automated water changes and filtration

[kalebjarrod]

has anyone ever tried to automate there tanks in relation to water changes

I have been thinking about it for a while and am wondering has anyone suceeded or is this the impossible dream?

[Proteus]

kalebjarrod, welcome to DF.com

I once had a system in place (very primative mind you) on one of my 4ft tanks, but due to it being inside an apartment there was too much risk of water damage as there were hoses etc running all over the place.

Once I get into a house and set up a fish room I will be hooking up an auto system, have 2-3, 200-300L aging containers, have all tanks drilled and plumbing installed so all I do is open a valve to drain, and have a float cut off switch from the water mains in each storage container to regulate the level (the water would be shut off when draining each container)...

Hopefully this will eliminate the need for vaccing the tank base, and whammo, water change done.

[kalebjarrod]

i have currently got a self leveling tank through a intergarted plumbing system. this also includes a valv to reduce the water level to a useable level (my tank is a metre deep, hard to breath underwater)

i also employ a trickle filtraon system.

hooked to a self leveling float valve n my sump.

i have a small 200lt per hour (no head) water pump hooked to a digital timer to pump out used (old) water and the float always replaces laost water

my problem is the buufering of town water due to the fact i drop my fresh water directly into my system.

i have come up with how i need to slove this problem with a holding tank gravity feed into my tank with a series of floats and and solienoids, water heater on digital timer (so they don't go bang when i empty the holding tank)

i was hoping that someone would have completed this project already and could give me some hints to save money!

By the way my wife CRACKED and i now have all of my filtration equipment plumbed through the walls of the house and into a false cavity behind a false fence.

looks normal till you open it and no more spillages in the lounge

i will try to post a photo soon

[Proteus]

Sounds awesum...

cant wait to see some pics

[kalebjarrod]

photos

[kalebjarrod]

as you acn see my tank holds and grows lovley community fish

but I WANT DISCUS

and some help could save $$$$$$

[Proteus]

Excellent... now to knock down some walls...

[kalebjarrod]

be careful these minor alterations cost me over $1000.00 in plumbing alone!

i have budgeted $2000.00 for stage two

problem is the wife dosen't know this yet!

hahahahahaha

[Proteus]

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, everybody....

we didnt hear a thing...

lol

[flukes]

I was actually talking to the engineer at work about it the other day, and he showed me system they were using in a factory that would do exactly the same thing.
Although iam not good with these kinds of things i got the run down.
It basically involved, a storage barrel with a floating valve thingy (dont know what they are called) they are used in toilets. Also connected to this a doser. Then have 2 pumps one in the tank and one in the storage both on a dual timer, so the timer sets the first on to take out the water he said i would need a solenoid for this as i could just put the out take of the pump at the level of water i want to take out. Then once the timer for the first has finished the second one would go off to fill it back up and there would be a solenoid on that to turn it off.

Dont know exactly how it works but he has made one before and he said he could set one up for me for about $500-$700. Not including the storage container. I might get it done but not till i have a few more tanks and setup a fish room so then i can just do the whole room in one go.

Ill see if i can get some more details on exactly how it works as we were just having a brief discusion over a coffee.