# Automatic Water Change Set-up



## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

The idea behind this set-up is to be able have an automatic drip system for people who have chloramine in there local water supply.

I always thought this was not a realistic idea because of the cost of chloramine neutralizers.
Well a fella locally here in Red Deer Canada where I live put me onto a product that is found in true chloramine neutralizers such as prime and amquel.

The product is called Cloram X. I ordered some here for about $50. That gave me 5 lbs and will treat 18,000 gals. One level teaspoon treats 41 gallons.

Well now it all made sense. So I started my project. I ordered a 130g tank with an outside overflow (just my preference) and thought I would do a DIY Background while I had the tank bare so I did. That's got nothing to do with the waterchange set up but it was part of the project.

At first my idea was that I could have a water timer that would fill my tank for a set time period and have the neutralizer draw in via a valve sytem like is used on pressure washers for the detergent. But the problem there is the water would be too cold at the amount going into the tank.

So one day surfing the net I saw a dosing pump for a reef set up. It was an actual unit designed for aquariums. So I did my research and found that most are just pumps like the ones used for patient IV's in hospitals. In fact thats what many reefers use in there systems to dose kalkwasser.

I did more research and found many that dosed within the parameters I needed. I then bought one off Ebay. The guy sent me two. There value is over $700 for the one and over $900 for the other. The guy sold me both of them for $56 plus shipping.

In the meantime I got my tank setup and plumbed in my overflow hose under my kitchen sink. I just used a $3 splittier that hooks up to the dishwasher drain hose and the tank drain hose.

Here's a pic...
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Here's a pic of it attaching to my overflow. It's an $8 bulk head (for those not familiar with what that is it's the black plastic fitting in the overflow drain that the hose attaches to).
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Now here a pic of the water line that takes the water to the tank. I just cut out a piece of the pex piping and replaced it with a T- Ball Valve. And attached to the ball valve is a 1/4" pvc water line like you would have on an icemaker in your fridge. The Ball valve is opened to the desired flow in this pic. I measured the flow rate until I got it right. I have the flow set at 2.2L/hr.
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Here's a pic of the two lines: Outgoing line is clear and small, and the drain line is that garden hose. BTW you can't see these lines in my living room as they are hidden.
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Here now is the dosing pump:
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This is the dosing pump in the stock solution of neutralizer. This stock solution will last me 50 days. I plan on going with a much larger container in the future. There is less than half a cup of Cloram X in there. If you look close you can see the line in side the container... very simple.
View attachment 114697


From the Unit I have the line that leaves it immersed in the tank a few inches penetrating the surface dosing the water with the neutralizer.

This is the finished tank.Tthis set-up can hopefully help those who deal with Chloramine issues but want an auto water change set up. I wanted to do this not because I want to do less water changes but rather that my fish can enjoy good healthy water parameters. Up until now he has grown a full inch. He was 15" around the end of May when I measured him. He grew a full inch in nine months as he was 14" last Sept.
Under this new system he will have way better water and so I doon't see his growth being hindred now for any reason.
One may argue that gravel vacuuming needs to be regularly done but with sand in there it will not be a problem. Up until now I rarely gravel vac with sand and always have good nitrate readings.

Here is my finished tank. Hopefully it was a good read and simple to understand.
View attachment 114698


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## SAFETYpin (Feb 1, 2004)

Looks great, good write up. Got any specific info on that dosing pump.


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

So, you will have 52.8L per day rolling in and out of your tank. You will need to document the health benefits on your Rhom for everyone. Sounds like a great idea!


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## redrum781 (Apr 10, 2006)

WOW!


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

SAFETYpin said:


> Looks great, good write up. Got any specific info on that dosing pump.


What would you like to know?


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Very nice write up Pat. This perhaps could be pinned in the DIY subforum, right?

I'm sure your rhom will feel like he's in heaven with all of that fresh water coming in every day. It's nice to see that you truly care for the well being of your fish.








~Taylor~


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## sprfunk (Dec 22, 2005)

Pats the man. plain and simple.


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## Fresh2salt (Jul 16, 2004)

Not bad idea. fish looks great


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## SAFETYpin (Feb 1, 2004)

Pat said:


> Looks great, good write up. Got any specific info on that dosing pump.


What would you like to know?
[/quote]

Where did you find it? What did it cost you? Is it easy to set up and maintain? Any reason that you chose that one vs a different one.....? Stuff like that...

Isnt 50l per day kinda of a lot? Is this a starting point? I would just dial it back over the course of a few weeks until I started seeing nitrates, and than just turn it back up a hair.


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

SAFETYpin said:


> Where did you find it? What did it cost you? Is it easy to set up and maintain? Any reason that you chose that one vs a different one.....? Stuff like that...
> 
> Isnt 50l per day kinda of a lot? Is this a starting point? I would just dial it back over the course of a few weeks until I started seeing nitrates, and than just turn it back up a hair.


I bought it on Ebay for under $100 shipped. I chose a pump that can dose as small as 1 ml/hr increments. Then you dont need a huge stock container. I set it at 10ml/hr.

50 Liters a day is an 11-12% change per day. Not much if you are trying to run zero nitrate. I dont believe you could over do water changing. Many top discus breeders change up to 150% daily and get significant growth.

Your method makes sense and I am doing that. The thing is it was an existing set-up with nitrates present even after the fibnal water change. I will start at this rate and observe the Nitrates... if they go down, which is what I hope... if they do I will back off the flow rate. If they stay the same I will do some large water changes until it reads zero and keep the same flow.

Great questions!


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## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

your a genious patty. so when u flying out here to help set me one up?







ill buy the beer









cant wait to see how this impreoves titus's growth


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

Great job...







!


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## Guru (Apr 20, 2004)

Wow nice post, it seems pretty cheap and affordable.

You proballt got the biggest Rhom of the North in my opinion.


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## SAFETYpin (Feb 1, 2004)

Just thought I would add some tidbits to the conversation. I found a bunch of different dosing pumps at marine depot, inculding one that looks similar in design to yours just smaller, but not much cheaper.

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_dosing...ser.asp?CartId=


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

SAFETYpin said:


> Just thought I would add some tidbits to the conversation. I found a bunch of different dosing pumps at marine depot, inculding one that looks similar in design to yours just smaller, but not much cheaper.
> 
> http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_dosing...ser.asp?CartId=


The problem with this one is it has a fixed flow rate of 3 liters an hour. That's going to empty your stock solution out way too fast. It is the same type of pump however. It's a peristaltic pump.


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## SAFETYpin (Feb 1, 2004)

Pat said:


> Just thought I would add some tidbits to the conversation. I found a bunch of different dosing pumps at marine depot, inculding one that looks similar in design to yours just smaller, but not much cheaper.
> 
> http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_dosing...ser.asp?CartId=


The problem with this one is it has a fixed flow rate of 3 liters an hour. That's going to empty your stock solution out way too fast. It is the same type of pump however. It's a peristaltic pump.
[/quote]

But you could control it with a digital timer right?


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

SAFETYpin said:


> But you could control it with a digital timer right?


Yes you would have to do that. And it would work very well.


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## bobz (Mar 9, 2006)

With the system up and running are nitrates staying at 0?

Bobz


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

bobz said:


> With the system up and running are nitrates staying at 0?
> 
> Bobz


They never were at zero. I'm going to get them there and find the middle ground.


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## SAFETYpin (Feb 1, 2004)

Pat said:


> With the system up and running are nitrates staying at 0?
> 
> Bobz


They never were at zero. I'm going to get them there and find the middle ground.
[/quote]

Check your tap for Nitrates too, my tap has about 5ppm of nitrates....


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

SAFETYpin said:


> With the system up and running are nitrates staying at 0?
> 
> Bobz


They never were at zero. I'm going to get them there and find the middle ground.
[/quote]

Check your tap for Nitrates too, my tap has about 5ppm of nitrates....
[/quote]

I have checked this and there are no Nitrates. But excellent suggestion for hobbiests wanting nitrate free water.... check this first.


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

SAFETYpin said:


> With the system up and running are nitrates staying at 0?
> 
> Bobz


They never were at zero. I'm going to get them there and find the middle ground.
[/quote]

Check your tap for Nitrates too, my tap has about 5ppm of nitrates....
[/quote]
It's odd that quite a few people have nitrates in their water, but I've never stumbled across anyone that has a little bit of ammonia in their tapwater.... Once in a while we will get about 0.25 ppm of ammonia in the tapwater, but most of the time it is perfect at 0, so I have to keep an eye out during waterchanges.
~Taylor~


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## bigJohnson (Jun 5, 2006)

so the water that refills your tank comes from the tub?


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

It comes from under my kitchen sink.


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## Canso (Jun 19, 2005)

do you have some sort of valve for the drain? I looks like the dishwasher might backflush up your tank drain.


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

Canso said:


> do you have some sort of valve for the drain? I looks like the dishwasher might backflush up your tank drain.


Actually it just goes into the big drain pipe fine. I checked and tested all that. Good points though. These are the things you need to consider.


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## bigJohnson (Jun 5, 2006)

Pat said:


> do you have some sort of valve for the drain? I looks like the dishwasher might backflush up your tank drain.


Actually it just goes into the big drain pipe fine. I checked and tested all that. Good points though. These are the things you need to consider.
[/quote]

Sorry, I guess im a little slow or something because im still confused. If the water that refills your tank comes from the kitchen sink then what is the tub for?


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## SAFETYpin (Feb 1, 2004)

bigJohnson said:


> do you have some sort of valve for the drain? I looks like the dishwasher might backflush up your tank drain.


Actually it just goes into the big drain pipe fine. I checked and tested all that. Good points though. These are the things you need to consider.
[/quote]

Sorry, I guess im a little slow or something because im still confused. If the water that refills your tank comes from the kitchen sink then what is the tub for?
[/quote]

The tub is for the water treatment (chemical) to remove the chlorine and Choramine from your tap water.


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## bigJohnson (Jun 5, 2006)

So there's three hoses? One that drains the tank, one the fills it up, and one for the treatment?


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## Pat (Jul 19, 2004)

bigJohnson said:


> So there's three hoses? One that drains the tank, one the fills it up, and one for the treatment?


Yes...
Garden hose for drain
1/4" line for fresh water
small line, smaller than 1/4" for the cloram x solution


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## bigJohnson (Jun 5, 2006)

Pat said:


> So there's three hoses? One that drains the tank, one the fills it up, and one for the treatment?


Yes...
Garden hose for drain
1/4" line for fresh water
small line, smaller than 1/4" for the cloram x solution
[/quote]

I see. That would be really great to have!


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