I currently have a 600 gallon tank with a remote 125 gallon sump. The tank is currently set up for an entirely automated water change system using 2 calibrated peristaltic pumps. One pump draws water from the sump into the drain, while the other pump draws water into the tank from a barrel containing ro water. The ro water barrel is kept full all the time using a float switch and an rodi filter with an auto shut off valve. The system has failsafes in case the pumps are not entirely calibrated against each other by an auto top off system (in case drain is faster than fill) and an overflow pipe in the sump (in case fill is faster than drain). I change about 40 gallons a day using this system and it has served me pretty well for 2 years.
The main reason that this system works for me is that I have been keeping blackwater South American cichlids and so doing water changes with ro water works for the fish that require almost 0 tds and very low ph to do well (my ro water comes out at about 16 tds and my tank constantly maintains ph at 4.0).
I have recently had to tear down the tank to redo the 3d background and am now considering changing the type of fish I keep. My wife wants me to do a monster ranchu/oranda goldfish tank, while my lfs is encouraging me to give Tanganyika lake cichlids a shot. However, I would still like to maintain my fuss free water change regime.
The problem I have with goldfish is that while my tap water is good enough to keep goldfish, I am not sure if it's possible to set up a tap water filter with an auto shut off valve so that flow can be cut off when the water change barrel is full. The last time I tried this with a normal 3 stage water filter, the back pressure created by the float switch when the barrel was full caused the hoses connecting the system to explode and flooded my fish room. I don't have that problem with the ro system due to the auto shut off valve which somehow relieves that pressure.
If I were to stick with ro water, I can still keep goldfish and Tanganyika cichlids by dosing buffers into the water. However, changing 40-50 gallons of water a day, I would need to dose a considerable amount of buffer liquid, given that the dissolving rate of these buffers aren't very high. So I might need to dose1 1-2 gallons of buffer liquid a day. 2 problems with this is that first, I would need a dosing pump capable of dosing such a large amount of buffer liquid in a day and second, I would need a huge buffer barrel to not have to mix up a new batch of buffer liquid every few days which I don't really have the space for anymore.
Can anyone suggest any practical ways for me to either be able to maintain an automated tap water barrel, or a feasible way to perhaps dose powdered buffer into my system daily so that I can keep other types of fish? Or am I stuck with keeping blackwater fish in my system?
The main reason that this system works for me is that I have been keeping blackwater South American cichlids and so doing water changes with ro water works for the fish that require almost 0 tds and very low ph to do well (my ro water comes out at about 16 tds and my tank constantly maintains ph at 4.0).
I have recently had to tear down the tank to redo the 3d background and am now considering changing the type of fish I keep. My wife wants me to do a monster ranchu/oranda goldfish tank, while my lfs is encouraging me to give Tanganyika lake cichlids a shot. However, I would still like to maintain my fuss free water change regime.
The problem I have with goldfish is that while my tap water is good enough to keep goldfish, I am not sure if it's possible to set up a tap water filter with an auto shut off valve so that flow can be cut off when the water change barrel is full. The last time I tried this with a normal 3 stage water filter, the back pressure created by the float switch when the barrel was full caused the hoses connecting the system to explode and flooded my fish room. I don't have that problem with the ro system due to the auto shut off valve which somehow relieves that pressure.
If I were to stick with ro water, I can still keep goldfish and Tanganyika cichlids by dosing buffers into the water. However, changing 40-50 gallons of water a day, I would need to dose a considerable amount of buffer liquid, given that the dissolving rate of these buffers aren't very high. So I might need to dose1 1-2 gallons of buffer liquid a day. 2 problems with this is that first, I would need a dosing pump capable of dosing such a large amount of buffer liquid in a day and second, I would need a huge buffer barrel to not have to mix up a new batch of buffer liquid every few days which I don't really have the space for anymore.
Can anyone suggest any practical ways for me to either be able to maintain an automated tap water barrel, or a feasible way to perhaps dose powdered buffer into my system daily so that I can keep other types of fish? Or am I stuck with keeping blackwater fish in my system?
) and they have no difficulty handling 50psi. They are fed with a flexible black plastic hose, apparently suitable for potable water, that is commonly available at farm supply stores. Sorry, I forget the name, and digging it up or worming my way into my crawlspace is the only way I can check (assuming that it is still visibly marked).