Auto Water Change (Advanced Users ONLY)

[Danny]

I pull the water out at the same time I am adding so no need to turn off any other pumps. I have both pump heads on the same pump now and it is in the garage which is 35ft from the tank. So the water that drains the tank pull from the refugium section of the sump and dumps it to the drain on the kitchen sink. All the tubing runs up through the attic. So height does not seem to be an issue. I did check to make sure both the fill and drain pump head was adding and removing the same amount by placing a container at the sump with a measured amount of water in it and placed both the fill and the drain tubing in the container. I ran the pump for an hour and check the water level. I do have a sump overfull and a sump low sensor at will stop the AWC if either is triggered. It will trigger if for some reason one side does not work before the 11 minutes is up. Also once trigger for low. My ATO will not refill before getting a max on time has been exceeded alert along with a sump low alert.

 

[thom_smith]

I was thinking of using 2 of these pumps, one to pull water out of the sump, and the other to push water from my mixing station to the tank. 10% water change over 7 days at 210ml/min works out to 1.8 hours of time over the course of the day spent changing water. I was going to have the control tied to high amd low level sensors in the sump. Both the return and ATO pumps should be off during the WC. If i was to do this every our, pumps would turn off 4.5 min every hour during the day. Does that seem like it would work ok?

What pump did you settle on? I've got a similar remote mixing station setup with give or take 10' head pressure to my sump. Smaller tank volume so I could accomplish a 10% water change with the pump you suggested in approximately seven hour cycle. Considered--guess still considering--Kamoer X2SR but the feedback I've got is it is quite loud. LitreMeter is outrageously expensive. A brief Messenger chat with a moderator here has me leaning solidly toward Hydros managed solution. Because I built my Hydros off of my Apex setup with LO, FULL and HI optical sensors I have a head start on this reference configuration. X2 and solenoids for DRAIN and FILL siphon breaks on order. Needed a couple more Sense ports anyway to the X2 isn't a big leap. Really only need the pumps. Nutrients are pretty well controlled with Pax chaeto reactor. Don't NEED daily changes so LitreMeter, X2SR or similar may actually change good levels for too low levels unless I'm heavy handed when I feed. Also have the full Focustronic family to soon integrate with Hydros. I will be able to change water when it NEEDS to be changed based on measured nitrates or phosphates. So all more reason to favor Hydros controlled solution.

 

[Dbm338]

I got the ‎KCP PROII-N40 Kamoer pump. I like that i can change the flow (push or pull) with the flip of a switch. Its not all that loud when running at full speed. I have mine in another room anyway so it doesnt matter to me. I have yet to calibrate it and use it as my system isnt up yet.

Im interested in the mastertronic as well but have to hold off due to $. I thought water changes were necessary for trace element replenishment. If you dont test for those how do you know when to do a WC. Im trying to get everything automated and hope this gets me closer

 

[Jonapiaqacharil]

I got the ‎KCP PROII-N40 Kamoer pump. I like that i can change the flow (push or pull) with the flip of a switch. Its not all that loud when running at full speed. I have mine in another room anyway so it doesnt matter to me. I have yet to calibrate it and use it as my system isnt up yet.

Im interested in the mastertronic as well but have to hold off due to $. I thought water changes were necessary for trace element replenishment. If you dont test for those how do you know when to do a WC. Im trying to get everything automated and hope this gets me closer

In fact, it would be interesting to read about your experience of use, and especially about calibration ?! And all the subtleties

 

[thom_smith]

I got the ‎KCP PROII-N40 Kamoer pump. I like that i can change the flow (push or pull) with the flip of a switch. Its not all that loud when running at full speed. I have mine in another room anyway so it doesnt matter to me. I have yet to calibrate it and use it as my system isnt up yet.

Im interested in the mastertronic as well but have to hold off due to $. I thought water changes were necessary for trace element replenishment. If you dont test for those how do you know when to do a WC. Im trying to get everything automated and hope this gets me closer

Didn't mean to imply I don't want to do any water changes. Also forgot to mention I dose Triton method. So far ICP has come back within normal ranges. I'm just starting move toward sps dominant tank so that could change. I have seen near four fold increase in alk consumption in recent months. Don't really know what to attribute it to because I haven't done anything drastic. May force me to do water changes to replace elements Triton doesn't.

Searching for your pump. Looks like it is currently unavailable. Will keep an eye out. Anybody else with other positive pump experiences please let me know.

 

[Jonapiaqacharil]

Didn't mean to imply I don't want to do any water changes. Also forgot to mention I dose Triton method. So far ICP has come back within normal ranges. I'm just starting move toward sps dominant tank so that could change. I have seen near four fold increase in alk consumption in recent months. Don't really know what to attribute it to because I haven't done anything drastic. May force me to do water changes to replace elements Triton doesn't.

Searching for your pump. Looks like it is currently unavailable. Will keep an eye out. Anybody else with other positive pump experiences please let me know.

increase in alk consumption doesn't sound very good. What kind of manipulation did you perform? maybe something is not quite according to the instructions. I think it shouldn't be like that ?!

 

[spider13258]

Jeff asked me to post because he helped me work out a awc system, with a mode button using the basic information he has here. He’s such a wealth of knowledge. I’ll post screen shots of my info.

 

[spider13258]

S

 

[JeffB418]

THE TIME HAS COME! AWC has been added to the latest FW/APP release.

 

[scolson]

Happy to see AWC and Dosing added!