Let's see your water change methods!!

[NTP66]

Some of you guys have really elegant ways of doing water changes. Unfortunately, I do not. My process is still relatively inexpensive, and not terribly time consuming, though:

1. Mix NSW in one of my 32g Brutes on a wheeled dolly
2. Turn on the "WaterChange" virtual outlet on my Apex Jr. to turn off the sump heater and alarms
3. Turn off the return pump, skimmer, and ATO pump
4. Siphon out the entire sump using a 50' hose connected to the sink in my utility room (takes only a few minutes for about 20g)
5. Roll the Brute with the NSW right to my tank and pump it directly into the sump via an MJ1200 (again, takes only a few for about 20g)
6. Turn everything back on and I'm done
7. Try not to run over my daughter with the Brute while pushing it back into the utility room

Beats the hell out of lugging 5g buckets multiple times back and forth from the utility room, that's for sure. I have a separate 32g Brute on a wheeled dolly that I use for ATO refills. That's much easier, as I simply roll it out, pump it in, and then roll it back into the utility room.

[jlanger]

Here's a post from my build thread that shows how I do my water changes.
Basically the "Drain, Wheel and Fill" method.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...&postcount=108

Not really anything has changed; although I'd like to get a little bit larger pump to speed things up a bit.

[Indymann99]

Originally Posted by sammy77

It's been a couple years now, no problems yet. After the water change, I dump 10 gals of fresh water in the sump pit to flush the pump out.

+1 on no probs with dumping used WC water (SW) into the house sump pit. I have been doing this for 6 yrs, still on the same sump pump. typically my sump pump will cycle when the WC water gets dumped in so the SW doesnt sit in the sump really at all. Also my RODI system (RO for whole house drinking) also dumps fresh water into the sump pit all the time so that further dillutes any remaining SW in the pit.

[ca1ore]

In my basement fish room (aka, boiler room) I have twin 40B tanks side by side sitting about a foot higher than my sump. Drain water from the DT travels down to a T that diverts water to 40B #1. 40B #2 contains NSW. When the time comes, I simply divert the drain from the DT to 40B#2, and then drain 40B#1 and refill with NSW. Easy 38 gallon WC.

[sammy77]

Originally Posted by Indymann99

+1 on no probs with dumping used WC water (SW) into the house sump pit. I have been doing this for 6 yrs, still on the same sump pump. typically my sump pump will cycle when the WC water gets dumped in so the SW doesnt sit in the sump really at all. Also my RODI system (RO for whole house drinking) also dumps fresh water into the sump pit all the time so that further dillutes any remaining SW in the pit.

That's a good point. I think I'll cut back to a 5gal flush.

[Spyderturbo007]

I have to do mine the old fashioned way.

Siphon water from the tank and then haul water in 5g buckets up from the basement. My tank sits over the finished part of my basement, so a basement sump is out of the question.

[dinger28]

I was doing the old way for a while as well. Spyderturbo007....can you get a 50 foot siphon hose and siphon it out of the house or into the bathtub? Even getting a cheap 20 gallon bin from target and filling it with SW and then pumping the water back up to the tank would work as well. Works great for me!

Matt

[alf1096]

Great ideas tagging along

[celamb89]

great ideas! I do it the old fashioned way too, planning to have an auto water changer controlled by the arduino for the enxt build... we'll see what happens

[dknydiep]

great idea guys.

Would I have any issues with pumping salt water into the drain that my washing machine uses? Anything in there that can corrode, or is it just a big pvc pipe that leads to the main drain in my house?

[fltekdiver]

Originally Posted by dknydiep

great idea guys.

Would I have any issues with pumping salt water into the drain that my washing machine uses? Anything in there that can corrode, or is it just a big pvc pipe that leads to the main drain in my house?

If its PVC chances are the main drain is 4" PVC, so no, nothing can happen

[ca1ore]

Being on a septic system I have always worried that all that salt water will bugger up the system, so I have it pumped out every year. So far the septic guy hasn't said anything.

[SavingOurSeas]

Slief, would be nice if I could find clear mixing tanks like yours.
Indy, now that's what I call proper.
I like hearing/seeing everyone's methods, interesting indeed.

[dinger28]

Savingourseas. Love our quote. GOD IS GOOD ALWAYS!...and I love how He made fish so we could enjoy them!

[dinger28]

I meant your quote. Lol

[nemosworld]

Step one: turn off return pump and skimmer off.
step two: put maxijet with hose attached into sump and drain 20 gallons
step two.1: poor water into toilet
step three: poor 4 5 gallon buckets of mixed salt water into sump and turn pumps back on, leave skimmer off for at least 1/2 hour.

**** sometimes i use the maxi jet in the display to remove detritus*****

[dartier]

I went for a completely automated system. I made 4 water level sensor tubes like Reefangel sells. They are PVC tubes that go to a small diameter tube that gets routed to a pressure sensor. The pressure sensors convert the air pressure in the trapped air into an analog voltage, which I then read with an analog to digital converter over I2C.

I have a sensor tube installed in my salt, RO, waste and sump. The pumps I used are Tunze 12V osmolator pumps controlled through an 8 position relay board. All this is controlled from a Raspberry Pi using I2C.

Here is the procedure:

1. water change script is executed
2. top off water is added to my sump to a preset level
3. system pauses for 15 minutes for mixing of RO and saltwater.
4. water is drained from sump to a waste bucket (to a preset level)
5. sump is filled with salt water to preset level
6. waste bucket is pumped to drain 40ft away

Here is a shot of the 3 barrels, biggest to smallest, salt, RO and waste. You can see the black 4 pressure sensing tubes on the right running into the sensor board with the 8 position relay board just above.



Here is a (very short) unused water pressure tube laying on top of a barrel. The PVC tube portion would normally match the height of the barrel, but this was a prototype version.



I had 1 challenge when first setting this up. I found that the accuracy would drift. It baffled me until I eventually realized that the sensors were being impacted by swings in the barometric pressure, so I added a barometric pressure sensor that adjusts the readings for error over time from calibration.

This was one of the most enjoyable DIY projects I have done.

Dennis

[dinger28]

Dennis, that system is incredible! How often do you have to put water in your tubs?....or does your ro/di system hook up to your water heater, sink, etc?

[dinger28]

Just a question for everyone. Why do anlotnofnyou turn your skimmer off while doing water changes? I never have. Is there something I've been missing?

Matt

[dartier]

Originally Posted by dinger28

Dennis, that system is incredible! How often do you have to put water in your tubs?....or does your ro/di system hook up to your water heater, sink, etc?

Thanks Matt.

I have to fill the salt once a month, it is a 55 Gallon Brute. The RO/DI is hooked to both the salt and RO with float valves. I have an inline ball valve between the salt and the RO/DI to prevent the SG from being altered by the float valve enabling when I use salt water.

The RO barrel is a smaller 20G. I leave the RO/DI turned off and only run it when I want to fill the whole RO barrel, or pump from my RO to a Kalk tub at the far end of the tank (the Kalk takes 20G) . To fill the Kalk I toggle 2 ball valves and turn on the RO pump. I mainly top off with Kalk, so I fill the RO about once a month.

I check the levels with a script every few days that outputs the levels of the barrels (0=salt,1=RO,2=waste,3=sump).

Here is an example of the output (5v = full, 1v = empty).

Pressure = 99.1089 kPa
Channel 0 = 3.120v (3.145v)
Channel 1 = 4.813v (4.838v)
Channel 2 = 1.573v (1.597v)
Channel 3 = 2.729v (2.754v)

I planned on automating the fill modes, so I purchased 3 12V solenoid valves to allow for scripting the different modes (and avoid forgetting to reset a ball valve), but I have not installed them yet. If I go ahead with the solenoids, the system will be able to enable the RO/DI and refill any barrel unattended.

The only issue I have had was when I got too clever and hooked the output of the waste pump, after going up and through my rec room ceiling to the drain of the RO/DI. The RO/DI waste is hooked directly into the house grey water pipes. What I did not plan for was when something came through the waste line from my waste pump and blocked the drain after the tee, blocking the drain to the house plumbing. The next time I turned on the RO/DI the RO waste water backed up, climbed the 4 ft of head, flowed back 40 ft through the ceiling and proceeded to fill my waste barrel. What a mess.

Now the waste pump drains to a laundry tube!

Dennis

[Fury165]

Continuous water changes daily using a Litermeter III. New salt water is drawn from a 15 gallon water drum in small increments per cycle (total 2 gallons per day). The old water is drawn out and exits through the drain pipe under the kitchen sink. All i have to do is stop the Litermeter once a week, open the RODI switch to the salt water drum and put in a premeasured quantity of salt. Once the salt has mixed ~24 hours I turn back on the Litermeter.

My wife is much happier now compared to the old bucket method I was using previously

[MKsreef]

I change 15 gallons a week in my 92 gallon corner tank. I make my own water in the basement. I fill up three 5 gallon jugs, lug them up the stairs and siphon out 15 gallons from my display tank. Then I pour the 5 gallon jugs of new water back in. It is a little cumbersome, but it works given I don't have the fancy set ups I am seeing. Wish I did.

[stk731]

2 rubbermaids , one pump, ten minutes, DONE!

[sammy77]

Here's a pic to explain my WC. It takes no more than 5-10min.

[Rob in Puyallup]

Damn! :-)