My auto top-off system in the making

Andy16

Andy16

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Dec 10, 2002
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Well heres where the story starts...

I met this kid from my school and he is very smart and rich. He will pretty much just pay for my lunch just becuase he has the money, but I dont take advantage of him becuase I am not that mean. Well I went to this kids house and he is amazing... He made his own remote control submarine with a camera and everything. He just built it from scratch. He can make almost anything that involves electronics and he can wire stuff and all that. He is even in some robotics club. So I asked him if he could make a top off system for me and asked how much it would cost. He is doing it for free! He is giving me a motor and all sorts of stuff that I dont have any clue what it is but it sounds pretty extravagant. My entire top off system will be electronic. There will be an electronic water sensor that can detect water. That will be set where I want my water level to be at. The sensor is attached to a box, which I guess is a electronic switch, and when it isnt detecting water, it turns it on. The pump(which he supplied) is wired into this box and turns on pumping water from a 5 gallon bucket into the tank. There is even a timer that will act as a safety measure incase the sensor falls out. That way it will only run for maybe a minute max and then will shut off. I guess he is using the pumps that cars use to shoot the antifreeze on car windsheilds.


So what do you guys think? Is this sweet or is this something that is already being done?


EDIT: This is still just in the planning stages, he did test the sensor on his computer and said that it worked just how it should though. We still need to accomplish the task of pumping the water at least 42 inches into the main tank and I am not familiar with doing this sort of stuff so it will be trial and error. I have a one of those 201 powerheads if the windsheild fluid pump cant do it.

EDIT NUMERO DOS: My tanks is a 20L for those of you who have never seen or remembered my numerous posts regarding all my little problems that I had with it. lol
 
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Hmm, well I guess its cool that its DIY then? And is 161,69 mean the price??? Becuase then its still cool since mine is free.
 
First, I have never kept a marine tank - I just saw your post in the new posts section.

For freshwater, there was a company that made something that will do a water change constanly. You hook it up to your sink and it slowly changes the water. I think it said it will change 10% of the water every day. It works very slowly and just drips water in the tank.

I haven't seen this around in years. But it was for sale at that fish place several years ago. I think it costed about $45 for a 55 gallon tank.

The only trouble you might have with making this is the hose and the adapter to the sink. You will need to get plenty of hose and all the right fittings. You will also need to make sure your faucet adapter will handle the pressure from the water being turned on. Hopefully you have an extra utility sink to space. it would be cool if you could pump water from a bucket or other container so your don't have to use a sink. But that further complicates things.

You can build a sensor easily by just having two open wires in your tank. Put about .5 volts of DC voltage through one wire and have a PLC check the other wire to see if there is a connection. Also, make sure you have a good amount of resistance in your circuit. You want a very high resistance between these two leads. A higher resistance means less current. It takes 1 A of current to kill a human. So I would imagine its much less for fish. You should be able to design something where only a mirco amp flows through your tank. This is practically nothing.

Your tanks water if full of ions. So you can consider it a super conductor.

This wouldn't be too hard if your friend knows how to program IC's and how to control servos.

Be sure to post some pics.
 
The only trouble you might have with making this is the hose and the adapter to the sink. You will need to get plenty of hose and all the right fittings. You will also need to make sure your faucet adapter will handle the pressure from the water being turned on. Hopefully you have an extra utility sink to space. it would be cool if you could pump water from a bucket or other container so your don't have to use a sink. But that further complicates things.
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Im going to use a powerhead that will be attached to that little box that is hooked up to the little electronic swith I mentioned before.


You can build a sensor easily by just having two open wires in your tank. Put about .5 volts of DC voltage through one wire and have a PLC check the other wire to see if there is a connection. Also, make sure you have a good amount of resistance in your circuit. You want a very high resistance between these two leads. A higher resistance means less current. It takes 1 A of current to kill a human. So I would imagine its much less for fish. You should be able to design something where only a mirco amp flows through your tank. This is practically nothing.
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I told him that there has to be no electricity going into the tank, so when I go there I am going to make sure we test that.


This wouldn't be too hard if your friend knows how to program IC's and how to control servos.
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I dont even want to ask him about that becuase he will probably go into some long drawn on explanation that will go right over my head. lol
 
Andy16 said:
Hmm, well I guess its cool that its DIY then? And is 161,69 mean the price??? Becuase then its still cool since mine is free.
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Its $161.69 actually. Tunze apparently has not figured out correct usage of commas and periods. :D
 
There is no way your going to electricute or harm your fish with .5 volts.

You can try a floating peice that pushes a button too. It will be harder to callibrate though.

BTW, you should try and learn how to make stuff from this kid. Maybe you can make something and sell it to others?
 
I think im heading over to his house on thursday just to help and that way I can sorta build it how I want. When I go there I hope Ill learn a few wiring skills and stuff becuase he will be doing some of that.

You can try a floating peice that pushes a button too. It will be harder to callibrate though.
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With the way im going all I would have to do is move the sensor to whatever height I want the water level. To be honest, ive never really figured out how those float switches worked. So this way, its easier for me to understand and its a lot coolor :dance
 
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