cilyjr
Chris
For a long time I've wanted to set up a way to change a gallon or 2 of water a day.
I got a peristaltic pump from Greg hiller that can attach a couple heads to 1 motor. This is an important part of the deal as it is pumping the same amount of water in both directions.
It's hooked up to an apex controller through a float switch. The float switch is the next most important part. I don't want to be pumping out tank water while the new water reservoir is empty because the top off system would engage and start putting fresh water in.
There a bunch of different ways one can handle the float switch. I didn't want use the io breakout box for the apex for a few reasons 1 it's expensive. 2 I don't live the little float switches. 3 I've heard many say the io breakout can take up to 10 minutes to tell apex to quit pumping.
The next idea would be using the float switch without the io box and wiring it to the pump directly. I like this better but in order to do it one cannot just cut the cord and wire the switch in they are not made for a large amount of current and will burn out. So to use it one has to buy a relay and an ac adapter. So this adds cost and yet another extension cord and one still would need to splice the relay into the pump cable.
The 3rd option I came to was a piggyback float switch used to operate sump pumps. It's what I did. It is easy to use. One simply plugs the pump into the piggyback plug and plugs that to the apex. There a couple issues using this switch. 1 there a couple types of these switches 1 uses mercury to make the connection and is NOT safe for potable water so you MUST look into getting the proper switch. I used the sje rhombus micromaster plus is is NSF 61 passed for potable water use and costs about 35 bucks. The 2nd issue is keeping the float in the reservoir. Drilling a hole and screwing it in is not an option I used a piece of 3 inch PVC pipe with end caps and filled with sand as a weight. Then zip tied it to that. I made a quick little base out of acrylic and siliconed it together. Also as I needed the pump to draw from the bottom of the reservoir ( which is just a 30 gallon lldpe plastic garbage barrel) so I put a little tab on it with a hole to stick the 1/4inch tubing into. Here it is out of the barrel
When the reservoir is empty the float switch will stop the pump from running even if the apex says it's time to go.When it is time for a refill I turn off the channel on the apex and open a john guest ball valve from rodi to an installed float valve in the reservoir. The reservoir will fill in a few hours then I can dump in salt and let it mix for a few more hours with a pump. Then I can turn the channel back on and I'm good to go for a few more weeks.
Make sure to have a tight fitting lid to minimize evaporation
Now I figured the water coming out of the tank is still decent so instead of going straight down the drain I have it going into another tank for qt. this allows me to have a qt tank with roughly the same parameters as the main system with out the qt being directly connected to the system. It's an advantage because if I have to medicate I can do it without effecting the main tank. Also I don't need to run any additional filtration or require any live rock because it's getting a 1and half gallon water change every day. Here's water going into qt from dt
Lastly I didn't want any back flow coming from the drain into the qt so I did what the health dept requires all food prep sinks to have in restaurants ( air gap)on a small scale. The plumbers putty mostly just holds the little funnel in place. I'd say I'm gonna make it look better later but I'd be lying.
Feel free to ask any questions, make any comments. Thanks
I got a peristaltic pump from Greg hiller that can attach a couple heads to 1 motor. This is an important part of the deal as it is pumping the same amount of water in both directions.
It's hooked up to an apex controller through a float switch. The float switch is the next most important part. I don't want to be pumping out tank water while the new water reservoir is empty because the top off system would engage and start putting fresh water in.
There a bunch of different ways one can handle the float switch. I didn't want use the io breakout box for the apex for a few reasons 1 it's expensive. 2 I don't live the little float switches. 3 I've heard many say the io breakout can take up to 10 minutes to tell apex to quit pumping.
The next idea would be using the float switch without the io box and wiring it to the pump directly. I like this better but in order to do it one cannot just cut the cord and wire the switch in they are not made for a large amount of current and will burn out. So to use it one has to buy a relay and an ac adapter. So this adds cost and yet another extension cord and one still would need to splice the relay into the pump cable.
The 3rd option I came to was a piggyback float switch used to operate sump pumps. It's what I did. It is easy to use. One simply plugs the pump into the piggyback plug and plugs that to the apex. There a couple issues using this switch. 1 there a couple types of these switches 1 uses mercury to make the connection and is NOT safe for potable water so you MUST look into getting the proper switch. I used the sje rhombus micromaster plus is is NSF 61 passed for potable water use and costs about 35 bucks. The 2nd issue is keeping the float in the reservoir. Drilling a hole and screwing it in is not an option I used a piece of 3 inch PVC pipe with end caps and filled with sand as a weight. Then zip tied it to that. I made a quick little base out of acrylic and siliconed it together. Also as I needed the pump to draw from the bottom of the reservoir ( which is just a 30 gallon lldpe plastic garbage barrel) so I put a little tab on it with a hole to stick the 1/4inch tubing into. Here it is out of the barrel
When the reservoir is empty the float switch will stop the pump from running even if the apex says it's time to go.When it is time for a refill I turn off the channel on the apex and open a john guest ball valve from rodi to an installed float valve in the reservoir. The reservoir will fill in a few hours then I can dump in salt and let it mix for a few more hours with a pump. Then I can turn the channel back on and I'm good to go for a few more weeks.
Make sure to have a tight fitting lid to minimize evaporation
Now I figured the water coming out of the tank is still decent so instead of going straight down the drain I have it going into another tank for qt. this allows me to have a qt tank with roughly the same parameters as the main system with out the qt being directly connected to the system. It's an advantage because if I have to medicate I can do it without effecting the main tank. Also I don't need to run any additional filtration or require any live rock because it's getting a 1and half gallon water change every day. Here's water going into qt from dt
Lastly I didn't want any back flow coming from the drain into the qt so I did what the health dept requires all food prep sinks to have in restaurants ( air gap)on a small scale. The plumbers putty mostly just holds the little funnel in place. I'd say I'm gonna make it look better later but I'd be lying.
Feel free to ask any questions, make any comments. Thanks
