Params for SPS?

[Fishinwall]

my house is above a gravel crawlspace, i was thinking it would be nice if i could run coils on the gravel which probably stays in the 50-60s, then somehow run the coils under my sump (which right now sits about 3" above the floor). somehow i would need a relay that would power a pump and circulate the water in the tube in a closed system...triggered by a rise in temp.

 

[Russ265]

my house is above a gravel crawlspace, i was thinking it would be nice if i could run coils on the gravel which probably stays in the 50-60s, then somehow run the coils under my sump (which right now sits about 3" above the floor). somehow i would need a relay that would power a pump and circulate the water in the tube in a closed system...triggered by a rise in temp.

i heard people doing the same with a coiled garden hose and a mini fridge.

JS!

 

[twilliard]

You can do that with a 120v relay running off a true temp controller. You would have to insulate the temp probe against your tubing to get the best temp readings.
Then set up the true temp controller for your desired temp going to a 120v solenoid inline of the tubing.

 

[Fishinwall]

So could you have the true temp turn the solenoid on when the temp hit 81 degrees in the tank?

 

[twilliard]

Sure can!

 

[Fishinwall]

I don't get how you get it to turn something on when the temp is too hot when it is designed to turn a heater on when the temp gets too cold.

 

[twilliard]

I will try to explain this the best I can. A little background of me first :)
I am a retired enery control specialist and 20 years of electrical controls.
Ok so you are correct that it turn on on low temp and off at the setpoint.
If you use a SPDT relay in this you can reverse its action through a 120v relay.
To cool when it reaches the high limit setpoint the relay will open on the normally closed contacts which will turn on a solenoid (the contacts need a constant 12, 24 or 120v depending on the solenoid used)
When low setpoint is reached it will reactivate the 120v relay and the NC contact will open.
Basically using a 120v relay to reverse its action.

 

[Fishinwall]

ok thanks perhaps with some help from my neighbor we can figure it out from here . good stuff

 

[Russ265]

...or just use a mini ball-valve and manually dial it in. lol

 

[Fishinwall]

I will try to explain this the best I can. A little background of me first :)
I am a retired enery control specialist and 20 years of electrical controls.
Ok so you are correct that it turn on on low temp and off at the setpoint.
If you use a SPDT relay in this you can reverse its action through a 120v relay.
To cool when it reaches the high limit setpoint the relay will open on the normally closed contacts which will turn on a solenoid (the contacts need a constant 12, 24 or 120v depending on the solenoid used)
When low setpoint is reached it will reactivate the 120v relay and the NC contact will open.
Basically using a 120v relay to reverse its action.

given that heat rises and cold falls, do you think it would still work well if i were to push the coil tubing up against the bottom of my glass sump and perhaps push it up to it with some insulation board? i suppose the other thnig i could do is run it across the back side of the sump.

 

[twilliard]

Boy I just don't think you will have enough cooling going underneath you will loose a lot before the transfer through the glass.
Best bet is a titanium coil in the water.
K value through glass would have to be calculated

 

[pciscott]

I have a friend with a large outdoor system, he uses a closed loop of Rodi to a standard water heater. He has a coil of thin pex tube in his sump that runs on this closed loop as the heat exchanger. His thermostat is hooked to a eheim pump and this circulates water through the system when it needs heat. This cut his electric bill in half and he was able to take 3000 watts of heaters out of the system. I do not think the cool ground would have enough change to make this work for cooling, but if it does work out shoot me a pm. I have 1.3 HP of chillers I would like to run less.

My sweet spot for parameters on my SPS system

Alk 8.4 on red sea, I adjust dose up when it gets to 7, and never let go over 9.
CA 430 to 450 red sea, anywhere over 400 is good.
Mag 1500 to 1600, will make your coraline grow faster to out compete other algae. I have run my mag this high for years.
Phosphate .05 to .08, but I have good color now at .18 and have been waiting to see I'll effect before I add GFO. This is on the old large Hana meter.
Nitrate 5 to 10, but have had as high as 25 with no problems. Salifert.

I used to run zero or near zero p04 and nitrate and never had color or health I have now.

Stability is key and I try to never have more than 2 degree temp swing. In the summer 78.5 to 81, in the winter 75 to 77.5.

I also do 25 gallons of IO in my 125 gallon system and 80 to 90 in my 600 every Wednesday for water changes.

When I get a healthy SPS in from online seller I test there parameters and I have seen some with much higher nitrate and P04 than I am comfortable running so it is a good idea to compare others with success water because sometimes our tests can be a little different because we are not running a lab.

A quick way to figure your dose out is to dose a safe amount of alk in your system after testing, so let's say you come up with 7 in your 67 gallon system? I would feel safe dosing 30 mills and retest in 1 hour. So let's say you went from 7 to 7.5, this means that 30 mils equals .5 dkh in your system. Now wait 24 hours and do same test without dosing. Let's say you come up with 7.2. This means your tank consumed .3 of alk in a day. Now you can cross multiply and divide to come up with dailey dose. 30 x .3 ÷ .5 = 18. This is a starting point and your other parameters do play into the balance.

Anyway if you do want growth you will need to elevate your parameters a little, when your coraline algae is rocking this let's you know you are on the right path.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

my house is above a gravel crawlspace, i was thinking it would be nice if i could run coils on the gravel which probably stays in the 50-60s, then somehow run the coils under my sump (which right now sits about 3" above the floor). somehow i would need a relay that would power a pump and circulate the water in the tube in a closed system...triggered by a rise in temp.

A friend of mine did that, but found the buried tubing was too long and narrow and caused too much back pressure, leading to heating of the water from the pumping.

 

[Fishinwall]

A friend of mine did that, but found the buried tubing was too long and narrow and caused too much back pressure, leading to heating of the water from the pumping.

interesting. wonder what his uplift was too. mine would probably be about 5-6 ft max

 

[Fishinwall]

Got a mg test kit today
Using full resolution methods: all Salifert
Mg 1480
Alk 7.7
Cal 410

Too bad my corals don't like it.
Still need to get Alk up though.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

interesting. wonder what his uplift was too. mine would probably be about 5-6 ft max

He had no net gravity effect.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Got a mg test kit today
Using full resolution methods: all Salifert
Mg 1480
Alk 7.7
Cal 410

Too bad my corals don't like it.
Still need to get Alk up though.

Alk at 7.7 dKH should be fine. If the corals continue to have issues going forward, it isn't from low dKH.

 

[Fishinwall]

Alk at 7.7 dKH should be fine. If the corals continue to have issues going forward, it isn't from low dKH.

But could they still be hurting from that alk drop?

My acans are dying, my hammer head, and even some of my zoas aren't opening even though other zoas look good. Maybe I'm expecting too much at the 10 month mark. My BTA and torch coral look great.

 

[reef jacob]

Ok Yes - I believe I saw what you were dosing with on another post I started about dosers. I think I need to go with a doser that is more mainstream so that it can be easily programmed etc for aquarium use and I can go to them for support. I like the Kore 5, I just hope that the support on R2R sponsor thread will be enough.

You should get a bubble magus doser i love it and man it works awesome!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

But could they still be hurting from that alk drop?

My acans are dying, my hammer head, and even some of my zoas aren't opening even though other zoas look good. Maybe I'm expecting too much at the 10 month mark. My BTA and torch coral look great.

Sorry, what alk drop?