it never needed rods

 

[ecam]

Also,

Does anyone use the Caribsea life rock? I was also looking into that for my scape. I like the idea of having rods to help support the crazy structures.

This one is awesome. The arches are awesome and worth it and the instantly color. I’ve had them in my tank for over a year np issues very happy corals.

 

[Drunkn_Reefr]

If you went Apex you could get the liquid level sensor for the sump and put low & high water level limit alarms in for redundancy. Some sort of redundancy is necessary. I started auto water changes with the DOS and every once in a while the tubing would come loose on the DOS connections. The old DOS has a little vibration in it. I'm thinking the new quiet drive runs a little smoother, but i don't know.

 

[DEL]

YOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! hes alive!!!!!!! hahhahhahhaa. i use my DOS on my Apex to do 1 or 2 G a day. easiest thing to set up. You can simply change whatever amount you want straight from the app without having to do caculations.