New House Plumbing with AWC

[bcarl77]

Hi All, my wife and I are starting to build our house. Given we have a large aquarium 100+ gallons, we both would like to find a way to minimize the buckets. We will be building in Florida and have a concrete slab. We are thinking of asking the builder to run 3 PVC lines from the garage to the tank location which would be a total of 30ft on each with a vertical head pressure of 10ft at most. The idea would be to keep the water change station in the garage, run 1/2in PVC conduit in the slab from the garage to the tank (one for FSW and one for RODI for the ATO). The third line would be a drain that would drain into the sink drain back in the garage. We would use an ecotech versa to perform AWC, the pipes would be within a Washer/Dryer box behind the tank so they can stay out of site. Lastly, we will run a 4th conduit outside for access to fresh air.

Would love to get some input on this. 1) Is that too much distance for the versa? 2) Will I be able to get from the 1/2in PVC down to a smaller size the versa can handle? 3) Anything else that would prevent this from working or other ideas?

 

[lefkonj]

If you are going to run the versa or apex dos for AWC use the PVC as a conduit to run the hose from the dosing pump to the tank. You aren't going to do a 5 gallon change at once but a 5 gallon over the course of a 24 hour period, maybe at 10 minute intervals.

 

[bcarl77]

If you are going to run the versa or apex dos for AWC use the PVC as a conduit to run the hose from the dosing pump to the tank. You aren't going to do a 5 gallon change at once but a 5 gallon over the course of a 24 hour period, maybe at 10 minute intervals.

Right, so the thought is run the conduit from garage to the Washer/Dryer outlet in wall the convert the conduit down to the tubing compatible with Dos/Versa

 

[cvysochin]

I think you're on the right track. Use the conduits more as sleeves. I doubt you will be pumping liquids directly through those conduits. Instead, you'll be pulling 1/4" tubing for the versas, which takes up next to no space. I would however use as few elbows or fittings as possible. A few sweeps and you should be good. I would also upsize from 1/2 pvc if you can. Run multiple 1.5" conduits, as the increase in cost will be minimal but it will make life much easier pulling lines in the future. It will also give you room to grow for the future.. think cat6, additional tubing, usb cable for a future apex or other controller, float sensors, etc, etc.

 

[Ippyroy]

^^What he said. If at possible I would try to have the contractors leave a string from beginning to end in the conduit. When you are ready to run a RO line through, attach it to the string and pull. Always keep some string running through the conduit. It will make live much easier when you need to add something else in it. I'd make the conduit as big as possible personally.

 

[cvysochin]

Yes, agreed. More importantly, if they dont pull a string, just make sure they glue all the conduit fittings. That's critical but luckily pretty common practice. A shop vac with a piece of plastic shopping bag will get you a string pulled in less than 30 seconds. Just learned this recently after having to pull quite a few cables through 100' of 1/2".

 

[Ippyroy]

Yes, agreed. More importantly, if they dont pull a string, just make sure they glue all the conduit fittings. That's critical but luckily pretty common practice. A shop vac with a piece of plastic shopping bag will get you a string pulled in less than 30 seconds. Just learned this recently after having to pull quite a few cables through 100' of 1/2".

Greatest thing I ever learned.

 

[Ippyroy]

I would run 3 RO tubes, 1 inch braided tubing, and an aqua bus cable if you are using an Apex. Every 6 feet or so, ziptie it all together. At the beginning of the bundle, zip tie it and tie the string to it and leave a long tag end. Make as large of a loop as possible. Take a new roll of string, tie a large loop on the end of it. Pass the first loop through the second and then pass the roll through the first loop. This is called a loop to loop connection and we use it in Fly fishing all the time. I would use the 1 inch braided line for filling the tank the first time and for larger water changes. Here is link to long Aquabus cables that work with Apex.

USB - 877.522.3779 - USBFireWire.com

Apex

www.usbfirewire.com

 

[bcarl77]

This is some good ideas here. Can the versa or dos handle that distance and head pressure?

 

[Tastee]

I don’t know about the Versa but the DOS will have no issues with this. The run length isn’t really that relevant, and they are rated for much higher head height than you need. I personally run 3 RO lines and a 24v cable through 1’ conduit 30’ or so from my RODI station to my tank for AWC and ATO.

 

[bcarl77]

I don’t know about the Versa but the DOS will have no issues with this. The run length isn’t really that relevant, and they are rated for much higher head height than you need. I personally run 3 RO lines and a 24v cable through 1’ conduit 30’ or so from my RODI station to my tank for AWC and ATO.

How did you run the lines through the conduit?

 

[bcarl77]

If I didn’t go with a versa or dos could I just attach the pipes to the tank on one end and put a pump in the garage to push/pull water for water changes?

 

[lefkonj]

If I didn’t go with a versa or dos could I just attach the pipes to the tank on one end and put a pump in the garage to push/pull water for water changes?

Theoretically yes you can do this. Want to make sure there is no back pressure or siphon water, the Versa and DOS can help track exactly how much water is being moved around, which for AWC is a major benefit.

 

[bcarl77]

Theoretically yes you can do this. Want to make sure there is no back pressure or siphon water, the Versa and DOS can help track exactly how much water is being moved around, which for AWC is a major benefit.

Completely agree, if I just pipe it to the garage this would not be a AWC type system but something along the lines of independent pumps and values in lieu of buckets.

 

[Tastee]

How did you run the lines through the conduit?

In my case I didn’t glue the conduit together, just fit everything dry. That let me run the lines through one section at a time. I bundled the 4 lines (3 RO + 24v) together and taped around them. After that it was fairly easy to push the bundle through each section of the conduit and I fit the conduit together as I went. I made sure I used the larger diameter 90 degree elbows to make the turns easier. My run was quite straight, elbow out of the RODI station, long run to a second elbow, shorter run straight into the tank.

By not gluing the conduit I can remove and re-do this as needed. In my case the conduit doesn’t need to be waterproof so I’m just using 1” electrical conduit. In your case where you want something more permanent inside walls I would upsize the conduit a little to make it easier to get cables in and out.