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Re: Automatic water changer
Hi everyone,
There seems to be good response to Scott's inquiry re: Automatic Water
Changers. This was originally sent to another member a few months ago. I
decided to update it to my current tank situation and post it here as an FYI
to anyone who might be interested
My water changing device is constructed of Rainbird and Toro Irrigation
equipment, primarily. I will use a drilled tank as I describe the system.
All of my own tanks are drilled, and they are all on this system. A drilled
tank uses bulkhead fittings as I am sure you are aware. There must be a way
for the water to go into and exit the tank without flooding the floor. I
wanted this option even when I was not in the room. I use the 1 inch
bulkhead fitting in my tank for the standpipe. I use 1" pvc pipe glued to a
1" slip x 1" MPT fitting. The top of the standpipe in my All-Glass 125 g
tank is level with the bottom of the vertical slits in the overflow. Use
teflon tape on the male threads of your standpipe assembly. You may need to
play with the standpipe length according to your filter flow rate, etc. An
overflow box (like those on wet-dry filters) would work the same as a
standpipe on your undrilled tanks. This will drive up your parts cost
somewhat. The bottom part of the 1 inch bulkhead on my tank is female
threaded (just like the top). I use a 1" x 1/2" threaded reducer bushing and
then use a 1/2" MPT x 3/8" barbed fitting. I then then use 1/2" OD x 3/8" ID
polyethylene tubing to connect to the 3/8" barb. The poly-e tubing is what
carries the waste water to the drain. I have a basement under my fish room
so my drain line goes thru a hole I drilled in the sub floor behind the
aquarium to a drainpipe in my basement. Just make sure the drainage point is
lower than the tank, of course, as this is a gravity feed drain system. You
could have it drain outside or into a utility sink, or whatever will work
for you. You may wonder how the water in my aquarium gets to the filter as I
use the bulkhead originally intended for this purpose for the standpipe. I
use canister filtration, and use the intake for the canister and just hang
it into the overflow area. It works great. I also keep a small sponge around
the top of the standpipe to prevent any large debris or snails from entering
the standpipe and clogging the drain.
The next section covers how to put water into the tank. My planted tanks get
RO water and my other one gets tap water, so the configuration is different
for the planted tanks. For the planted tanks I have my RO unit (50 gpd-Kent)
dumping into a 45 gallon Rubbermaid trash can. There is a Little Giant
submersible waterfall pump (La Bomba, about $65 from Home Depot) It has a
26' head height, so pumping up 14 feet to my tank is no sweat. The pump goes
to PVC Tee and to either of two Rainbird sprinkler valves ($14 from Lowes or
Home Depot) connected to it. The valves are 1" FPT on both sides so the
output side must be reduced to 1/2" and then use a 1/2" MPT x 3/8" barbed
fitting (from Lowes). Then use 1/2" OD x 3/8" ID vinyl tubing to deliver
water to the aquarium. I use polyethylene tubing on the drainage side
because it is stiffer than vinyl so there is hardly any chance of it kinking
and preventing the water from draining. The vinyl tubing comes up thru a
hole in the subfloor behind the tank on the other side from where the
standpipe is (it would not be very efficient to have the water entering and
leaving the tank at the same location, would it?). I control this with a
Toro sprinkler timer (Home Depot or Lowes about $35) The difference with my
planted tanks is that you have to install a pump start relay for the
submersible pump. This pump is not needed for my 90 gallon Discus tank as
household water pressure flows the water to it. For the 90 gallon I built a
PVC manifold that allows me to attach one of the above mentioned valves to
the same water source (tap water). The valve turns the flow on or off when
controlled by the timer. I also control the water that goes to my RO unit by
means of a valve connected to the same PVC manifold. The pump start relay is
available at any sprinkler system supply place. A pump start relay is
basically a 12 volt switch that will turn on a household (120v) current when
energized. In other words, the sprinkler timer will turn on the pump start
relay, and the relay will turn on the pump. These are used by people who
irrigation out of ponds, rivers, etc., where they do not use household water
presure. Mine cost $22. Sprinkler timers are low voltage systems, so they
are not very dangerous. My sprinkler timer is mounted on a wall in a closet
in the fish room. Wire it with sprinkler cable (same area as valves,
sprinkler timers, etc in Home Depot or Lowes). The timer allows multiple
on/off times, and run times from 1 minute to 4 hours. I use adjustable flow
Rainbird valves. This allows a fairly slow flow rate of water into the tank.
I do small amounts of water several times a day. That way you do not have a
severe temp fluctuation in the tank. I have my valves adjusted on all three
tanks to flow approx 1/2 gallon a minute. The volume is adjusted by the
amount of time you keep the valves open (using the timer). My 125 gallon
planted tank gets new water 4x daily for a total of 5 gallons a day. My 90
gallon discus tank (bare bottom) gets new water 8x daily for a total of 24
gallons a day. My 65 gallon planted tank gets new water 5x daily for a total
of 2.5 gallons a day. The water to the 90 gallon is run thru an in-line Omni
Whole House Water Filter (behind the valve). These are about $22 each and
have a life of 15,000 gallons (Lowes or Home Depot) or three months. The
filter catridges are the 5 micron GAC type and cost about $5 each (cheap).
This removes chlorine going to the 90 gallon.
The system has been up and running for over a year now without any problems.
Additionally, the RO unit and the reservoir in the basement are each inside
containers plumbed with bulkhead fittings serving as overflow/leak
protection. These empty into the same drainage point the tank water goes.
The drainage point is the stub for a basement toilet. I modified the PVC cap
to accept the drain line from the tanks/overflow bulkheads.
The wiring looked a bit intimidating at first, but it was not a big deal.
It was a great project for a gadget freak like myself. This is a broad
overview of my system. If anyone has questions or needs clarification please
email me off list.
Regards,
Dave
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