AWC?

tatties · Jan 14, 2019

so i was about to pull the trigger on grabbing a neptune DOS to do my AWC. then read that it really beats up the dos and some have just use 2 PMUP from neptune to do it so as not to break their expensive DOS.

what are your thoughts?

I would like to just do 5-10g water changes every week. would i just put a PMUP on the drain side of the sump to grab dirty water and move to a 5g bucket, and then another PMUP into my return side of sump to add new SW from my other 5g bucket and press go?

how do you all do it?

thanks

SuncrestReef · Jan 14, 2019

My DOS has been doing 1.5 gallons per day auto water changes for 10 months straight with no problems. On the other hand, I've gone through 4 PMUPs that have seized up just pumping ATO and running my refugium. I have way more confidence in the DOS than the PMUPs.

tatties · Jan 14, 2019

SuncrestReef said:
My DOS has been doing 1.5 gallons per day auto water changes for 10 months straight with no problems. On the other hand, I've gone through 4 PMUPs that have seized up just pumping ATO and running my refugium. I have way more confidence in the DOS than the PMUPs.

very good to know. would i need two dos's then? 1 for my dosing, and one for my awc? i havent received them yet...

or would i just pull the airlines and put them in their respective areas in sump? wouldnt i need to prime them to dose then tho?

SuncrestReef · Jan 14, 2019

tatties said:
very good to know. would i need two dos's then? 1 for my dosing, and one for my awc? i havent received them yet...

or would i just pull the airlines and put them in their respective areas in sump? wouldnt i need to prime them to dose then tho?

I use separate DOS units for AWC and dosing. It's not practical to move the tubing and reprogram the DOS to use a single unit for both purposes.

tatties · Jan 14, 2019

SuncrestReef said:
I use separate DOS units for AWC and dosing. It's not practical to move the tubing and reprogram the DOS to use a single unit for both purposes.

i guess that comes down to is that $300 worth it. man this hobby...

lbacha · Jan 14, 2019

I’m using BRS 50 ml/min pumps for my AWC. The third one in the picture is for adding RODI back to my ato container (I use a tunze to actually perform the top off)

I am torn though as I have two DOS’s and I’m considering using one for AWC and then use BRS dosers for my nutrient dosing (I have a pair of 1.1 ml/min as well)

lbacha · Jan 14, 2019

This was a duplicate

tatties · Jan 14, 2019

lbacha said:
I’m using BRS 50 ml/min pumps for my AWC. The third one in the picture is for adding RODI back to my ato container (I use a tunze to actually perform the top off)

I am torn though as I have two DOS’s and I’m considering using one for AWC and then use BRS dosers for my nutrient dosing (I have a pair of 1.1 ml/min as well)

why do you have two dos? what are they being used for now?

how long have you had those 50ml/min brs dosers going for? any issues?

SuncrestReef · Jan 14, 2019

tatties said:
i guess that comes down to is that $300 worth it. man this hobby...

For me, I like having everything controlled by one platform. You can definitely get by with cheaper options, but if you want to do any programming changes or have different components coordinated with each other, it's more difficult if they are not all controlled by the same system. I chose to go the Apex route and have 100% of my aquarium components controlled by the Apex, so that's the only place I need to go to check status or make changes.

tatties · Jan 14, 2019

SuncrestReef said:
For me, I like having everything controlled by one platform. You can definitely get by with cheaper options, but if you want to do any programming changes or have different components coordinated with each other, it's more difficult if they are not all controlled by the same system. I chose to go the Apex route and have 100% of my aquarium components controlled by the Apex, so that's the only place I need to go to check status or make changes.

that makes perfect sense. i will be there too....just have a tunze ATO instead of the neptune ATK.

lbacha · Jan 14, 2019

tatties said:
why do you have two dos? what are they being used for now?

how long have you had those 50ml/min brs dosers going for? any issues?

The 4 heads on the 2 DOS’s are for Alkalinity 2 part, Calcium 2 part, KNO3 (nitrate) and KH4PO3 (phosphate)

The BRS dosers only run for an hr or so a day. They have done water changes for about 6 months but I got them used so I’m sure they had more time than that on them

SuncrestReef said:
For me, I like having everything controlled by one platform. You can definitely get by with cheaper options, but if you want to do any programming changes or have different components coordinated with each other, it's more difficult if they are not all controlled by the same system. I chose to go the Apex route and have 100% of my aquarium components controlled by the Apex, so that's the only place I need to go to check status or make changes.

If you look above the BRS dosers in my pic you will see a Neptune EB4 that runs them so I get the Benefit of having them tied in with everything else

dantimdad · Jan 14, 2019

I was told by BRS that those dosers wouldn't put up with an AWC.

I am glad to know they will. If what I am working on doesn't work out, I may go that way.

FLSharkvictim · Jan 14, 2019

tatties said:
so i was about to pull the trigger on grabbing a neptune DOS to do my AWC. then read that it really beats up the dos and some have just use 2 PMUP from neptune to do it so as not to break their expensive DOS.

what are your thoughts?

I would like to just do 5-10g water changes every week. would i just put a PMUP on the drain side of the sump to grab dirty water and move to a 5g bucket, and then another PMUP into my return side of sump to add new SW from my other 5g bucket and press go?

how do you all do it?

thanks

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@tatties - I use GHL 's @MaxiSA dosing pump thats (Blk) for my Automatic water changes since i have it connected to my saltwater mixing station:
I use the BRS dosing pump 1.1ML PER MIN for my KALK Reactor and they do work great no questions ask but this dosing pump is probably one of the better stepper motor pumps you're going to find out there. Whats awesome about this dosing pump for AWC's. The MaxiSA dosing pump is suitable for moving approximately 16,000 Liters (4,226 gal) of water.

My Saltwater Mixing station I have my Dosing pump connected to for Continuously large water changes

50 gallon Mixing station / a 6 stage RODI w/ a dual membrane and a booster pump.

dantimdad · Jan 14, 2019

Quick question: What %/day does everyone run their AWC?

lbacha · Jan 14, 2019

dantimdad said:
I was told by BRS that those dosers wouldn't put up with an AWC.

I am glad to know they will. If what I am working on doesn't work out, I may go that way.

My system is small so I don’t change a lot of water. Those pumps are less than a gallon an hr (3 liters to be exact) so if you need to move a lot of water there are better options.

ca1ore · Jan 14, 2019

I change 50 gallons every two weeks with my DoS - running fine for almost a year now. I will need to replace the heads at some point though.

FLSharkvictim · Jan 14, 2019

I have and SCA 150 currently being installed but when I ran my 120 mixed reef I pulled out around 3,577ml per day which equals a little less then a gallon!
All depends on how bid your tank is @dantimdad

d0m1n4t3 · Jan 14, 2019

I am using 2 PMUP's for water changes. I'm doing pretty infrequent changes, so i don't mind keeping an eye on it while running, but i haven't had any real issues with it so far. In my configuration, my drain goes faster than fill (less head pressure, i guess), so i have the apex programs set to run the drain less time than the fill, and i defer the drain a couple minutes so it doesn't run the sump level too low.