Auto Water Change Set Up
- Thread starter nwfish
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
I havn't had one, but I've read up on it.
I think the most creative solution was to put a toilet flushing mechinism in the sump. Comes complete with drain valve, float valve, and cool flushing noise.
Otherwise, a drain bulkhead with a valve and a refill float valve will do the trick. Open the drain valve, close when enough water is removed, allow float valve to automatically refill.
Note that you'll need to put in your dechlor or electrolyte replacement manually. There is a powdered dechlor that you might be able to put in a high-end automatic feeder....
I think the most creative solution was to put a toilet flushing mechinism in the sump. Comes complete with drain valve, float valve, and cool flushing noise.
Otherwise, a drain bulkhead with a valve and a refill float valve will do the trick. Open the drain valve, close when enough water is removed, allow float valve to automatically refill.
Note that you'll need to put in your dechlor or electrolyte replacement manually. There is a powdered dechlor that you might be able to put in a high-end automatic feeder....
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yeah, the wetdry is going to outgass all your CO2.
There is significantly less reason to put a sump under a freshwater tank than under a saltwater tank.
There are more discreet fill valves than the toilet type if you want to implement this in the main tank.
Expensive solution:
2 electronic float switches and 2 solenoid controled valves, plus some minor electrial equipt...
1. Push button on controller, opens drain valve.
2. Drain point float switch triggers drain valve closed, fill valve open
3. Fill float switch triggers fill valve closed.
For a real fancy system, have the drain point float switch also trigger a dosing pump to put in your dechlor, and have the whole thing on a timer that does the whole water change for you.
Might add a third float switch above the other two as an emergency shutoff. Should the fill valve fail, it would turn the whole system off when the uppermost valve got wet.
There is significantly less reason to put a sump under a freshwater tank than under a saltwater tank.
There are more discreet fill valves than the toilet type if you want to implement this in the main tank.
Expensive solution:
2 electronic float switches and 2 solenoid controled valves, plus some minor electrial equipt...
1. Push button on controller, opens drain valve.
2. Drain point float switch triggers drain valve closed, fill valve open
3. Fill float switch triggers fill valve closed.
For a real fancy system, have the drain point float switch also trigger a dosing pump to put in your dechlor, and have the whole thing on a timer that does the whole water change for you.
Might add a third float switch above the other two as an emergency shutoff. Should the fill valve fail, it would turn the whole system off when the uppermost valve got wet.
Blazeherd2306
Aquarium Advice Addict
It doesn't have to be a wet-dry. You could just have a sump with a refugium. I think czcz has that for his planted tank.
Thank you, I believe I have ruled out the wet dry. I did find aquarium float switches at Doctors Foster and Smith. I think I will just have a small pump on a timer that pumps the water out and that would trigger the float that refills the tank. I am going to get a filter system so the water gets filtered before it enters the tank. I will be sure to set the timer so that it only turns on when family is home so if something does go hay wire we can catch it before it floods the entire living room.
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
Pump the water from where?
I plan on taking the heating vent out of the floor and sealing that up and run a drain into our drain system under the house. I plan on tapping into the fresh water line and run it to a filter and then into the tank via a float valve.
krap101
Aquarium Advice Addict
i went to menards one time and i saw a water trough auto refill. you could try something like that maybe.. i dunno how reliable it is though, and it needs 3/4" fittings and stuff.
