Automatic water changes

[vittpsu21]

Alright so I’m venturing down the automatic water change path…I have a decent plan in place but I do have a question for those doing it already. I plan to change 1% per day and probably do something like 15 minute intervals. My question is this, it makes sense to want to drain first (remove 100% bad water) then add. However, how do you circumvent your ato kicking in to help? If I filled first I could avoid this issue completely but then you are removing in theory some good water and some bad water? I could also just be overthinking this but I’d love to hear from those who already do this other approach!

 

[JumboShrimp]

Your question makes sense to me. I've never done automatic water changes, so it will be interesting to hear from someone who has.

 

[Bupharm12]

I have a Neptune Dos that manages my auto water changes and it does the removal and addition at the same time. The new water just gets added to the sump downstream of the water removal line. As long as the pumps are calibrated I don’t think it should cause an issue with the ATO kicking on

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My method drains and adds at the same time, but if yours does not, I’d add then remove upstream of it (if possible).

Any difference from drain them add is very small for a 1% change.

 

[allof fish]

Alright so I’m venturing down the automatic water change path…I have a decent plan in place but I do have a question for those doing it already. I plan to change 1% per day and probably do something like 15 minute intervals. My question is this, it makes sense to want to drain first (remove 100% bad water) then add. However, how do you circumvent your ato kicking in to help? If I filled first I could avoid this issue completely but then you are removing in theory some good water and some bad water? I could also just be overthinking this but I’d love to hear from those who already do this other approach!

If you have an apex just code it to be off when you start your water changes then back on after

 

[vittpsu21]

Ok this seems like the way then, I have a Hydros, I will just remove upstream and add downstream should be good, the increments should be so small at 100-125ml or something that I probably don't think I should run into anything

I also imagine I could try at the same time, don't know why but that never occurred to me lol

 

[13rodo]

Alright so I’m venturing down the automatic water change path…I have a decent plan in place but I do have a question for those doing it already. I plan to change 1% per day and probably do something like 15 minute intervals. My question is this, it makes sense to want to drain first (remove 100% bad water) then add. However, how do you circumvent your ato kicking in to help? If I filled first I could avoid this issue completely but then you are removing in theory some good water and some bad water? I could also just be overthinking this but I’d love to hear from those who already do this other approach!

If you drain first then you need to disable the ATO until the refill is done. You can do both at the same time too if the refill is downstream of the drain.

 

[LeftyReefer]

another option would be to simply disable the ATO while the water changes are occurring.
if you know when the water change will happen (timed event?) just disable the ATO during that time.
could be done with a simple smart plug if nothing else.

if your water change is set to happen daily at a set time, just set the smart plug to turn off the ATO long enough for the water change to take place.

 

[The Ugly Phase]

iv done 1% water changes for 1 year found out my nitrate was 260ppm (didnt test cause i didnt have coral) for the past 7 days iv been doing a 10% water change every day (max water change i can do) and i now have them down to 130ppm i still have another 23 10% water changes to do every day i would stick to doing weekly water changes if i was you

 

[BriDroid]

I do daily 1% AWC and I let the Hydros canned AWC setting do it. It will disable the ATO, drain until the low level sensor shows dry (or with no sensor, a timer), then fill until the ATO sensor shows wet. It’s super simple to setup.