Kessil

So how do you do your top off?

S

sfsuphysics

Supporting Member
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I've been thinking about automating this part of my system as well.

As it stands I do my top off every couple/few days, which I thought I had an ingenious setup where I'd have a pump in my can o' water had some piping with some adapters and I sacrificed one of those curled plastic hoses (hey it's compact!) only to find out the water moves like crap through it... maybe on the order of 10 gallons an hour (rough estimate) guess that constant turning through a small radius hose really does bring the volume down.

Now I've heard people mixing in kalk with the top offs as well, which seems like a neat thing to do, however how much kalk do you add? I'm fairly sure if I add 2-3 gallons of kalk throughout the day to my tank I'm going to raise the pH quite significantly, however I'm unsure at what rate my tank can stabilize.

I've heard others also add it at night which seems like a better idea, however I'd need to tie that in with a controller or something so that the float switch will only "work" at night. But I need to know how to get water into the tank... so I did some testing

phvr5.jpg

So here's the past few days of my pH, it starts dropping very shortly after the halides shut off (other lights are still on) but I think there's some delay between lights off and pH dropping (interesting coral behavior is definitely going on :D)... the last part of the graph there are 2 smaller spikes (I basically added about two cups of concentrated kalkwasser solution just to see what it'd do to the pH.. then the big monster spike, I did a larger hose (basically one you'd hook to a pump) and for less than a minute the pH majorly spiked (which I'm not that worried about due to the proximity of the pH probe however the time it took it to drop off did worry me a tad), and finally another spike this morning when I added more water to the solution (to try and dilute it a bit) and another 2 cups... but a similar spike, which I don't think is a big deal since it's more of a proximity to probe location thing as it very quickly went back to the "norm".

So large pump is definitely out, besides if I use a float switch I don't want the damn thing turning off and on throughout the night. I was thinking of a peristaltic pump or an aqualifter, however I realize there's going to be regular maintenance with them as the hose gets globbed up.

So any thoughts? Should I even not worry about the pH swings? (8.05 to 8.2 throughout a day isn't that bad is it?) I'm really worried about kalk and the reef tank since it very easily could get out of control... I guess if anything with a controller I can simply have an "off" override setting if the pH does get too high though
 
I use my peristaltic to push RODI through my kalk reactor thus eliminating any muck-up of the pump. I break the end of crusties off every few months but other then that it's plug and play until the tubing gets worn out (every two years with what I use). Had I used a 1/2" out on the reactor it would never need crusty removal (like Rich).
 
I have a 5g jug that contains a saturated solution of Ca(OH)2. I use it with an aqualifter and an ATO float. The ATO is set up on a timer to turn on at max 15 minutes every hour.
 
I have a 45 gallon tank, auto filled by a ro/di. Then I use a litermeter III and dose 3 gallon a day into my tank.

I use to dose it into my Kalk reactor, but my calcium level get to high. So I took it off line.
 
See I was a tad worried about calcium, although I'm sure I can simply cut back on my two part to compensate.

And I'll need more than a 5g jug, otherwise I'd have to fill it every other day :D
 
I use an ATO and Kalkwasser in RO/DI. When I first set it up, I used saturated Kalkwasser and it never took my pH up over 8.2. When it goes in slowly on an ATO (my pump is about 3.5 g/hr) you will not get the rapid spike from a bolus of a large amount of limewater. When my alkalinity got to where I wanted it, I changed the amount of Kalk in my top off water. Right now I am adding just a small amount (1/2 tsp) to five gallons and I will adjust based on what my Alkalinity readings are doing. I don't have much in my tank right now, so its needs are very small. I will keep watching calcium too, but Kalk is a ballanced replacement like 2 part.

My ATO is set up for one sensor to control the level and one sensor as a back up if the first were to malfunction. I hope to god that the second doesn't malfunction the same time the first one may. The ATO I use has had good reviews.
 
Same as Gresh. But using with some lab-type slow pulsing pump and a 20 gal reservoir. Aquacontroller turns on ATO for 12 min every hour.
 
2 gallon bucket with a float valve (I switch to a 5 when I leave for a couple of days), the bucket gets topped off every couple of days when I do my testing.
 
[quote author=sid700 link=topic=5760.msg72237#msg72237 date=1230797033]
Same as Gresh. But using with some lab-type slow pulsing pump and a 20 gal reservoir. Aquacontroller turns on ATO for 12 min every hour.
[/quote]

Diaphragm pump? Piston Pump?
 
Ditto, same as Gresh.

5 gallon jug -> Crappy medical pump -> Monster DIY kalkmixer -> Tank

The crappy medical pump runs all day at 100 ml/hour (2.4 litres per day roughly half a gallon?). So I guess at evaporation rate. The 100ml/hour is slow enough that I can adjust it in small increments if my evaporation rate changes. It's sort of automatic, but not really, since it's not reacting to low water, it's just dumping in a constant rate. I'm sure the tank also evaps more i the day with the lights on, but generally I can slow evaporation changes to a point where it's not a problem.

What I've been thinking of Mike, since that thread about the peristaltic pumps running on DC is this...
Replace the CMP with the DC peri-pump, but use a float switch between the AC/DC wallwart and the peri-pump.
Maybe use a timer on the AC/DC wall wart so the system only works at night.

Since the Peri-pump is hard to control except via voltage and tubing size, the float valve can control the total amount added to the tank. Since the float valve I have is rated for some small DC voltage, it's perfect to use on a DC source (the wallwart) ... so I don't have to use a relay to control an AC supplied pump.

If I were rich, I'd get the LiterMeter III and the matching ATO system to pump RO into my kalkmixer, but I'm not so this is what I do.

V
 
5g bucket with ATO and a float switch hooked to my RO/DI unit so I don't have to worry about refilling when I am gone for a few days.
 
Vince: I was thinking the same thing, well first I thought 5 gallon jug... then realize I lose 2-3 gallons a day (estimate) didn't want to fill that jug up every other day, I might as well just manually top off!

However when I do get around to it, a nice brute full of RO/DI water is nicer, I thought about hooking it to a float switch where the plug is on a timer, so that any wear and tear on the floatswitch & pump stays minimized. Don't know if I'd hook it to an kalk supply though, need to read up more on how they're supposed to work.
 
Thats why I went with the 20g Long. It's short enough to fit where I need it and large enough to hold top off water to last about a week. Will refill each weekend. Got for $20 at PetCo on Sale.
 
5 gallon container from 15 blocks away...
from my brother's.
It's a PITA but landlord would not let me install the RODI unit and we don't want a hose exposed from under the sink.
...hey, it's free water !!
 
It's an old building. mickey mouse fixes and to get to the pipe I would need to open the wall (manager lives right above) to get to the water pipe (no vinyl hoses); too much hassle dealing to get some one to authorize this, and almost forgot, water pressure sucks so the idea of a booster pump is also out of the question; any way I see my brother every week and have key to the basement in case I need only water and he's not home.
 
Just FYI you can get hook an RO system to faucet using a garden hose adapter or something like that

Here is a link (since spectrapure IS a sponsor!)

http://www.spectrapure.com/St_fd_valves.htm

V
 
I got one from home depot, not a john guest type fitting but they have a single plastic barb (cheapest) also a compression fitting one too which I believe is the one I got.
 
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