where should i place my LM3?

surfn · Mar 5, 2008

i'm not sure where to place my LM3.

my tank and my freshwater topoff resevoir are across the room from eachother. probably about 25feet of tubing needed to get to the tank from the resevior.

should i place the LM3 near the resevoir, and "push" the liquid to the tank?

OR

should i place the LM3 near the tank, and "suck" the liquid over to the tank?

i'm kinda leaning towards option #1....b/c if i go with option #2...i'm basically creating a siphon...and if i ever disconnect the LM3 from the tubing for maintenance i could create a mess.

twon8 · Mar 5, 2008

just stick a ball valve on the tubing at teh lm3

iirc they can push more than they can pull

Russellaqua · Mar 5, 2008

I would definitely have it push the water over. Just make sure that water can't siphon back through the hose you use. I find it's generally easier for them to "push" water rather than try and "pull" it.

surfn · Mar 5, 2008

twon8 said:
just stick a ball valve on the tubing at teh lm3

iirc they can push more than they can pull

if i went with pulling the liquid, and used a ball valve w/ the 1/4" quick connects, i think it would loose suction as the quick connects aren't air tight. (not sure why i know this, but i think i tried to use them before on my current 2-part setup)

Russellaqua said:
I would definitely have it push the water over. Just make sure that water can't siphon back through the hose you use. I find it's generally easier for them to "push" water rather than try and "pull" it.

yeah, i will probably relocated the LM3 now that i'm thinking about it more so it will push the water over to the sump. the out put will not be submerged under water, so theres no way it can back siphon.

twon8 · Mar 5, 2008

i've found them to be airtight, never had one leak unless it had broken (full turn possible)

surfn · Mar 5, 2008

got it set up, works fine pushing it across the room. everything looks good, now i just gota watch my alk levels and figure out how much kalk powder i need to add. i already pre-mixed 1tsp/gallon...so we'll see how that goes.

twon8 · Mar 5, 2008

i just got chris' litermeter in the mail today, great deal, ive got to hook it up tonight

surfn · Mar 5, 2008

twon8 said:
i just got chris' litermeter in the mail today, great deal, ive got to hook it up tonight

who? and how much?

scratch the 1tsp/gallon. randy holmes figured out that since i was using 0.05L/day of 2-part solution, that i would need roughly 2.3L/day of saturated kalk.

since my evaporation is around 2.84L/day......i went ahead and put in some more kalk to make the top off solution a solid 2tsp/gallon

J. Montgomery · Mar 5, 2008

I'd imagine that the lady of the house would prefer that you put the top off reservoir in clear view on the opposite side of the living room from the tank. Then place the LM3 on the floor in between the two. Run water lines and power cords straight across the carpet.

surfn · Mar 5, 2008

J. Montgomery said:
I'd imagine that the lady of the house would prefer that you put the top off reservoir in clear view on the opposite side of the living room from the tank. Then place the LM3 on the floor in between the two. Run water lines and power cords straight across the carpet.

what i set up looks pretty good. i ran the 1/4" poly tubing through some 1/2" PVC (kinda like an electrical conduit). looks pretty good IMO. i didn't get the stare or rolling of the eyes while i was setting it up tonight.