opinions on my auto water changer design

[jcardona1]

I don't need praise like you. I just give another idea since OP asked for opinions he can decide for himself. It obviously took you awhile to understand how it could worked or you wouldn't of said its impossible to work. But now all you can say is well what if the tiny hole gets blocked LOL

That's not all I can say. There's is no trying to understand it. It's common sense. But it's also cutting corners. It's risky. It's impossible to make the water leaving the tank the same as the water coming in. There will always be a variation. You will not notice it in a few minutes. It will take hours. What happens if you leave for an extended period of time? Sorry, but I think your idea sucks. There is nothing I like about it. I would never run it on one of my setups. What you, the OP, or anybody else does is up to them. I'm just telling it like I see.

 

[jcardona1]

yep when i had the room built i wanted room to work under the tank and a short stand, but i left out one important detail to the builders, not putting a drain in the area below ugh

i'm thinking of converting it to be level and removing the wet dry so i can run filter socks and stick with ceramic rings or seachem matrix but for now i'll try this approach.

I don't even know why you have a sump. I'd use that whole 'box' as my sump

 

[jcardona1]

I don't need praise like you. I just give another idea and a workable idea since OP asked for opinions he can decide for himself. It obviously took you awhile to understand how it could worked or you wouldn't of said its impossible to work. But now all you can say is well what if the tiny hole gets blocked LOL

And one more thing, how would propose creating this secondary drain? Drilling another hole in the tank to add a bulkhead?

 

[clekchau]

I don't even know why you have a sump. I'd use that whole 'box' as my sump

thats a thought, i could seal it and make it a built in sump, but i still would have the same issue with gravity not feeding to a drain. the simplicity of your system is what i'm trying to achieve from a water change perspective. still deciding the way it works, for now the verticial float switch/pump and solenoid fail safe is what i'll stick with.

 

[MyGiants]

double posted

 

[MyGiants]

Here again is where you speak without thinking. Who said anything about a secondary drain from the tank? I said from the sump. But as we know his sump is below the ground so that wouldn't work. Geez think before you speak! Or are you saying with the siphon tube?
There would be no need for a bulkhead just lope the siphon tube over the tanks top. If its acrylic then a hole near the edge on top to run the tube through is all you'd need.

 

[MyGiants]

Yep a drain down there would of solved everything LOL Nice setup

yep when i had the room built i wanted room to work under the tank and a short stand, but i left out one important detail to the builders, not putting a drain in the area below ugh

i'm thinking of converting it to be level and removing the wet dry so i can run filter socks and stick with ceramic rings or seachem matrix but for now i'll try this approach.

 

[jcardona1]

thats a thought, i could seal it and make it a built in sump, but i still would have the same issue with gravity not feeding to a drain. the simplicity of your system is what i'm trying to achieve from a water change perspective. still deciding the way it works, for now the verticial float switch/pump and solenoid fail safe is what i'll stick with.

Yeah gravity-drain systems are awesome, but they don't always work. I couldn't use that on my 190g because of its location in the house, so mine is more of a semi-automatic water changer for now.

 

[jcardona1]

Here again is where you speak without thinking. Who said anything about a secondary drain from the tank? I said from the sump.

Delusional much?

Why does the water need to go to the sump first. Why not just straight from the chloramine filters to the tank controlled with a valve to control flow. Then you would not have to worry about any float switch not getting power or stuck.

If its a continuous flow with new water going directly to the tank. Then I would put the outlet from the tank going to the drain that would flow the same rate coming in. This would not dump any more water into the sump then it would normally have without the system.

In my last post above I said I would have the outlet water to the drain also from the tank. This would flow the same rate as the inlet water so there wouldn't be any extra water going to the sump.

 

[jcardona1]

There would be no need for a bulkhead just lope the siphon tube over the tanks top. If its acrylic then a hole near the edge on top to run the tube through is all you'd need.

Ok genius, and what happens if that siphon breaks while you're away from home?