longstocking
Members
Do you have a lid on your sump?
dogofwar
CCA Members
fully automated scares me... how long will you be on vacation? I'd go without water changes and just feed less...
Matt
Matt
Tony
Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
I used to have auto-topoffs on both of my saltwater tanks. While I agree with Matt to some extent, it's essential if you're running a lot of lighting over coral that don't like salinity shifts. For topping off a freshwater sump, it doesn't seem as important as long as you have it covered and it's of sufficient volume to let you top off once a week. I never have to top off the sump on my 180 as I do massive changes every 7 days or so.
Not sure of your configuration, so it may be necessary though. On my old 26 bowfront, I had a 10 gallon sump. I had a 250W metal halide as well as VHO actinics over it and 4 powerheads running, so you can imagine it evaporated a ton of water. Before I set up the ATO, if I missed two days, the return pump would suck air.
Really simple. Got two float switches online and connect them in series to a short extension cord. You use two for redundancy - one higher than the other, at least one encased in a small plastic jar (to avoid snails keeping the float stuck down).
If you use a small pump, you shouldn't need a relay. I used a Micro-jet on my 26 gallon setup and an Aqualifter pump for my desktop nano. For the resevoir, I used a 5 gallon bucket with RO.
Here's a site that just found with almost the exact setup I was running. Do the research on the relay though to see if you guys want it for safety. Worst case scenario is that you burn out the wiring on the float switch - which would shut the system off (or on, depending on how severe the short was).
Their prices are a bit high, but they offer almost the same parts I was using.
http://www.aquahub.com/store/diygaquarium.html
Good luck and be sure to post pictures.
Not sure of your configuration, so it may be necessary though. On my old 26 bowfront, I had a 10 gallon sump. I had a 250W metal halide as well as VHO actinics over it and 4 powerheads running, so you can imagine it evaporated a ton of water. Before I set up the ATO, if I missed two days, the return pump would suck air.
Really simple. Got two float switches online and connect them in series to a short extension cord. You use two for redundancy - one higher than the other, at least one encased in a small plastic jar (to avoid snails keeping the float stuck down).
If you use a small pump, you shouldn't need a relay. I used a Micro-jet on my 26 gallon setup and an Aqualifter pump for my desktop nano. For the resevoir, I used a 5 gallon bucket with RO.
Here's a site that just found with almost the exact setup I was running. Do the research on the relay though to see if you guys want it for safety. Worst case scenario is that you burn out the wiring on the float switch - which would shut the system off (or on, depending on how severe the short was).
Their prices are a bit high, but they offer almost the same parts I was using.
http://www.aquahub.com/store/diygaquarium.html
Good luck and be sure to post pictures.
Tony
Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Just looked at the picture a bit and wanted to offer one bit of advice. Make sure you have the end of the topoff tube above the high water level. Otherwise it will back-syphon into the reservoir. They've done it correctly here, but just wanted to point that out and save you a potential issue.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Not atm although we are planning on covering it. Waiting until we have it fully and at least semi-finally plumbed.
It may also not be necessary after we get the system fully set-up as we may have enough capacity in our sumps to fill them so they can go long enough without a top-off. I don't know how much water is in our piping that we have to contain in the event of a power failure.
If we do decide on one I would probably go with something from autotopoff.com, they do pretty simple set-ups but they are pre-wired completely and not ridiculously expensive.
We would probably use 5g tanks as the reservoir and in the worst case I think our sumps can handle the extra 5g without overflowing.
Andrewtfw
Global Moderators
You can put a small hole in the return pipe to cause the tube to draw in air and stop back siphoning in the event of power loss.
Also, put a pvc elbow on the intake of the pump. Face the elbow down to allow the water in the Sump to get lower than the pump intake.
Sent from my DROIDX using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Also, put a pvc elbow on the intake of the pump. Face the elbow down to allow the water in the Sump to get lower than the pump intake.
Sent from my DROIDX using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
longstocking
Members
Hopefully you have a large enough sump but I found putting a lid on mine stopped the amount of evaporation enough that I could leave for 2 weeks.
londonloco
Members
