Continuous Water Change System

d2mini

d2mini

Reef enthusiast
I'm still working out how to setup my two 65g water tanks with my tank.
Currently I'm thinking of creating a continuous water change system.

The freshwater tank would be plumbed to the saltwater tank. This will let me make RO/DI directly into the FW tank and then pump it to the SW tank where i can make a 65g batch of SW. Then I am thinking of purchasing a SpectraPure LiterMeter III, which will pull small specified amounts of tank water and push in new saltwater throughout the day at specified periods. Then my ATO will pull water from the FW tank just like normal, to deal with evaporation.

The goal is to end up with never having to do a traditional water change (except for emergencies of course) resulting in very stable parameters and a healthier tank.

Does anyone here employ something similar?
 
In actuality, water changes from a continuous change are slightly less efficient than single batch changes of the same volume. That is based on a 30% change.

I looked into this system and found it to be not worth it for me. But good luck with your venture
 
Thanks, Mike... I have a few questions maybe you can answer.

What makes them less efficient?

What do you mean by "efficient"? What is this efficiency based on?

If the system is slowly building up crud and loosing trace elements, then you do a large water change, you will definitely see a big difference.
If doing multiple tiny water changes throughout the day and over the same period of 1 or 2 weeks that you were spacing out the large water changes, you will have a much smaller change which means your overall system will be much more consistent and stable. No?
 
I made up my mind that I was going to do 30% water changes on my tank after I set it up . So, I based everything on that assumption. After doing as much reading that I could find on this subject. I figured that the pros did not out way the cons for me to set this system up. The efficiency that I was talking about was the Impurities removed vs impurities remaining in both types of water changes

It just worked out that with my 30% change was slightly more efficient in removing the impurities. I'm sure that different percent changes will yield different results.

I'm not saying this is a bad idea or not the right way for you, I was expressing my opinion on what I have learned and passing it on. I'm sure you read all the threads on RC about this set up.
 
Ya, i've read a little and still researching it. Thanks for taking the time to offer your experience. I'm not challenging your response, I just wasn't clear on the cons of being less efficient. Still not really. :lol:
I wonder what the long term effect is on the different setups?

1. A system that is very clean some days... somewhat clean other days... and dirty other days.

2. A system that is somewhat clean all the time. At least this would be the goal.

I see the advantages as Stability, Less Dosing, Less Stress to Inhabitants, and of course Convenience.
The only disadvantage I can think of so far, that you have mentioned, is possibly not reaching those moments of ultimate cleanliness.

Can anyone add to either of these categories?
 
d2mini said:
What makes them less efficient?

What do you mean by "efficient"? What is this efficiency based on?
Click to expand...

Math. I'll use easy (although unrealistic numbers) to make things simple.

Say your tank is 100 gallons, and your nitrates are at 100.

You do a 5% change all at once. Your nitrates will then be 100 x .05 = 5, 100 - 5 = 95.

In your system, say you do a 1% change 5 times instead of all at once. This should equal 5% of the total volume right? Not right. Because each time you remove 1% you are not only removing "dirty" water, but some of the "clean" water that you just added.

In this case, for the first 1% change, your nitrates would be 100 x .01 = 1, 100 - 1 = 99.
Second 1% change: 99 x .01 = .99, 99 - .99 = 98.01
Third 1% change: 98.01 x .01 = .9801, 98.01 - .9801 = 97.0299
Fourth: 97.0299 x .01 = .970299, 97.0299 - .970299 = 96.059601
Fifth: 96.059601 x .01 = .960596, 96.059601 - .960596 = 95.093641

As you can see, when you did 5% all at once, you ended up with a new nitrate level of 95. When you changed 1% 5 times, you ended up with 95.093641.

This may seem like a very slight difference, but if that's all you ever do, and it happens continuously, your nitrates will always be higher than if you just did regular water changes, and you will need to use a lot more water to bring them down.
 
Thanks, Biff... now my head hurts! :lol:
It sounds like not much difference, and that small difference could be caught up on by doing one or two large manual water changes per year, maybe?



Reefrookie said:
This was very helpful in explaining the different changes and the effects of the water chemistry
Water Changes in Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Click to expand...

Awesome article, thanks!
Again, it sounds like a repeat of what Biff explained and the author favors the continuous water change for his needs. And he points out that with this type of system he can even do 30% change over a day or two if he wanted to, running the pumps at max capacity. That's good to know.
 
I think that aside from using more water, this problem could be easily over come by just increasing the total volume changed each week for example 20% increased to 25%. I would much rather use a little more water in exchange for not having to physically do the water changes. Another solution would be doing the automic system you are proposing supplemented with a physical water change once every 4 or 6 weeks. Either way, it should take the majority of the burden off of you and allow you to enjoy your tank more. I am excited for you Dennis! Great Idea.
 
Hmmmm... good point Justin.
Let's pretend Biff was doing a 20% water change every 2 weeks.
What if my tiny incremental water changes added up to a 40% bi-weekly change?

Damn... more math. I should have paid more attention in class instead of doodling. :lol:
 
When we manually do a water change we typically target the dirty areas of the tank, like blow the detritis off and from behind the live rock and suck it out. how would you do that with your automated system.
 
I wish someone would set up an automatic water change system for me. Hell, I'd be happy with an ATO at this point!

Dennis. That's your cue. :D
 
You've got an auto kitty litter box, Dcan! Auto water changer probably isn't that far off! You should email the idea to the Cat Genie people. Suggest they branch out to other pets...
 
I'm looking forward to Dennis' ideas. Right now I don't see how it could be completely automated. BTW did you ask Catherine how she likes her Cat Genie?
 
The idea (not mine, stolen from RC and other places) is actually really simple.
Pumps on timers pulling out and putting in sets amount of water, in small increments throughout the day, every day. Or even one large amount over the course of a day or two.

A LiterMeter III and a LiterMeter Remote Pump is pretty much all you need.
Aquarium Specialty
 
it really should be pretty simple to set up. You could even do it more simply with your RKL. You could just set a pump connected to one outlet and timed to pump for 1 min everyday. That pump would pump water from the tank directly into a drain, then a second pump connected to a float switch/solenoid, would run for 15 mins immediately following the first pump. It would be connected to your pre-mix SW. You would then just need to set you ATO to both your display, and your Pre-mix tanks and program it to be turned off during the 16 mins that the water change system is running. The only concern as with an ATO or any other similar system is how to prevent against equipment failure. If you have the room, you could overcome that pretty simply by installing an overflow just above the solenoid in your sump and plumbing it into a drain as well.
 
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