Hop's downgrade to 300 gallons: A simple build thread

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Hop

Don't blame you... Sounds like you had a great time!

Yea, I did

Whiskey

[Hop]

The top off is set with a float valve that is gravity fed. I've been running two for five years and never had a failure. Figured I would order a new one for the sump this time...

Yeah... 10% would be about 1.014... Maybe I'll have to adjust the amount I make at one time a hair just for safety sake.

Someone asked me once why I don't automate the whole thing. I told them it was because if I did that I may go a week without going in the wetroom if I were busy. At least if I know I have to make water, I poke my head in at least once every other day, if not every day.

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Hop

The top off is set with a float valve that is gravity fed. I've been running two for five years and never had a failure. Figured I would order a new one for the sump this time...

Yeah... 10% would be about 1.014... Maybe I'll have to adjust the amount I make at one time a hair just for safety sake.

Someone asked me once why I don't automate the whole thing. I told them it was because if I did that I may go a week without going in the wetroom if I were busy. At least if I know I have to make water, I poke my head in at least once every other day, if not every day.

I thought that was your hiding spot?

Good point though, very good point. It might still be a good idea to put in a needlevalve of some sort to limit the supply of water to that float valve in the sump,.. Just so the drop in salinity is slow at least.

Whiskey

[Hop]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

I thought that was your hiding spot?

Good point though, very good point. It might still be a good idea to put in a needlevalve of some sort to limit the supply of water to that float valve in the sump,.. Just so the drop in salinity is slow at least.

Whiskey

It is my hiding spot though somtimes work gets me sidetracked occasionally!

I'll look into that, I'll have to put it on the intake side of the kalk reactor I guess. I was thinking of grabbing a kalk reactor this time as my 5 gallon bucket just won't look good in the room

[Wiskey]

OH NO!!! You have a Kalk reactor and a kent float valve?

That's what killed almost everything in my 50G,.. Those kent float valves do build up allot of Kalk junk on them pretty fast when using Kalk,.. and they do lock open. In my case it locked open when the reactor was mixing, and dumped about 6G of pure Kalk into the tank,.. PH was through the roof.

Solving this problem is exactally why I first came up with the needle valve,.. on my 50G it's limited to 2 drips per second. I have it on the intake side of the Kalk reactor too,.. actually it's in the resivwar.

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

BTW,.. I have had subsiquant failures with the saftey in place and they did not result in any harm to the tank.

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Ouch:


Whiskey

[Hop]

Hmmm. I just soak them in vinegar every two weeks at water change time. Been going that way for years

Not decided 100% on anything yet though. I might plumb a second line on a really slow drip or use a doser in the near future... I just can't see opting for a Ca reactor yet. I'm hoping that I sustain levels with 2 part and kalk for a while... Maybe a year until I get some other things like a fence and roof taken care of.

[Hop]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

Ouch:


Whiskey

Ouch, I've never had one that bad! I did try to put my big skimmer on my 125 once and the skimmer overlowed and took 5 gallons of freshly stirred kalk into my tank, but that is horrible...

[Hop]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

BTW,.. I have had subsiquant failures with the saftey in place and they did not result in any harm to the tank.

Whiskey

Safety?

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Hop

Hmmm. I just soak them in vinegar every two weeks at water change time. Been going that way for years

Not decided 100% on anything yet though. I might plumb a second line on a really slow drip or use a doser in the near future... I just can't see opting for a Ca reactor yet. I'm hoping that I sustain levels with 2 part and kalk for a while... Maybe a year until I get some other things like a fence and roof taken care of.

You clean yours every two weeks?

Oh,.. I clean mine about every year,.. I never really set it up so it could be removed easily This was the first stand I ever built for a tank with a sump,.. this tank has been up a while,.. since long before I was a member here.

Another thing you could do is get a silinoid that cuts the flow on another electronic float switch,.. like a safe gaurd.

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Hop

Ouch, I've never had one that bad! I did try to put my big skimmer on my 125 once and the skimmer overlowed and took 5 gallons of freshly stirred kalk into my tank, but that is horrible...

What made it worse is that the Kalk immeditally jammed the skimmer feed pump in the sump,.. the whole thing was crusted white,.. that pump was on it's last leggs anyway,.. but still. I no longer keep that pump right under the float valve.

Ya, that was horrible,.. That was after it cleared for a while too Like I said,.. I ended up loosing almost everything in that tank.

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Hop

Safety?

Ya,.. A needle valve that limits maximum topoff speed to 2 dropps per second (one drop if the resivwar is almost empty)

Whiskey

[Hop]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

You clean yours every two weeks?

Oh,.. I clean mine about every year,.. I never really set it up so it could be removed easily This was the first stand I ever built for a tank with a sump,.. this tank has been up a while,.. since long before I was a member here.

Another thing you could do is get a silinoid that cuts the flow on another electronic float switch,.. like a safe gaurd.

Whiskey

Well I guess in theory On my 125, the float valve is rigged to a AM reactor 1000 bracket. Two screw and it lifts off the sump, so you can just soak it in vinegar on the floor (in a bowl ) while you do a water change. In fact I bet it's been a month since I've done that...

Good point, I've been looking at new ATOs but I keep going back and forth.

[Wiskey]

I must admit,.. I really like that Kent float valve for a topoff sulution, but I don't like it when Kalk is involved,.. There are other autotopoff devices that may be more failsafe,... but whatever you do I highly reccomend doing something to safegaurd yourself.

Whiskey