Auto water changer questions???

D

daisygirl525

Registered Member
Dec 23, 2007
1
0
0
Hello I am new to the world of fish tanks and I have been researching the homemade automatic water changers and I have a couple questions.

First if I was to use a canister filter on my tank where would this go, would it be in line with the automatic water changer or would it be on its own?

Second is there something that I would have to do incase a timer were to fail, such as if the timer that intiated the disposal of water failed and then the timer for the input of water went off how would I prevent my tank from overflowing?

Thank you so much for any information and or pictures that could help.:help:
 
it would be on its own. ok still new on the whole auto water change thing my self.

the way i would do it is with a over flow. so the water coming in it would over flow and take the water out. but thats more of a drip system. still use a overflow box to stop it from getting all over the place.

do you want something that will do say 50% wc once a week or something?
 
There are many ways to do it.

But to answer your specific questions, usually a float valve is used to automatically shut off water once the water level is at the correct hieght. As a backup, a solenoid inline will also be on a timer and set to just slightly longer than it should take to fill your tank, so that if your float valve were to stick open, the solenoid would shut it off soon after it is at the full level, and hopefully before the water actually goes over the top of the tank. Takes a bit of trial and error to get the timing perfect.

But some questions I have since you are pretty new here (BTW :welcome: to the forums :) ) and I dont know what your setup is like, is what your using for new water? Do you have an RO filter and storage tank? Or some kinda chlorine filter? Or on well water that doesnt need to be dechloranized? And what are your plans on how you are going to drain the tank? Just curious.
 
Last edited:
a little math to boot

I would suggest an overflow to waste... the filler would trickle in at a rate of your choosing.. say 30-50 percent of the tank volume per week (4-8 % each day).. this would essentially change your water continuously, while the overflow will keep your water level constant..

say with a 75g tank.. drip in 1/2 oz per minute 24/7...
(about 20 drops in a cubic centimeter)
(30 CCs per oz)
just 5 drops (gravity free fall) per second

Thats ...
30 oz/hour
720 oz/day (5.625 gal/day)
40 gal/week

just over 50 % / week

Check your leaky faucets to see how much water you waste each day...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom