If you’re using a pump to help drain the display, are you worried about creating a continuous siphon?
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Not exactly sure what you mean, but if valves numbered 1 & 9 are closed, the siphon is stopped. To have water moving in a desired direction, it will take a combination of 2 valves open.
For example, to fill the top container with water drained from the display tank, I would open valves 9 & 2, allowing the water to flow thru the pump and up to the top container. All of the other valves are closed so the water can ONLY go to the top container.
It is just a matter of directing the water flow.
John I’m not sure if this was asked or not but how are you getting the old water from the tank?buckets ?
I gotcha.
Jason, here is an updated pic to help see how it works.
A PVC pipe goes thru the wall behind my display tank ( the red circle in the upper left corner) and is connected to the inlet side of the pump. When I open valves 9&2, the water from my DT goes thru the outlet side of the pump and is drained into the empty top container.
Then when the top container is full, @40 gals, I close vales 9&2 and open valves 1&7, forcing the pump to empty the new saltwater from the bottom container (@40 gals) to be pumped to my DT. :
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I just did a large WC and didn’t lift a bucket or hose. :BEER
Now I understand,so I’m assuming you have atleast 40g in your sump to be able to make this poss?
The water is taken straight from my display tank. I ran the PVC pipe over the top of the back glass and down @ 10 inches into my DT. With the pipe around that lenght, it will only drain @40 gals and then lose it’s siphon.
Kinda like a fail safe to not drain more water. Plus the top container has a view glass to let me know when it has 40 gals in it.
I will take a few pics of the system and post them.
Got it! I thought you were pumping from your sump into waste container and then pumping new into sump to replace what was removed. So you have a siphon that is valved off until your ready to do the change?
EGGxactly ::
That’s a sweet set-up.
How long does it take to do the waterchange, assuming you have everything ready to go?
Thanks
The first time I used it I was just making sure everything would work as planned, so it took longer. The next one should only take about 10 mins.
Oh Man! That’s great! I wish mine only took that little time.
Nice project build. well worth while.
Thanks Ken. I couldn’t have done it without the blue barrel you donated to me.
Lookin real good John ::
Lookin’ good. Can I ask why your draining the DT water into the upper container instead of just going straight to the drain? Are you worried about contaminating your RO/DI water with old DT water?
Yes that is one reason, I would like to keep the saltwater mixing container just used for new saltwater.
Another reason is that by filling the top container with drained DT water, I can tell when I have reached the 40 gal mark, thus ensuring that I am taking 40 out and replacing 40 in.
I wish I could do something like this but my tank is up against an exterior wall above a finished basement… If I was “allowed” to put it where I wanted to originally, I would be all over this since it would have been up against the garage wall.
Wives… They just don’t get it.
Todd, outside storage lockers and heaters. :: make it happen lol
Wives… They just don’t get it.
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??? I think I take offense to that!!! ;D