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

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I understand, but at what cost? You could truck sea water to Kansas, but it seems to me there are much better ways to spend money on my system.
Others obviously disagree.

I'm not sure there's any big cost to my system compared to yours (you still need a pump, but maybe yours is a lot cheaper), but I absolutely think the cost to me is worth it even if it had zero benefit to the tank (which I don't believe to be true, I think changing water slowly and frequently has benefits).

The pumps certainly can be pricey (several hundreds dollars), but the cost per bucket of water that I haven't had to carry around is very low.

In my system, I'd have to carry buckets of about 3 gallons each day. One to the tank and one from it. Over 19 years, that works out to 13,870 buckets of water, or maybe 3 cents per bucket.

 

[Windy]

Well, I don't have to carry water and the pump I use runs my sump so my only cost is pvc and valves. I probably missed it in the thread, but how is the new salt water automatically prepared?

 

[walkabout]

I love my water change station all I have to do is lift a bag of salt and pour it in the reservoir and then it is mixed all by itself and then it pumps itself into the tank all I have to do is make sure that the level in the reservoir is fine never have to lift a bucket of water never never never, and that's even when I'm doing the evaporated water from my ATO, been in the hobby for over 35 years and if I had to lift a bucket of water for all those years my oh my

 

[walkabout]

Oh yes and one more thing equipment makes your life really easy when it comes to saltwater

 

[d2mini]

I understand, but at what cost? You could truck sea water to Kansas, but it seems to me there are much better ways to spend money on my system.
Others obviously disagree.

My time is worth wayyyyy more.
So many other things I could be doing rather than dealing with doing daily water changes.
My AWC to me worth as much as my ATO.

 

[Sacohen]

I agree with d2mini.
I would rather spend my free time enjoying my tank and not changing the watwr.

When I'm dobe with everything my automatic water change with fill my resivior, mix the water and do small daily water changes.
Everything except add the salt.
I haven't figured that out yet, but I have an idea.

 

[walkabout]

I've been trying to figure that out but no matter which way I think of it I still got to put salt in something in order for it to be mixed

 

[Sacohen]

Yeah, but you put the salt in while the ro/do water is filling the resivior, then when it's done filling it starts mixing for a predetermined time.

 

[walkabout]

I am fully automated I have photos above of my water change system and my ATO, and my filtration system behind my tank and it does everything, water change is 2 1/2 gallons a day, when the salt reservoir gets low of water, my apex warns me and tells me that I need to refill the reservoir and add salt to that tank that is about every 15 days, the ro/di tank always stays full and is continuously mixing with a pump inside each of the tank

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, I don't have to carry water and the pump I use runs my sump so my only cost is pvc and valves. I probably missed it in the thread, but how is the new salt water automatically prepared?

There's no system to automatically mix dry salt with new water that any normal reefer is going to have.

In my case, that takes about 5 minutes once a month to make 90 gallons.

The big plus is that you get lots of changes with no effort at all, and it can happen many times per day and night.

I understand you may not consider that an advantage, but I certainly do.

 

[Windy]

Well, I have a fish room and that gives me some extra flexibility. I have a hundred gallon sump and about 500 gal of water. When I do my 20 gal water changes every other week, it takes all of 5 minutes and I don't handle any water. But everyone in this hobby seems to have different opinions on the need for automation. Some of the allure of this hobby is that it isn't one way fits all. I could afford to have my tank cared for by a professional, and all I would have to do is check in via my camera once a month, but what is the fun of that?

 

[AquamanE]

Well....Im at 1 year and a few months and have nothing but positive experience with this set up I described. My parameters stay stable, I get my 30% WC done monthly with nothing to do but make sure I have SW in the new SW bin. No buckets, no valves, no hoses etc....

I understand this is not for everyone, but if you have an opportunity to think about it, and have the means to do it....Its a great investment. We spend lots of money to keep our inhabitants in the best possible water quality and lots of money ON the inhabitants so IMHO its worth a THOUGHT.

Ill keep you posted... :wink:

Regards,
Eddie

 

[AquamanE]

Ok... So im well into MORE than a year into AWC. I am still getting ZERO specific gravity shifts. Tank is doing AWESOME. Best thing i ever did for my tank.


Now the CAUTION: Make sure to clean you SW reservoirs. i had not cleaned mine in a few years. My last batches of SW mixes where very cloudy, so i decided to clean the SW Bin. Below is a picture of what i netted out using a typical fish net. That is just 3 passes out of the 20 i did. You can see its at least 4 square inches of debris. Dont make this mistake as we get lazy cause we dont have to do water changes. I now plan on doing it twice per year if not more.

 

[Jackcarp]

Following along!

 

[ThePriceSeliger]

Ok... So im well into MORE than a year into AWC. I am still getting ZERO specific gravity shifts. Tank is doing AWESOME. Best thing i ever did for my tank.

+1

My SG has never shifted, parameters stay in check. The only thing I need to reconsider is my timing of 2-part dosing sometimes coincides with a water change twice a day. I can only assume I'm removing part of the fresh dose occasionally.

 

[AquamanE]

+1My SG has never shifted, parameters stay in check. The only thing I need to reconsider is my timing of 2-part dosing sometimes coincides with a water change twice a day. I can only assume I'm removing part of the fresh dose occasionally.

Easy fix. Change your schedules.

 

[Ian Eisenberg]

How large is the doseing ? I had a similar concern but I dose a little bit every hour so the impact should be minimal.

 

[ReeferEric]

If anyone is interested on a like new Stenner pump, I am putting mine up for sale. Going to get the Apex DOS since I'm a control freak!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/f-s-stenner-pump-100dmp5-automatic-water-change.204330/

 

[tonto95]

Has anyone considered using a pool chlorinator as a system to add salt to water .using a apex system salinity to control a second pump

 

[gettaReef]

Has anyone considered using a pool chlorinator as a system to add salt to water .using a apex system salinity to control a second pump

I haven't heard of this method being used before. Could you post a link to what type of pool chlorinator you are talking about (like one sold on amazon or something)?