Need someone to hook up auto-top-off...

[VDHD]

Is anyone here proficient enough to hook up an Auto Top Off for my sump? I am thinking of purchasing a Kent Marine. I want something as bulletproof as possible...

It's a new house, but the basement (where the RO is) is undeveloped. I would prefer if the person had tools to do this type of work, and knew what they were doing. I don't mind paying for the work - I just want a clean job.

Many of you are probably wondering why I don't do this myself... there's two reasons.. I don't have alot of time, and I really don't know enough about it to do it.

What do you think?

[Delphinus]

I know how you feel, I wish I could pay someone sometimes to help me out. But consider this: the going rate for say an LFS guy to come help you out is $75/hr, or at least that's what I was told when I called around a couple of places looking for someone to help me out with my microbubble problem, :eek:

Honestly, a topoff shouldn't be all that hard. The only issue is perhaps if you need to drill a hole through glass. I personally wouldn't mess around with those $10 spade-tip glass/ceramic drill bits. Unfortunately, a good diamond-tipped hole saw costs around $90-$100, so that's perhaps a little steep if you're only going to use it once.

OTOH, if whatever you need drilled is easy to carry around, you could take it to say Riverfront and they'll drill a hole for you for $10 or $20 per hole (depending on who you ask). I'm not sure any of the other LFS have drill bits inhouse. Another idea is call around the glass shops I bet it wouldn't take too long to find someone willing to drill a hole for a nominal fee.

If you really are adverse to drilling glass, you might be able to work around that. I used to be ...so my 50g tank has a float valve that I never drilled through the glass wall of the sump. Instead, I created a standpipe that could sit in the sump (using a toilet flange and 3" PVC). It needs to be weighted down to keep in place, but otherwise works pretty good. I drilled through that to get my float valve in my sump, and now I get the benefit of a float-valve topoff without having drilled the glass.

If you just want someone to come over and help you brainstorm, well I can do that for free! Or, for the price of coming over to MY place and helping me out sometime. :D I'm replacing the sump on my 75g, hopefully this will fix my microbubble problem. If this doesn't do it, then I'm going to really need someone else's eyes on this and brainstorming what I can do. Microbubbles suck man!!!! And I will be moving into a new abode pretty soon here myself (hey Mitch if you're reading this now you know why I was so eager to jump on the boat for helping you move! :D )

But it seems to the greatest single benefit of forming a club of sorts is that we can all benefit from the collective experience... sooner or later we're bound to run into someone who's already done whatever it someone else is trying.

[ 07 March 2002, 09:46: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[Canadian Man]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">But it seems to the greatest single benefit of forming a club of sorts is that we can all benefit from the collective experience... sooner or later we're bound to run into someone who's already done whatever it someone else is trying.

Tony i dont think you could have said it any better.

[VDHD]

That sucks.. I just had a new sump made at Big Als and never thought about the drilling for the floater.. Do I need to drill for this? Is there an easy way to do this?

I think I might just ask Brody at Big Als if he can do it..

[Bob I]

WOW you guys all seem to have a lot of fancy and expensive equipment. I wonder if there is a place for a KISS type of guy. I like to keep it small and natural. BTW I am a qualified Electrician. I no longer work as one, just draw a pension, and work as a Commissionaire. I am going to apply for CPP this summer. So you can see I am not willing to let this hobby become a moneypit. :rolleyes:

[Delphinus]

Oh ... maybe some, but that's not to say the simpler setups are any less "good" somehow.

Personally I think the KISS principle is the only way to go. There's nothing wrong with a simple setup, in fact, they're better. The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to plug up the drain.

For sure some people take things to the extreme, but hey if it makes them happy... I guess it all depends on your goals and what you want to get out of things.

But that's the beauty of this hobby though ... you can go as high-tech or as low-tech as you want, or as expensive or as cheap as you want. Big or small. Personally I love them all ... (except for my own... I keep thinking everyone else's stuff is nicer than mine. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side .... you know.. :rolleyes: No that's not true, I love my tanks. I just wish I had more! Who's addicted?!)

[ 08 March 2002, 09:26: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[VDHD]

What is KISS?

[Delphinus]

Sorry ... "Keep it simple, stupid" :D :D :D