Automatic water changes.

[Notsolostfish]

I have a few question regarding the AWC. My system is 150G. If i do 1% a day would i be good in terms of traces? Also for the Neptune DOS, do i need high and low sensors in the sump like hydros? Thank you.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not assume any water change system necessarily adds enough trace elements for all organisms, but there's a lot of grey areas here. It certainly will not keep rapidly depleting ones at the same levels in a salt mix. Note that foods may be a bigger source of trace elements than are water changes, but folks ignore that.

I changed 1% daily, and still believed that dosing iron and silicate was useful. Manganese may also be useful.

IMO, the best way to know for a given tank is to try dosing and see. A mix such as Tropic Marin A and K seems a good place to start.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

These may be helpful:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randys-elements-to-dose.952/
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randys-thoughts-on-trace-elements.951/

 

[deutchriffer]

Sorry to hijack but, just wondering a very similar question, I’m not usually one to do water changes just dose and manage waste through filtration, I’ve had success but on my new set up I want to try a continuous water change of 1% per day, wondering how beneficial this would be? Because I don’t understand the science around 1% per day isn’t necessarily giving me 1% new water daily because of the whole dilution factor.

Just looking for a short answer of if 1% per day would be more beneficial than not, and/or if it’s even worth the effort

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just looking for a short answer of if 1% per day would be more beneficial than not, and/or if it’s even worth the effort

I think so and did 1% changes for many years. :)

 

[Nextlevelreefer]

I have a few question regarding the AWC. My system is 150G. If i do 1% a day would i be good in terms of traces? Also for the Neptune DOS, do i need high and low sensors in the sump like hydros? Thank you

General rule is 10% every 7 days (1 week) 150 gallon equates to approximately 15 gallons a week so you should be changing closer towards 2 gallons unless you're lightly stocked. this should help alot with nutrient reduction.

 

[Dburr1014]

I have a few question regarding the AWC. My system is 150G. If i do 1% a day would i be good in terms of traces? Also for the Neptune DOS, do i need high and low sensors in the sump like hydros? Thank you.

You do not need sensors if you are using the dos. They will need to be calibrated periodically.

 

[Notsolostfish]

You do not need sensors if you are using the dos. They will need to be calibrated periodically.

The sensors?

 

[Dburr1014]

Also for the Neptune DOS, do i need high and low sensors in the sump like hydros?

That was your question right?

The dos relies on calibration of the pumps Periodically. Not sensors.

 

[Notsolostfish]

That was your question right?

The dos relies on calibration of the pumps Periodically. Not sensors.

Yes, but i want to add the sensors so it doesnt rely on the pumps wouldd that work?

 

[deutchriffer]

you could have sensors in both your reservoir and your sump.

However in your reservoir it will only be to tell you when you need to replenish/mix new water because it’s low, or to tell you that the reservoir is full after you refill it and then tell you to ad salt.

Your high and low in the sump will only be to tell you if something catastrophic has gone wrong to say you added too much or dumped too much.

I’ve done something similar with mine

I have a virtual outlet to trigger an alarm when the water is low.

Then I can manually run the refill so that I can add salt at the same time, it then automatically will turn off once the RO has filled the AWC reservoir notifying me to add salt and hit refill container on the Ecotech Versa Dosers

If only automating adding salt to the reservoir was more advanced then I wouldn’t have a to lift a finger

 

[Notsolostfish]

you could have sensors in both your reservoir and your sump.

However in your reservoir it will only be to tell you when you need to replenish/mix new water because it’s low, or to tell you that the reservoir is full after you refill it and then tell you to ad salt.

Your high and low in the sump will only be to tell you if something catastrophic has gone wrong to say you added too much or dumped too much.

I’ve done something similar with mine

I have a virtual outlet to trigger an alarm when the water is low.

Then I can manually run the refill so that I can add salt at the same time, it then automatically will turn off once the RO has filled the AWC reservoir notifying me to add salt and hit refill container on the Ecotech Versa Dosers

If only automating adding salt to the reservoir was more advanced then I wouldn’t have a to lift a finger

What i wanted was rely completely on the sensors in the sump, and forget about calibration the dos.

 

[Dburr1014]

What i wanted was rely completely on the sensors in the sump, and forget about calibration the dos.

I think that's a bad idea. If they don't open close the same everytime, the sg can/will get skewed.

The dos is easy to calibrate and stays calibrated pretty well. Why reinvent the wheel?

 

[areefer01]

What i wanted was rely completely on the sensors in the sump, and forget about calibration the dos.

That isn't wise as already mentioned. Calibration isn't difficult and rather easy. I would, however, suggest picking up a pair of spare dosing heads for the DOS doing the AWC. Always a good idea to have them on hand in case of an emergency.

A good read on the DOS and AWC:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dos-awc-manual-and-auto.799990/post-8754207

 

[Notsolostfish]

I think that's a bad idea. If they don't open close the same everytime, the sg can/will get skewed.

The dos is easy to calibrate and stays calibrated pretty well. Why reinvent the wheel?

Because i hesrd calibrating it for awc is pretty hard and complicated

 

[Notsolostfish]

That isn't wise as already mentioned. Calibration isn't difficult and rather easy. I would, however, suggest picking up a pair of spare dosing heads for the DOS doing the AWC. Always a good idea to have them on hand in case of an emergency.

A good read on the DOS and AWC:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dos-awc-manual-and-auto.799990/post-8754207

Can i set the dos to do manual instead of auto awc? Like i want to initate the awc myself

 

[areefer01]

Can i set the dos to do manual instead of auto awc? Like i want to initate the awc myself

I have not set it up this way but you can, yes. You would use a virtual outlet, set to the off position, then switch it to AUTO position to let the program run.

I think SuncrestReef talks about it in the post below. You will want to follow his DOS Manual Water Change steps. It is the same link I posted above but just in case I messed it up here it is again.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dos-awc-manual-and-auto.799990/post-8754207

 

[Reef Hub]

Hydros and GHL both do AWC with high and low sensors. I ran Apex AWC for years before i switched and when i ran it the Apex way (by calibrating the DOSing heads) my salinity always skewed by .001 +/- over a few months. This was due to how the pump head calibrated. When you calibrated for 1 pump head it is done for 1 minute and you input the results. The calibration happens at a slower speed where as AWC with Apex will increase the speeds of the pump heads depending upon how fast the dose head needs to work and given how much water needs to be changed given that interval.


Ever since doing AWC with both GHL and Hydros and being they require High/Low Sensors, my salinity has never shifted. Hydros and GHL also incorporate other fail safes like max on time to stop an AWC in the event a sensor fails in the false state (closed/on state). Calibrating Dose heads and running it that way, IMO, is not a good idea because it is alot easier to pull water from the aquarium (gravity helps here) where as refilling is pushing the water to the tank (and working against gravity). This is assuming your AWC is setup like mine. My tank is on the first floor and my Reserviors are in the basement. It would be the other way around if you put your Reservoirs in an attic or upstairs.


Feel free to test it out either way, but I will keep running AWC with High/Low sensors after doing it on all 3 different controllers.

 

[rishma]

Can i set the dos to do manual instead of auto awc? Like i want to initate the awc myself

Yes, I did it this way on past tank….

Nevermind @areefer01 beat me to it.

 

[areefer01]

Hydros and GHL both do AWC with high and low sensors. I ran Apex AWC for years before i switched and when i ran it the Apex way (by calibrating the DOSing heads) my salinity always skewed by .001 +/- over a few months. This was due to how the pump head calibrated. When you calibrated for 1 pump head it is done for 1 minute and you input the results. The calibration happens at a slower speed where as AWC with Apex will increase the speeds of the pump heads depending upon how fast the dose head needs to work and given how much water needs to be changed given that interval.

I always recommend people to do a quick test after calibration. It is easy enough to do.