Automatic Water changes. It doesnt get any better then this.

AquamanE

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For years if considered doing automatic waterchanges, but never could find the right equipment do do it and monitor it.

Thanks to one of our local members here in South Florida Dr. David Thompson, he found all that is needed.

System consits of a Stenner water pump, a commercial chemical pump with one motor and 2 peristalsic heads hook up to this one moter. the one i bough is capable of 75GPD.

One head takes water from my WC station in the garage to the return area of the sump. The second head takes water from my overflow area of sump to a drainage line i had already drill out of the house to a drain.


WATER CHANGE SYSTEM

IMG_4649_zpsac93c9bd.jpg



cOMES WITH WEIGHTED STRAINERS FOR INPUT. tHIS KEEPS THE INPUT DOWN AND STRAINS ANY LARGE PARTICLE THAT CAN BE AN ISSUE FOR THE PERISTALTIC PUMPS.

IMG_4658_zps64725799.jpg



AND FINALLY A SHORT VIDEO OF IT WORKING.




THIS IS ALL NOW CONNECTED TO MY APEX. I AM CURRENTLY RUNNING FOR 1.5 HOURS, GIVING ME A 2.5 GALLON WATER CHANGE PER DAY.
 
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revhtree

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So jealous!!
 

aslmx

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Man, that gets the brain flowing with ideas.....Couple mag 5s couple timers..hmmmm...Thanks for sharing.
 
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AquamanE

AquamanE

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Man, that gets the brain flowing with ideas.....Couple mag 5s couple timers..hmmmm...Thanks for sharing.

Aslmx- the problem with that is what i was worried about. Reliability that they are both doing the same amount each time. With my method you are safe, since its 2 pumps running with one motor. As long as tubing on peristalsic pumps are both intact, and changed as recommended (6-12 months) you are good.
 
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AquamanE

AquamanE

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So jealous!!

No need to be jealous Rev. At $273, what is a better investment? Unproven LED's, another wave pump???

Water changes are KEY in our hobby. Many neglect, and avoid them cause they are indeed a pain in the butt. Now its easy!!
 
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docs911

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Is anyone worried about the friction loss if you have different lengths of tubing on the two sections of the pump. Friction loss could cause different amounts of fluid changed.
 

KoleTang

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No need to be jealous Rev. At $273, what is a better investment? Unproven LED's, another wave pump???

Water changes are KEY in our hobby. Many neglect, and avoid them cause they are indeed a pain in the butt. Now its easy!!

Is this the 120v or 240v? Where did you buy it from?
 

monkiboy

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that's neat - thanks for sharing!

you mention this was something that for years you were trying to figure out with the right equipment. did you ever look to the genesis reef systems automatic water change, RO reservoir top off, and ATO system - the renew and storm? they costs more than $300 bucks if you buy the whole system but much more feature rich, little to no maintenance, multiple redundancies, and supported by an excellent team. give them a look!
 

ddavies564

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You can get 2 master flex pumps with drives off ebay for 53 bucks shipped, new tubing for 10, and some hardware from Home Depot and have the same set up for under 80 bucks. I took it a step further and have three pumps to one motor.
One pulls new water and puts in sump, other pulls from sump and puts in quarantine tank, last pump pulls from qt and drains onto the lawn.

muqe5aqu.jpg
 

KoleTang

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You can get 2 master flex pumps with drives off ebay for 53 bucks shipped, new tubing for 10, and some hardware from Home Depot and have the same set up for under 80 bucks. I took it a step further and have three pumps to one motor.
One pulls new water and puts in sump, other pulls from sump and puts in quarantine tank, last pump pulls from qt and drains onto the lawn.

Do you have a link or name of the model? I am having trouble finding it on ebay since the company makes so many different pumps.

Great idea with the QT BTW. I might just do that as long as I'm not treating with copper or something.
 

ronnie

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You can get 2 master flex pumps with drives off ebay for 53 bucks shipped, new tubing for 10, and some hardware from Home Depot and have the same set up for under 80 bucks. I took it a step further and have three pumps to one motor.
One pulls new water and puts in sump, other pulls from sump and puts in quarantine tank, last pump pulls from qt and drains onto the lawn.

muqe5aqu.jpg

That looks awesome. And for $80, I'll give it a shot! Can you send some links on what parts are needed?
 

redfishbluefish

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Looks very interesting......following along....especially with this less expensive option.....need specifics.
 

Velodog2

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Is anyone worried about the friction loss if you have different lengths of tubing on the two sections of the pump. Friction loss could cause different amounts of fluid changed.

Peristaltic pumps are positive displacement. They don't rely on pressure to move the fluid which would be affected by pipe resistance. This should work fairly well I would think. Nothing is exact and there will be small differences in the amounts pumped in each line but regular salinity checking should catch any problems.
 

DRThompson

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You can get 2 master flex pumps with drives off ebay for 53 bucks shipped, new tubing for 10, and some hardware from Home Depot and have the same set up for under 80 bucks. I took it a step further and have three pumps to one motor.
One pulls new water and puts in sump, other pulls from sump and puts in quarantine tank, last pump pulls from qt and drains onto the lawn.

muqe5aqu.jpg

That is NOT a masterflex/cole parmer pump. Looks like a modded 12v peristaltic pump with a couple of cole parmer heads on it. Those 12v peristaltic pumps are not meant for continuous duty and have a limited life. If you do a search on ebay for "masterflex pump" or "cole parmer pump" you'll see what they look like. They are medical/lab grade pumps used in hospitals for drug infusion and in medical/food labs and factories for precision dosing of chemicals. These pumps go for thousands new and you would be hard pressed to find a used one in good condition on ebay or similar site for less than $200. There is a big market for these used pumps; many of them sold on ebay are from labs or hospitals and are usually 10+ years old. While they are definitely workhorse pumps i'm not convinced they are worth the money; if the pump breaks down you cant repair it. The only replacement parts i've found are heads and tubing; nothing for the motor.

I did a LOT of research and experimented with a masterflex pump before purchasing a stenner pump. Currently, you can get a dual head stenner pump (see pic at start of this thread) for under $300 brand new. They are industrial pumps used in commercial pools and irrigation systems to dose chemicals. They are made here in the USA and every part of this pump can be replaced or repaired. I recently purchased the dual head model for an automated water change system. I currently change out 2 gal per day using the dual head stenner and my apex. I ran 3 lines of 1/4" tubing from my garage to my display tank (about 35 foot run) for this setup. It's been running for about a month now and my salinity has held constant.

When you consider the cost of some of the water change systems: Genesis $400-500, liter meter $300-400.....the stenner just makes sense. I did a more complete write up on reefcentral. These pumps can pull water up to 25feet vertically and push water more than 60+feet. This would be a great pump for people with reservoirs in their basements who want to do water changes. These pumps are NOT for everyone; they are loud, large and heavy. I would not want to put one of these in my stand or in my living room.
 

ronnie

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Also - I just looked up the brand of the motor on the ebay pumps. They are barnant motors. Which is apparently what cole parmer uses in their masterflex pump. So it is at least the same brand that they use.
 

cdness

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Looks like a nice setup! I will keep this in the "One day when I have a larger tank and fish room" folder with the rest of the cool gear I have no room for ;)

However is your reservoir bowing out that much? Personally I would be scared of it blowing out one day.
 

sceia

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I would be worried about friction loss if you're not running the tubing the exact same way. I just got the litermeter 3 and it splits the duty between 2 pumps. You have to do a calibration. Basically it records the time it takes 500ml to go from salt to tank and then tank to waste. I can tell you first hand, the times are not exactly the same. Which in your case, you'll have either more salt in or more waste out. Might be something for you to think about....

Scott.
 

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