Water changes SUCK. Here's my automated system!

[Michiba54]

No, never did that. In fact I didn't even know it could be an issue! For the whole time I had it the DI resin kept putting out 0-1ppm water, even though it had turned fully yellow-gold. How would you bypass the DI for the first few minutes? Does this have to be done manually?

It depends how bad your source water is, but yes most people just do it manually. My TDS is 1000 so even after the RO its about 40-60 and the first 1-2min can be as high as 500. So in my cause if I ran all that thought my DI I would changing it weekly. I have a well, in Florida

Just about any reef forum has threads about using solenoid to bypass the water, but that is too much work for me. Can't even get my auto shut off to work correctly, lol.

 

[jcardona1]

Wow 1000ppm that's insane! My tap water was usually 100-300ppm, so I had no issues getting 0-1ppm output.

 

[Johnnylightning]

This kind of system works, and it works well. A system like this can be built for less than $70-100, depending on which pump you go with. Mine is in my crawl-space as well, no equipment whatsoever under my tank except my feeding timer. It is fail-safe as they come - I was a plumber for five years before going back to school and I know what works. By the time you have spent $350 on a water change system there is plenty to go wrong...

Lol that guy is a plumber too meaning yes you understand what works. The issue is how to control water temp on this setup? If that flow valve fails which they can since it did on my crapper a year ago when I flushed what happens then? Also no offense but for a nice tank I don't want it to look like the back of a toilet. I like things nice and neat and living on a concrete slab I understand no crawl space and no real solution. For the price very nice but on my 25 ft hose it really isn't an issue doing water changes with my python.

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[Dan F]

Lol that guy is a plumber too meaning yes you understand what works. The issue is how to control water temp on this setup? If that flow valve fails which they can since it did on my crapper a year ago when I flushed what happens then? Also no offense but for a nice tank I don't want it to look like the back of a toilet. I like things nice and neat and living on a concrete slab I understand no crawl space and no real solution. For the price very nice but on my 25 ft hose it really isn't an issue doing water changes with my python.

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On my big system I use a heat exchanger to warm the incoming water with the wastewater. On my small tanks I only change a few gallons at a time, so the heater has no trouble keeping up.

I can see your point that you wouldn't want a float valve visible in a show-tank, but you can always put it in the sump if you have one.

As far as the float valve failing, it is very rare that a float valve will free-flow. You are much more likely to have a flood from a split seem or a filter failure than from a float valve breaking.

 

[jcardona1]

Lol that guy is a plumber too meaning yes you understand what works. The issue is how to control water temp on this setup? If that flow valve fails which they can since it did on my crapper a year ago when I flushed what happens then? Also no offense but for a nice tank I don't want it to look like the back of a toilet. I like things nice and neat and living on a concrete slab I understand no crawl space and no real solution. For the price very nice but on my 25 ft hose it really isn't an issue doing water changes with my python.

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Oh come on that's all you got?

A stuck float valve? Toilet float valves are garbage. Float valves are used in countless applications in industrial settings day in and day out. They're still used to this day because the concept is so simple and they just work. They work even better with good quality components. What if the line for the drip system explodes? What if the drain line clogs and the sump floods? There's all sorts of what ifs. You can never address them all. If that's the case, we shouldn't even be keeping aquariums.

Temperature? Changing 5% of the tank's volume (11g / 190g + 40g sump) every few hours won't even make my temperatures flinch. That argument is a joke.

An no offense, but I got plenty of better things to spend my time on rather than dragging around a 25ft Python hose

 

[aclockworkorange]

One thing I was thinking of with any of these automated systems is having a sump that can handle more than what the tank drains down to if the power goes out and installing a "holy crap" bulkhead drain at the very top of the sump, so no matter what if your sump floods it has somewhere to go.
I still don't quite trust filters to reliably remove chloramines on a system long term. Too many variables. If you don't have chloramines in your tap, I envy you.


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[anarekist]

a drip system seems easier than a water changing system.

 

[jcardona1]

One thing I was thinking of with any of these automated systems is having a sump that can handle more than what the tank drains down to if the power goes out and installing a "holy crap" bulkhead drain at the very top of the sump, so no matter what if your sump floods it has somewhere to go.
I still don't quite trust filters to reliably remove chloramines on a system long term. Too many variables. If you don't have chloramines in your tap, I envy you.


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That all depends on how your overflows and returns are designed and positioned. You can see in the pic how high I keep the water level in my sump. I have no issues with water drainage when the pumps turn off. The check valves take care of the returns and my overflow box is built so that it basically drains no water back down when the power goes out.

With regards to chloramine...look at RO/DI systems that reefers use. Chloramines/chlorine filtration is vital for them because these will destroy an RO membrane in no time. There's plenty of cartridges out there using CGAC (catalytic granular activated carbon) that effectively removes all chlorine and chloramines. You can even use a test kit to test for chlorine/chloramines every few weeks.

http://thefilterguys.biz/chloramine_filters.htm

 

[jcardona1]

a drip system seems easier than a water changing system.

Yes. But drip systems need gravity to drain the excess water. If you can't use gravity (indoors tank, house on slab, etc), this is the next best thing. Trying to run a drip on a non-gravity setup needs a lot of float valves and switches and still requires a drain pump (see the link I posted earlier).

 

[dxdx]

I consider myself lucky to be able to use a gravity based drip system.

Only 3 components:
Water line in, water line out, and a battery powered sensor to detect if the outgoing water line is clogged/frozen that will shut off the incoming water.

I do have a filter on the incoming water line, but just for chlorine, no chloramines in our water fortunately.

As for a non gravity based system, this looks to be about as simply done as possible. It's a great model for people to use if they can't do the gravity based.