Cant wait to do a real update when I get home in a few weeks. Kind of debating how I was originally going to setup the aquacontroller. Originally, I thought I d go wireless, but now I'm thinking that might be a mistake. Behind the tank is a closet and behind that is the office, where I need to hook into for internet. Probably be safer to drill a few small holes in the closet walls and run an ethernet cable through to the router and hard wire it. The chances of losing connection would be much lower.....I think
300 gallon SA/CE community build thread!!
- Thread starter Jc1119
- Start date
I'm not going to pretend that I understood any more than half of all that but it looks amazing! Thank you for sharing it with us.
I hope you don't mind my asking but how does an automatic water change work? where is the water coming from and how is it being dechlorinated?
I hope you don't mind my asking but how does an automatic water change work? where is the water coming from and how is it being dechlorinated?
Hey Jc, awesome setup! I've been looking into a purigen reactor recently, and really like what you've done. I have never used a reactor before, and I have several questions if you don't mind:
Can you explain exactly how you have the XP2 and reactor hooked up (a couple close up pics would help too), how much purigen you used, what flow through the reactor seems to work best, and would you do anything differently if you could?
I will likely end up with something very similar to what you have there, though I don't have a sump so the reactor will be hanging on the back of the tank. I'm trying to decide between an eheim or rena canister, and what size canister to purchase based on gph. I figure I can hook the reactor up to any canister and control the flow through it, so that shouldn't be an issue correct? If this is true then why go with the xp2 rather than a more powerful canister like the xp4?
Also, in the pic it looks like there is a distinct line separating the purigen in the reactor. Am I seeing this correctly, and if so what is that separation?
Thank you so much!
Thanks! The auto water changer that i really want to do is basically a contstant drip system that essentially drips somewhere between 1-3 gph into the tank. Id probably use a drip emmitter and tap straight into my cold water supply. With such a small amount being changed every hour, chlorine shouldnt be a problem, but some people run the water through a carbon filter or reverse osmosis on the way to the tank. The flip side is tapping into my sump in such a way that any excess water is pumped out after a float valve is tripped. Basically, if done correctly, its literally set it and forget it.
Thanks for the compliments! Yeah, the reactor has been a pretty cool addition to the sump. I'll get some better pics up when I get back home in a few weeks, but basically the reactor is tied into the output line of the xp2 with a small pvc barbed tee reducing from 5/8 to 1/2". The 1/2" line then runs through a small valve that essentially regulates the flow into the reactor, then into the reactor, back out to the sump. The line you see in the purigen is how it looks with no valving the flow back. i basically set it up, took a picture, then realised there was too much flow into the reactor. Ideally, the flow should be set to a point where the media stays in a constant state of motion, which means pretty low. Im probably around 50-60 gph through the reactor, so ive still got some head room to play with seeing as an xp2 moves around 150 gph. Im using about 2 liters in the reactor
I used an xp2 simply because i had one that wasnt really being used lol. Any canister should work fine though, but you'll still want a slower flowrate through the reactor, so unless you really need the extra filtration from the canister, the smaller the better(and cheaper). You dont really even need a canister either. Any small water pump will work with these.
Still too early to tell if I would change anything, but once Im online and I can start datalogging all the tank parameters, i'm going to start playing around with different medias in the reactor. Once I get a baseline from water change to water change, Im going to try to turn it into a nitrate filter. If I can just figure out how to pull the 02 out of the water while in the canister, i should be off to a good start. Not that purigen doesnt work well. It does, but i think I can take it another step further with denitrate or matrix. Time will tell.
Good luck with yours however you set it up. On a side note, i own every xp canister except the xp4. I would not recommend it either. Fx5 is almost the same price and is a much better filter. Overkill for a reactor, but better than the xp4. Any small classic series eheim or rena will work fine
Ah wow thats amazing, I'd imagine a tank that size the water change would be very time consuming to do the traditional way. Part of me thinks I want one but then at the moment I kinda like the water changes, feels like i'm actually doing something instead of just throwing food in... that's not what I think while I'm doing a water change however lol.
The Iphone app sounds brilliant but does it not worry you that if something goes wrong while you are traveling, ok you will know about it but wont be able to deal with it?
thats where my wife comes in
but seriously, if something goes wrong and I didnt have my phone, i can still access the system from any computer as long as its online. I can turn things on and off and make programming adjustments along the way. I can turn things on and off at will and totally eliminate faulty equipmaent by cutting power. Anything more serious and my wife can help.
She actually did a water change for me yesterday. Said it was pretty easy.....with the ladder......
thats where my wife comes in
but seriously, if something goes wrong and I didnt have my phone, i can still access the system from any computer as long as its online. I can turn things on and off and make programming adjustments along the way. I can turn things on and off at will and totally eliminate faulty equipmaent by cutting power. Anything more serious and my wife can help.
She actually did a water change for me yesterday. Said it was pretty easy.....with the ladder......
That is really cool, I didn't even know systems like that existed. Fish keeping just got a whole lot geekier!
I'm still quite precious about my tank, i wouldn't trust anyone near it , don't think i'm quite at the stage where I need everything online yet but I will admit, eventually if/when I move out and get a bigger tank I will deffo keep all this in mind. Could that system support multiple tanks or is one needed for each tank?
I'm sorry if I come across as really stupid but... well I am, this is all new to me. That's what I love about it though, there is so much to learn and there is so much more to it all than the obvious.
