Mixing station to DT auto water change possible?

[CincyReefer07]

Hey guys, I’m extremely new to tanks with sumps and saltwater mixing stations. I’ve only had a 29g mixed reef tank and my current 75g mixed reef tank that has only ever had hob equipment. But now I’m in the process of getting my equipment bought and set up for my new drilled 310 gallon tank that is being built. I bought an IceCap 48XL sump for it which will be on the other side of the wall where the main DT will be. In the room with the sump will also be a pair of 65 gallon vertical water storage containers to build my saltwater mixing station.
I want this tank to be as well done and thought out as possible even though I’m new to Sumps, new to mixing stations, and new to tanks of this size. I’d love to automate as much as I can to make maintenance a little less and a little easier if possible.

Is there a way to build, set up or buy an auto water change system that takes water straight from my 65 gallon saltwater container to either my DT or sump? There is a floor drain in the room with the sump and water containers so I figured i could run pvc pipe or hose tubing straight to the floor drain for the water that is drained out. I was thinking along the lines of a 4 to 5 gallon water change daily instead of larger water changes every weekend or every other weekend. The distance to either sump or DT tank is 25’ give or take a couple feet depending on how it’s routed with a few 90s in the run. Is this at all possible, has anyone done something like this? And if so how?
Would love to figure this out before I start plumbing my mixing station all together. I also want to have my mixing station plumbed so that I can also have it fill up buckets of fresh water or saltwater from either of the containers as I have another tank upstairs that I have to do the old school way of lugging buckets up for.
Thanks for any and all help!!

 

[MGarrison]

There are many different routes you can take.
Are you going to purchase a controller? If Yes, which one?
If no there is this option.
AutoAqua Smart AWC Duo - Auto Water Changer + ATO
Or
Kamoer X2SR Water Change System

 

[CincyReefer07]

There are many different routes you can take.
Are you going to purchase a controller? If Yes, which one?
If no there is this option.
AutoAqua Smart AWC Duo - Auto Water Changer + ATO
Or
Kamoer X2SR Water Change System

Was considering buying an apex. That’s the only thing I know somewhat about just based on the fact that I’ve read more about it than any other controllers. Because I’d like to also monitor my salinity, temp, ph, Alk, cal, and Mag, or for that matter to be able to monitor as much as I can without always having to break out the test kits on a regular basis

 

[MGarrison]

With Apex you could use the DOS to do water changes.

I am biased, I used to have an Apex but I have switch over to Hydros on my new build. I would suggest you check out Hydros, it doesn't do Salinity yet. Alk can be done via Alkatronic (24x per day). Calcium, Alk(limited to once per day) and Mag via Mastertronic. Mastertronic can also do Nitrates, Nitrites, phosphates, iodine and OLI (organic level in the water, basically how clear your water is).

There are a lot of options and opinions out there. I would suggest you do as much research as you can, ask as many questions as you need and choose the right equipment and set up that you will be happy with and enjoy the entire process. I have rushed on may builds and was never happy at the end and probably spent way more time and money buying new equipment or reconfiguring my setup.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

There are many roads to that airport, some require a controller, and there are many that will work without a controller as stand alone units. Neptune makes a dosing pump that's often used but it also requires their controller. There are several stand alone dosing pumps that may handle it as well but your daily water change volume needs to be considered. Your tank size should be ok for that if you're only doing a 20-30% overall weekly change. Spectrapure makes the litermeter which is a stand alone unit pretty much made for this, but it's rather spendy. You can piece together your own system if you're handy enough with or without a controller and kamoer makes a stand alone water change system as well that's reasonably priced.

 

[CincyReefer07]

There are many roads to that airport, some require a controller, and there are many that will work without a controller as stand alone units. Neptune massage a dosing pump that's often used but it also requires their controller. There are several stand alone dosing pumps that may handle it as well but your daily water change volume needs to be considered. Your tank size should be ok for that if you're only doing a 20-30% overall weekly change. Spectator makes the litermeter which is a stand alone unit pretty much made for this, but it's rather spendy. You can piece together your own system if you're handy enough with or without a controller and kamoer makes a stand alone water change system as well that's reasonably priced.

Ive considered Neptune for the whole aquarium monitoring and what not, but haven’t ruled out the hydros either when it comes to aquarium controllers, I just don’t know much about the hydros. I’m not even that knowledgeable on the Neptune system other than the bit I have read on it and what I’ve seen others say about it. But that’s the first I’ve heard of the spectrapure litermeter. I’ll have to look into that more. The brief Google search I just did has me curious about it.
But for the most part yes, I’m only looking to for something that can be programmed to automatically at a certain time of day do a 4-5 gallon water change daily instead of doing larger water changes every week or every 2 weeks.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Ive considered Neptune for the whole aquarium monitoring and what not, but haven’t ruled out the hydros either when it comes to aquarium controllers, I just don’t know much about the hydros. I’m not even that knowledgeable on the Neptune system other than the bit I have read on it and what I’ve seen others say about it. But that’s the first I’ve heard of the spectrapure litermeter. I’ll have to look into that more. The brief Google search I just did has me curious about it.
But for the most part yes, I’m only looking to for something that can be programmed to automatically at a certain time of day do a 4-5 gallon water change daily instead of doing larger water changes every week or every 2 weeks.

Yep, spectrapure is a good company, they actually have are an industry leader in water filtration (rodi) and have a solid line of water control equipment. I use some of it for auto top off of my ato and mixing station etc... The only downside of the liter meter is the cost but it's super reliable and can move a lot of water fast and over large distances and heights. Dosing pumps are good options as the setups are typically straight forward and they are stand alone with the exception of the Neptune one. I think ghl puts out stand alone dosers as well.