Just set up my 'Continuous Water Change System'!

[cchardwick]

I finally got most of my stuff to set up my continuous water change system which consists of a peristalitc pump and two four gallon reservoirs, one for new saltwater and one for old. I'm testing it out on my 2 gallon Fluval Spec that has my mantis shrimp in it at the moment. So far it seems to be working great. I have it set at the maximum flow, which is 0.5 gallons per day, so it will change all the water in my Fluval Spec every four days, but I don't plan on keeping it on this little tank for more than a few days since I will eventually move it to my 6 gallon nanocube at work.

 

I had one piece of curved airline tubing that I got from Drs Foster Smith, it was part of an acclimation kit that was just a couple bucks. I decided to try to bend some rigid airline tube myself and it was easier than I thought. I just ran a flame under the tube until it became slightly cloudy instead of clear, indicating that it was soft. Then I bent it around a pill bottle and held it in place until it became rigid again. These hook onto my tank for the in and out water flow.

 

I also labeled the new water, old water, in and out lines so I don't confuse them. And I plan on getting some regular flexible airline tubing to replace most of the really thin line that came with the peristaltic pump, mainly because some of it isn't long enough. I plan on putting the two jugs and pump under my cubicle desk and running the two lines (in and out) up to my tank. I'll attach the rigid bent airline tubing with tape on the back of the tank and run them through the electrical cord holes (rubber removed) on the back of the nanocube hood.

 

I plan on cutting the airline tube that sucks water out so it is at a pretty high level in the sump to control the water level and prevent it from lowering from evaporation. If it runs properly, the line will suck up an air bubble or two once in awhile when the water lowers from evaporation. And if the flow isn't balanced, meaning too much water in vs. out, I'm thinking I will have to put a restrictor on one of the flows, but I'm not sure that will be necessary. I'm sure I'll find out after a few days if my water level increases instead of maintains a steady level.

 

I bought the pump and reservoirs on E-bay. The pump is a lot noisier than I thought and I'm thinking I may have to insulate it with some styrofoam to keep the noise down. Here are a couple pics, all of this stuff will be hidden away out of sight and the lines will be run up to my aquarium on my cubicle desktop:

 

 

[Quokka]

wow thats freaking awesome haha

[mad28gnc]

That's brilliant! I like it!

You could also put a float switch in the old water container to stop it from running too long in case you forget to swap it.

[Jruberti]

reef autopilot mode engaged

[cchardwick]

That's brilliant! I like it!

You could also put a float switch in the old water container to stop it from running too long in case you forget to swap it.

 

Actually I don't need a float switch as long as I empty the old water when I fill up the new water. Also I don't need carbon or any kind of chemical filter material, no skimmer, no additives, no buffers, nothing. The constant water change replenishes and removes everything. It's a virtual open system, just like the ocean. And if something big dies it shouldn't wipe out everything in my tank, at least in theory.

[skimlessinseattle]

Wow. That is extreme overkill

 

Curious how stable your salinity will be. Observe and report! Good luck with that contraption!

[mad28gnc]

Actually I don't need a float switch as long as I empty the old water when I fill up the new water. Also I don't need carbon or any kind of chemical filter material, no skimmer, no additives, no buffers, nothing. The constant water change replenishes and removes everything. It's a virtual open system, just like the ocean. And if something big dies it shouldn't wipe out everything in my tank, at least in theory.

 

I just know the sh/t happens and people can forget so to be on the safe side that's whT I'm gunna do

[Alkamist]

how do you make up for water that evaporates?

[cchardwick]

how do you make up for water that evaporates?

 

Actually.....you don't have to. I'll just make up my water in my reservoir at 1.022 and let my tank get up to 1.023 or 1.024. At some point it will reach an equilibrium between the higher salinity waste going out and the lower salinity water coming in. I'm sure I'll have to watch it at first, if the salinity drops I can raise the salinity of the water in the reservoir, and if the salinity gets too high I'll lower the salinity in the reservoir. My nanocube only evaporates about a cup of water every few days, not much at all, and that would be one cup out of 1.5 gallons.

[SnakPak]

This is sweet!!

[sogreedy23]

Actually.....you don't have to. I'll just make up my water in my reservoir at 1.022 and let my tank get up to 1.023 or 1.024. At some point it will reach an equilibrium between the higher salinity waste going out and the lower salinity water coming in. I'm sure I'll have to watch it at first, if the salinity drops I can raise the salinity of the water in the reservoir, and if the salinity gets too high I'll lower the salinity in the reservoir. My nanocube only evaporates about a cup of water every few days, not much at all, and that would be one cup out of 1.5 gallons.

Are the incoming and outgoing pumps pumping at the same gpd? Water is entering the system in one way, sayx gpd. Meanwhile it is leaving the system in two ways-evaporation and the waste line. If the pumps are matched, the waste line would also be x gpd+ whatever water is leaving for evaporation. Lowering the salinity of the incoming water (if calculated precisely so that it compensates for evaporated water) would maintain salinity, but your water level would eventually dip. If you matched the salinity of the new water with that of the system you can just add an ATO and call it a day. This is all in theory, not sure how much you're evaporating per day, but that's how it would be on theory at least.

 

How's the cubicle tank

[mad28gnc]

Are the incoming and outgoing pumps pumping at the same gpd? Water is entering the system in one way, sayx gpd. Meanwhile it is leaving the system in two ways-evaporation and the waste line. If the pumps are matched, the waste line would also be x gpd+ whatever water is leaving for evaporation. Lowering the salinity of the incoming water (if calculated precisely so that it compensates for evaporated water) would maintain salinity, but your water level would eventually dip. If you matched the salinity of the new water with that of the system you can just add an ATO and call it a day. This is all in theory, not sure how much you're evaporating per day, but that's how it would be on theory at least.

 

How's the cubicle tank

 

I agree

[cchardwick]

Actually, no, you have it wrong. You just have to adjust the outgoing line to whatever level you want in your sump. The line will drain the water and for evaporation it will drain a few small air bubbles once in awhile. No ATO needed. I've been running this for several days and in my small tank that has a lot of evaporation it's working great and maintaining the water level just fine. The advantage of this system is that it's simple, and adding an ATO to it defeats the purpose, which is simplicity itself.

[sogreedy23]

Actually I'm right, because if it's sucking air then it's not the same gpd. That being said, your set up does make sense, I'd just be weary of your compensation of the evaporated water and I'm sure it'd take a bunch of trial and error to get it to a perfectly less salinity in the new water.

 

Calm down, it was a thought. Don't be a kitten. If you're going to be a kitten when any one has criticism of it, don't post it on a forum lol. It was an honest question and concern.

[cchardwick]

The input and output are at the same rate, both are on the same head. The air bubbles that it sucks up is the loss from evaporation, which is only about a cup per week in my case, not much at all. The salinity of my reservoir will always be made up at 1.023 and my tank will most likely maintain 1.0235 to 1.0240 which is right where I want it.

[steviejitsu]

I would find a way to put all that equipment underneath. Its gonna take away from the pico's beauty and simplicity when its full of corals. Your opinion matters most though of course

[sogreedy23]

The input and output are at the same rate, both are on the same head. The air bubbles that it sucks up is the loss from evaporation, which is only about a cup per week in my case, not much at all. The salinity of my reservoir will always be made up at 1.023 and my tank will most likely maintain 1.0235 to 1.0240 which is right where I want it.

I understand that. What I'm saying is if it's sucking air then it's slightly less water being drawn, so more water is being input than expelled via waste. Thus not the same gpd, cool beans. How's the cubicle set up, haven't seen an update in a bit since you declared it was a success.

 

It's my fault that I missed that part in your OP, my bad. But don't be a kitten. Relax.

[cchardwick]

I just finished setting it up tonight and I don't have my camera handy. I'll try to snap some photos tomorrow. I'm struggling a bit getting my hood to close all the way with the tubes running into the nano-cube. I have to slant the input line a bit to get it to close all the way, and had to remove the rubber grommets and now I have to align all the cords and tubes just right when closing the hood, kind of a pain, but I'm sure I'll figure something out, just need somet time to think about it.

 

Acutally the water level in my little two gallon was really stable. The evaporation rate was about a cup a day, which is acutally a good thing. If you add water and raise the level in the sump very quickly you see the level come back down from evaporation. And if you take some water out, say for testing, the output line runs dry and the input line fills the tank up until its at the level of the output line. The water level was always the same, it stays at the level you put the line that sucks the water out. The salinity of my little 2 gallon tank raised up to about 1.024, one point from the 1.023 of the reservoir. I ran it about three days and it was really working great. I may have to get another setup for my little tank at home, perhaps I can build a stand for my two gallon Fluval Spec and build the setup inside the stand.

 

One thing that would be very useful is a low level alarm in the reservoir to alert you that the water level is getting low.

 

One more thing I added that I forgot to mention, I added a UPS battery backup to the pump. I found that if it lost power it wouldn't come back on again. I had a spare UPS so it was an easy fix.

[mad28gnc]

I just wonder what the salinity will be at after a month or so along with trace eliments with ingoing water set to a lower salinity

I'm not trying to slam or anything don't get me wrong I will deff set my next nano up this way I just want to see what happens first

 

And I still think a float switch in the system ( like in the wast water container ) to stop the system just for any reason I forget or can't get to it in time is a good idea

[mad28gnc]

put up some pix

[cchardwick]

I just wonder what the salinity will be at after a month or so along with trace eliments with ingoing water set to a lower salinity

I'm not trying to slam or anything don't get me wrong I will deff set my next nano up this way I just want to see what happens first

 

And I still think a float switch in the system ( like in the wast water container ) to stop the system just for any reason I forget or can't get to it in time is a good idea

 

Actually, if you think about it, if you empty the old reservoir when filling the new you won't have any problems because even if you ran the new reservoir dry it would stop filling and sucking water from the tank and the water level in the sump would only be affected by evaporation until you filled them up again. And as long as you keep the water tube coming into the tank above the water level to prevent a syphon you will never have water drain from the tank if the lines break because the line sucking water out is already just at the water level.

 

I doubt my nanocube will have any problems with salinity because the evaporation rate is so low, I only lose about a cup a week and in a week I'm changing out about 3.5 gallons, so the salinity in the tank should be about the same as the water in the resevoir. My tank kind of smells like new saltwater which I never smelled before besides the moment I did a water change. So far so good for the first couple days anyway. I tested my water when installing the system, my Ammonia and Nitrite are zero, my Nitrates rose to between 10ppm and 15ppm since I setup the tank about a month ago, pH is 8.6, and salinity it 1.0235. I'll test the water again after a week or so and give an update, I"m guessing my nitrates should eventually go to zero and my salinity may rise to 1.024 max.. I'll post pics soon.

[knight420]

TOTM bump

[cchardwick]

I just thought of another use for my water change system, I could take the line out of the new water reservoir and put it in the main reef tank. Then I could take the output and put it in the plastic bag with new arrivals for acclimation, especially for inverts that are sensitive to changes in water conditions such as starfish. This would be a great drip acclimation system.

 

[cchardwick]

OK, here are some pics as promised. I put the pump and extra lengths of tubing in a styrofoam container to keep the pump clicking noise down. So far no one has mentioned hearing it. It kind of sounds like a ticking clock, only not as regular. I put the airpump for the saltwater reservoir next to the UPS backup power supply. I did notice that I'm getting some salt creep coming out of my reservoir, I think I filled it up way too high, it was only about an inch from the top when I first set it up. Perhaps I should only fill it a few inches from the top. I'll have to watch my salinity in the reservoir to make sure I don't get too much evaporation in there, or perhaps switch to a powerhead instead of an airstone. ENJOY:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mad28gnc]

you da Man! keep me posted on them cal & salt levels would ya?