May not be as funny as donkeys, but it works like this:
water level in sump is at top of tape, ready to empty 3 gals, which will bring it to second tape level
switch box
drain from sump into outside house piping
water reaches proper taped spot in sump, then switched off
water level in reservoir lowering from its taped spot; switch set to “fill”
water level filling into sump and rising to original spot
all is now perfect and ready for rodi water to fill reservoir and add new measured salt
whole process takes 3 minutes.
if i’m off a few grams of salt or a quart of water or miss a day or two, no big deal. it evens itself out. in 30 days ive changed @90 gals on my total of 140 gals.
everything is working perfectly, for about 45 days. no complaints, no spillage, barely touch the water w/my hands. previously, i had to deal with 5 gal buckets, hauling water to sink measuring out 20 hgal of water ans appropriate amount of salt put new water carefully in so as not to disturb critters/sand/dirt in sump. it took 2 hours, and they were wet hours!
a billion thanks to shawn and courtney.
That is a very very nice setup! Wish I had something like that for my water changes, even just top off! I am too scared of automation, one little screw up and its over. With me, I can’t over flow my tank or anything. I do like the lazy approach, I don’t enjoy hauling 5g buckets around, probably why I don’t do water changes.
i just use a maxijet power head and 30 feet of half inch tubing to drain and fill large water changes, mixing barrels and such. unless of course, its just easier to man the bucket brigade. but that is a pretty handy built in setup, Paul. I wish i had a basement to play in.
basements are fantastic. 2 gals of water on the floor? no probs. get the mop/chammy cloths. relatively constant temps and no a/c needed. hanging stuff from ceiling? easy. cinder block stand in living room, wires in a tangle, buckets left on the floor? HA! divorce!
the w/c system is just a great thing for me and the way i operate.
If only it were that easy, my basement is finished.
i saw it in action… pretty impressive.
i still think about it every time i lug the buckets back and forth. verdict_in
thanks, steve. i just am amazed that more people who have plumbing abilities don’t take advantage of its simplicity.
jeff, i stopped by shawn’s house, and he has the system even more automated [he installed mine] and his is in his living room. no plumbing is visible. same push button setup. i just didn’t need it hidden, and my 2 tank setup added a bit of complication.
Hmmm, I’d love something like that. I would love to automate my RO/DI, top off and water changes. I’d have to talk to shawn I guess but he isn’t on the forum anymore. What equipment do you use? How is his more automated then what you have? I am just worried about a float valve failing and things overflowing.
[quote=“DamnPepShrimp, post:8, topic:3669”]
Hmmm, I’d love something like that. I would love to automate my RO/DI, top off and water changes. I’d have to talk to shawn I guess but he isn’t on the forum anymore. What equipment do you use? How is his more automated then what you have? I am just worried about a float valve failing and things overflowing.[/quote]
i believe he uses rodi into his sump directly through anato. the same w/his reservoir, but i am not abso sure. he also changes 10gal a day.
I dont know all of the technical stuff like Shawn does but im the one that does most of the waterchanges. All i do is hit one switch to drain 10g from the tank and then another switch to fill it back up. Thats it besides adding a pre-measured amount of salt to the holding tank when im done which automatially fills itself back up. Its designed to turn the entire tank over one time a month but we are probably closer to 75% because we skip a day here and there. The tank is a little over 300g total volume and growing SPS at rates faster than i thought possible and we havent dosed one thing ever. Paul has seen it twice with several months in between and can attest to the growth rates. Its probably the coolest thing ive ever seen and makes the hobby so easy its not even funny. The tank tops off directly from the RODI so there isnt a reservoir for ATO which i believe is one of the biggest differences between our setup and Pauls. I dont know too much about it other than Shawn has been doing it this way for years and hasnt had any issues. He says the only way anything can go wrong with one of these systems is if its not built correctly. We have so many failsafes that even if floats do get stuck nothing happens but i couldnt explain why. I just know which switches to turn on and off! ;D