Auto Water change?

I don't know who's build thread it is, but someone on here recently built a wave-front tank that has the OF line split and capped for this very reason...if I remember correctly.

 

I was thinking I could even just the side walls of the mailbox & silicone them to the class, just using the Overflow box to make sure the two "walls" are square. Can I pain the "walls" with the Krylon mat black I used to paint the outside of the tank? I've heard of people doing that with eggcrate & plumbing, just being sure it sits dry for a few days before getting it wet/putting it in the tank. The tank is empty & will be for at least another week.

 

Well That's what I wanted to do. But I've not seen anyone that actually uses their return pump for the water change, they usually just fill it back up with a bucket.

The problem I have is that my return are in the sump is only about 1g, so I can't really use the pump to refill/empty water.:-/

 

That was scott. Check out my build thread & you'll see I've done the same thing. But this idea does not work unless you have a constant flow of water coming back to the tank, for the OF to catch. If it can't take in water to be dumped, the siphon will stop.

 

This is definitely the largest issue with the setup you're attempting. I considered something similar to what you're trying to do also, when I had my 10 gallon sump and just gave up on the idea since the return section, and even the sump itself was just too small and didn't hold enough water.

Perhaps you could have a dedicated pump in the largest part of your sump that you will only turn on to pump a large portion of water into your waste bucket. You would have to stop your return pump, though. This would mean your ATO wouldn't kick on since the sensor will be sitting in the return section. From there you could just refill the larger part of your sump with fresh.

Other than that, you will probably have to accept the fact that a portion of fresh water will make its way into your waste container during the WC. However, the actual amount will probably not be that much. You could always offset it be doing a say a 6 gallon WC instead of a 5 (or whatever amount you plan on doing). This means of course, that some freshly mixed salt water will be wasted during the WC - just consider that the price of convenience

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-tunze-osmaolator-automated-water-change-89115.html

 

Offsetting the WC with more volume is a good idea to make up. But buying another pump...idk. I thought about doing that when I had plans for a fancy 75g. But as always, my plans were too fancy & too expensive for my reality.

 

Thanks for the link, Tatted. Looks like I should buy DC8 first. $108. The I need the Tunze Dosing Pumps & Top-Off stuff. $192. *bites lip*

 

I have a Rio 600 hooked up to 1/2" tubing that I use to do my water changes. I just drop the pump into the return section, pump out the water then drop the pump into the new water and pump it back into the sump. I do not turn off the return pump during the process. I do a 5% WC every week. That is about 5.5 to 6 gallons. My return section has about a 10 gallon volume.

 

Thank you 2in10. That's a good idea. The problem I had is my return section is only about 1g(as mentioned). With a 5% change which I've been thinking about doing(small weekly apposed to large WC every-other week). This idea may work well for me.