Auto Water Change ideas???

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

So, you add 10g of fresh water to tank, THEN add salt? Isn't this bad? Takes a while for the salt to mix thoroughly, doesn't it?

I don't think it has any negative effects. I add the salt to specific chamber which contains a filter floss material which holds the salt and as the return flow passes through it dissolves the salt. Doing this I don't even get a white build up in the sump like you might expect, it is however RB salt which might be better for this. I've also been doing this for years in mine and other clients tanks with no signs of any negative effects. Note that I do this with a ~180 gallon system changing 10 gallons weekly.

I know some people like to complicate things and I use to be the same but my experience in the hobby and general every day engineering has taught me that simpler is always better. And although nothing is 100% fail safe it's pretty easy to make something 99.9% fail safe if you keep it simple.

Manually adding the salt will eliminate the need for the extra Rubbermaids, you can buy a larger RO storage tank that can be placed anywhere that you can run a single line from your RO unit. You don't have to make do with the standard 4 or 5 gallon tank.

[golf nut]

Originally Posted by sphelps

. Note that I do this with a ~180 gallon system changing 10 gallons weekly.

How much water would you need to completely dissolve the amount salt you need for 10 gallons, and how long would you think it would stay completely dissolved?.

I designed a mixing device years ago for fuel additives that automatically dosed the correct percentage of additive to each gallon of fuel, this may work well in this application.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Mr OM

How much water would you need to completely dissolve the amount salt you need for 10 gallons, and how long would you think it would stay completely dissolved?.

are you taking about supersaturation?

[golf nut]

Originally Posted by sphelps

are you taking about supersaturation?

Not if it is going to re-crystallize, just enough water to fully dissolve the salt .

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Mr OM

Not if it is going to re-crystallize, just enough water to fully dissolve the salt .

The saturation point is about 25%, and if you maintain temperature it should not precipitate. So volume vise you should be able to mix 7.5 gallons of water with 2.5 gallons of salt at room temp. Higher temperatures will allow for higher saturation.

[Doo]

This is all very cool!

Does anyone have any pictures or sketches?

where do you get these valves or solenoids from?

I am going to post what I imagine but don't know where to get the parts from...

[Jack]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...fo#post7704989