Automatic water changes on 25 gallon

[lapdog2020]

I had on my 30 g tank and worked like a charm. But sorry to say it was not a automatic changer. There was some manual duties that came with mine. To drain the change tank I had to run it to my drain with a ball valve. Since I hade to drains in my tank. The set up was drain 1 went to my sump and the 2 drain went to my change tank and my change tank went to my sump. Drain 2 had a ball valve that I could close so I could do a water change.

[mike31154]

By design any automatic water change set up will involve quite a few components and be relatively complex with controllers, pumps, timers, switches, relays etc. All this complexity means more failure modes, more things to potentially go wrong. Makes no sense to me to spend the money on such complexity for a simple task like a water change on a small tank. In the end, you still have to mix the new salt water manually, so how much more time does it take to scoop some water out of your display or sump & replace it manually? I have seen threads on other forums where individuals are working on methods of mixing up new salt water automatically, but they usually end somewhere along the line when the poster realizes just how hard it is to get a consistent mix using machinery. Even on a larger system I would be hesitant to let an auto water change system run unsupervised. I would look at it more as a labour saving device to minimize the manual water hauling by using pumps to transfer water on larger systems, but would still control the pumps manually for peace of mind. But that's just me & yes, I still haul buckets of new salt water from the basement up to my display for water changes. For me it's part of the deal of owning a SW tank & I don't mind too much since I'm on a less frequent, larger volume water change schedule.

[burgerchow]

Originally Posted by mike31154

By design any automatic water change set up will involve quite a few components and be relatively complex with controllers, pumps, timers, switches, relays etc. All this complexity means more failure modes, more things to potentially go wrong. Makes no sense to me to spend the money on such complexity for a simple task like a water change on a small tank. In the end, you still have to mix the new salt water manually, so how much more time does it take to scoop some water out of your display or sump & replace it manually? I have seen threads on other forums where individuals are working on methods of mixing up new salt water automatically, but they usually end somewhere along the line when the poster realizes just how hard it is to get a consistent mix using machinery. Even on a larger system I would be hesitant to let an auto water change system run unsupervised. I would look at it more as a labour saving device to minimize the manual water hauling by using pumps to transfer water on larger systems, but would still control the pumps manually for peace of mind. But that's just me & yes, I still haul buckets of new salt water from the basement up to my display for water changes. For me it's part of the deal of owning a SW tank & I don't mind too much since I'm on a less frequent, larger volume water change schedule.

Totally agree. I still lug up 25 gallons of water from basement to main floor every water change. Less plumbing = less chance of disaster

[intarsiabox]

If you're only looking at changing 1/2g per day (less than 2 liters) I would just go to Walmart and buy (2) 2000ml liquid measuring cups. One scoop of dirty water out of the tank and one scoop of new water in. Done in 30 seconds with no chance of failure.

[Reefie]

Originally Posted by burgerchow

Totally agree. I still lug up 25 gallons of water from basement to main floor every water change. Less plumbing = less chance of disaster

I used to do that how ever I was only doing about 10-15 gallons per WC. Being my usual self of trying to find ways to be more efficient, I picked up a Mag3 pump and 50 ft of 3/4" tubing, an MJ-1200 and another 10 ft of 1/2" tubing. The RO/DI & SW mixing containers are 50 ft away from my tank, so I now use the Mag3 to pump in fresh SW and the MJ-1200 to pump out dirty SW from my tank. WC's now only take me 20 mins.

[burgerchow]

Originally Posted by Reefie

I used to do that how ever I was only doing about 10-15 gallons per WC. Being my usual self of trying to find ways to be more efficient, I picked up a Mag3 pump and 50 ft of 3/4" tubing, an MJ-1200 and another 10 ft of 1/2" tubing. The RO/DI & SW mixing containers are 50 ft away from my tank, so I now use the Mag3 to pump in fresh SW and the MJ-1200 to pump out dirty SW from my tank. WC's now only take me 20 mins.

I know, but I have all that,but by the time I take out the hose, hook up the pump, takes as long as carrying 5 buckets of water. ( I need the exercise anyways)