Automatic waterchange with top off design - please gimme some feedback

[golf nut]

Originally Posted by Milad

So i woke up in the middle of the night (4:37am) with this brilliant design for a automatic water change system

Here is the model of it:

So here is basically what happens
All this is wired into the Apex controller and break out box
A pump sits in the left side of the sump by the skimmer and just waits for XXX time. When the time comes (lets say Sunday 4pm) Apex controller turns off the skimmer and return pump and solenoids. This levels the water out in the sump. The pump on the far right of the sump starts pumping out water from the skimmer area down a drain. Once it hits the lower float valve it stops the pump. Next the pump in the SW mix container turns on and starts pumping water into where the drain pump was pumping out of until it hits the upper float valve. BOOM, water change

After this is done, return pump is on, skimmer is on
solenoids turn back on and the sw mix solenoid starts pumping water into the sw mix container until it hits the float switch. i come home from drinking around 8pm, pour in XXX amount of salt into the sw mix container and wait until the next water change.

thoughts?

The water changes will only be as big as whatever my skimmer area can hold.

Did you do a wiring diagram?

[Milad]

there is no real wiring
im using apex controller, everything plugs into a 8port power strip that comes with the controller and the floats plug into the break out box

[banditpowdercoat]

Have you got your Solenoids yet? I have a shipment coming in soon, if you need some.

[Milad]

nope havent bought them
what kind you got?

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Have you got your Solenoids yet? I have a shipment coming in soon, if you need some.

[StirCrazy]

I say it looks good. I would set it up to do it every day for two weeks with freshwater only as a trial befor you set everything up in salt though. this way you can time it so it happens while you are there and can do some fine tuning.

Steve

[amoreira]

Looks like a good setup. A couple of comments I have... You'll need a circulation pump and a heater in the salt-water make-up tank to mix the RODI water with the salt and heat it to the desired temperature.

If you want to go to the nth degree, you could have another hopper with salt mix with a load cell on the make-up tank. You could automate adding the salt mix, the water and the mixing. Unfortunately, Apex controllers don't take generic 4-20 mA analog signal inputs or outputs. For this sort of thing you'd have to buy a separate PLC (programmable logic controller).

I was thinking of automating this water change. But as others have mentioned, I use water change time to clean the DT of hair algae, cyano and detretius. Except for scraping algae, this is the only thing I don't have automated in my tank (Auto-feeders, ATOF, Ca Reactor, Light timers, etc.. make life easier).

[dsaundry]

PHP Code:

 Good idea. Only hassle I think you will face until you get it totally figured out is salinity. 


+1

[shrimpchips]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but I'd have a reservoir for the RODI line instead of plumbing it directly into your tank. In the unlikely (just like every other disaster preceeding event that seems to happen just a tad too often in this hobby) event that the solenoid fails, it won't flood your system - it just floods a reservoir that could have a built in overflow system. It would involve one extra pump, but that could be the pump that saves your house from becoming a mess, and saving your tank from a crush inducing salinity swing.