Auto Water Changer-Lab Grade and Inexpensive

[acroholic]

Every once in a while folks post threads about making an automatic water changing system for their reef tanks. This is a good option for many, particularly those of us that like to fiddle around with gadgets. The one I am making will be made with used, laboratory grade Masterflex peristaltic pumps.

MasterFlex Pumps are made by Barant and sold under the Cole-Parmer name. They are used in labs, are powerful, rated for continuous use, and deliver very accurate flow rates. They are very expensive to buy new.

I see many people trying to use less expensive, hobbyist grade, fixed rate dosing pumps from Bulk Reef Supply or other reef suppliers, which is a mistake, as these are not made for continuous duty or made to move large volumes of water.

One common setup is to use one dosing pump to add water to the tank, and another dosing pump to remove water from the tank. These are operated at the same time, and as they are fixed rate, you can only adjust the amount of time they are on to get the daily amount of water you want changed.

Masterflex pumps can be purchased used for very reasonable prices, comparable to what you would pay for two new hobbyist grade dosing pumps from Bulk Reef Supply.

Below is a pump I just bought today that comes complete with two pump heads, one to remove water and one to add water: $220 shipped. This setup brand new would cost about $1300. The one I bought still has years of service left in it.

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Here is a BRS fixed rate dosing pump. One flow rate vs the 6-600 variable RPM range you can set with the Masterflex. You need two for a dual pump setup. $200 for two of them, and good luck getting a year of continuous duty out of it. It is made for dosing small volumes of liquids, not large water changes.

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Masterflex pumps are also fantastic for ultra accurate, no hassle flow through reactors, like Calcium reactors and sulfur denitrators. It is so nice not having to mess with drip rates any more, and a very steady KH with no needle valve adjustments is great.

There are always dozens of used Masterflex pumps for sale on ebay, and if no one takes anything away from this thread, know that you can get high quality used equipment that can add genuine stability to your reef tank chemical parameters for the same cost as lower quality, hobby level equipment. There are other brands of lab grade peristaltic pumps, but Masterflex seems to be the most popular.

I am waiting on my pump to be delivered, and I will update this thread with the auto water changer setup as I build it.
Dave

 

[seth the wine guy]

I like it. I will let you be the Guinea pig on results with these. Consider me subscribed.

 

[nsconductor]

Following

 

[jhutto]

The gadget guy is always adding value to the club and hobby...following with the crowd.

 

[elfloyd]

Dave... Great information; thanks for sharing.

I searched the Masterflex website to find what distance this type pump can push to and pull from.. When does head pressure become a problem? Will the rollers seal enough to prevent a siphon leak? Will the amount of water from the RO/DI and from the sump be equal (if the tubing is equal size)? Or would delivery be influenced by tube length, elevation, etc.

I'm thinking of an application to pull RO/DI from a garage to the sump. Distance up-across-down is about 50'. The pump would be lower than the RO/DI tank, so there would be siphoning with just tubing by itself.

Thanks,
Larry

 

[darth reefer]

Following along...I need to automate as much as possible so very interested in how this works out.

 

[acroholic]

Seth The Wine Guy;841227 wrote: I like it. I will let you be the Guinea pig on results with these. Consider me subscribed.

I am already using two of these in single pump head setups. The one below feeds my calcium reactor. This was a brand new purchase I got at a killer price off Reef Central. I never would have bought it new otherwise.

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This single pump head unit one feeds my sulfur denitrator, and was an ebay purchase at $200.

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Both pumps are working perfectly. Basically, you just change out the tubing set in the pump every 3 months or so. Each pump head accepts different inside diameter tubing, and the flow rate through any ID tube flow is determined by the RPM rate.

Based on which drive you buy, you can vary the flow via RPM adjustment, or in some, even set the rate by RPM or how many ml/min you want. I can do that in the first unit pictured above.

 

[acroholic]

elFloyd;841307 wrote: Dave... Great information; thanks for sharing.

I searched the Masterflex website to find what distance this type pump can push to and pull from.. When does head pressure become a problem? Will the rollers seal enough to prevent a siphon leak? Will the amount of water from the RO/DI and from the sump be equal (if the tubing is equal size)? Or would delivery be influenced by tube length, elevation, etc.

I'm thinking of an application to pull RO/DI from a garage to the sump. Distance up-across-down is about 50'. The pump would be lower than the RO/DI tank, so there would be siphoning with just tubing by itself.

Thanks,
Larry

These prevent a siphon as long as the tubing is locked in the pump head. For the application you want, will the final outlet into the tank be higher or lower than the RODI? That will determine if you have siphoning.

The flow rate through two identical pump heads should be the same as long as you are using the same ID tubing. That is what I am counting on when I set up the water change system. Mine will operate like this. I will set it up with identical tubing in each of the pump heads, then determine how much water I want to pull from/add to the tank each day, determine how long at what RPM rate I have to use to do that volume, then set the pump to come on for that amount of time each day through my RKE controller. Pretty simple. I don't plan on doing continupous water changes, as with that you can get into SG issues based on evaporation, at least I think you could. I'll do something like, just as an example, 4 gallons in 30 minutes every day.

The two masterflex pumps I have in operation now go 24/7 and I replace the tubing sets every 3 months, so I would imagine the tubing on a batch type use pump like my water changer would only need to be replaced once a year, as it is only in use 30 minutes a day and not 24/7. The tubing I use is called PharMed and is not cheap, but you can buy it through USPlastics.com.

All these pump drives are different. Some are .03 HP and some are 1/10 HP, for example. Some drives can operate four pump heads, and some can operate only two. I don't think a basic unit would have an issue doing what you want it to.

But I am not an expert on these pumps. The Masterflex line is huge and varied, and I don't use a lot of tubing. The guy I got the controller/drive from on RC uses one to send topoff water up a story a total distance of 140 feet.

 

[jimmystephens]

Wow. Thats awesome. I thought i was high tech cause i got a controller lol!

 

[joseayes]

Thanks for the info, I was needing to create my automated wc but I think that if I want it to do it right I gonna start making more saving$, I don't want to end up in the need of peristaltic pumps every six month. BTW what should be done with the ATO while the automated wc is doing the work? Should the controller or any other timer turn off the ATO while removing water and filling fresh water?
Then... Anyone wants to bid?

 

[elfloyd]

joseayes;841480 wrote: Thanks for the info, I was needing to create my automated wc but I think that if I want it to do it right I gonna start making more saving$, I don't want to end up in the need of peristaltic pumps every six month. BTW what should be done with the ATO while the automated wc is doing the work? Should the controller or any other timer turn off the ATO while removing water and filling fresh water?
Then... Anyone wants to bid?
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=160979584739&index=13&nav=SEARCH&nid=77519630570">http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=160979584739&index=13&nav=SEARCH&nid=77519630570</a>[/QUOTE]

Jose,

I think water in would equal water out if the pump runs only a small amount of time each day. That said the water level shouldn't get low enough for the ATO to kick in... And water level would lower only through evaporation allowing the ATO to function normally. I do believe periodicly testing the salinity in the tank would be a good idea.

Regarding the auction: the heads for these pumps come in different configurations. You will need a double head for a water change... One to pump into the sump and one to pump out. The auction you linked to only has one head.

 

[acroholic]

joseayes;841480 wrote: Thanks for the info, I was needing to create my automated wc but I think that if I want it to do it right I gonna start making more saving$, I don't want to end up in the need of peristaltic pumps every six month. BTW what should be done with the ATO while the automated wc is doing the work? Should the controller or any other timer turn off the ATO while removing water and filling fresh water?
Then... Anyone wants to bid?
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=160979584739&index=13&nav=SEARCH&nid=77519630570">http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=160979584739&index=13&nav=SEARCH&nid=77519630570</a>[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=][B]elFloyd;841486 wrote:[/B] Jose,

I think water in would equal water out if the pump runs only a small amount of time each day. That said the water level shouldn't get low enough for the ATO to kick in... And water level would lower only through evaporation allowing the ATO to function normally. I do believe periodicly testing the salinity in the tank would be a good idea.

Regarding the auction: the heads for these pumps come in different configurations. You will need a double head for a water change... One to pump into the sump and one to pump out. The auction you linked to only has one head.[/QUOTE]

Larry is right, Jose. There should not be any effect regarding the ATO as long as water volume in=water volume out.

Regarding your auction, Larry is right again, that pump has one head, great for a reactor feed, but you need two identical pump heads to to move water in two different directions (new water in, and old water out) with the same ID tubing in both.

Regarding the ebay auctions:

1.You need to look often, and a search under "masterflex peristaltic" should bring up all pertinent listings.

2. You will find a big variance in prices for the same stuff, after you have looked a while. The used dual head pump I just got for $220 shipped has been listed in the same configuration for over $500 by other sellers ($1300 new).

3. If you see something you like, put it on your ebay "Watch List".

4. Stick with "Easy Load" pump heads or "Easy Load II" pump heads, as these allow the install/removal of the tubing without removing the pump head from the drive.

5. Different Easy Load and Easy Load II pump head models will use different ID widths of tubing. Those models that allow the use of the widest variety of tubing give you the most flexibility in their use.

*example* Say you want to use a pump to feed a calcium reactor or a sulfur denitrator. A calcium reactor has a greater flow rate that a sulfur denitrator. A pump head that allows a very narrow tubing to be used is suitable for a 2-5 drop/second drip rate or a wider tubing for a 70 ml/hour flow rate would allow you to use the same pump head for a different application. The pump head in my sulfur denitrator masterflex pump uses 1/16" ID tubing (feed rate is 5 drops/second), whereas the pump head feeding my calcium reactor is using 1/4" ID tubing (80-90 ml/min flow rate).

Easy Load and Easy Load II pump heads will usually have the type tubing they are compatible with printed on the front of the pump head itself. Here is an example. This pump head is compatible with LS 13,14,16,25,17 and 18 tubing, and these numbers are just different ID tubing. Also, here is a tubing chart from Cole Parmer. This is a good thing to bookmark for reference:

[IMG]http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Masterflex-Pump-7520-40-Console-Drive-Cole-Parmer-Easy-load-7518-00-head-/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/P-AAAOxy7rdREGOA/$(KGrHqRHJEUFELriI0CSBREGO!pqBg~~60_57.JPG" alt="" />

[IMG]http://www.coleparmer.com/TechLibraryArticle/772" alt="" />

6. Avoid units that don't state that they work in the item description.

7. You generally will find the best deals/lowest prices from sellers that basically liquidate equipment. Many times, those sellers that want the most for their pumps are the original users.

8. I avoid equipment that is really rusty, or has had a complete lack of care/cleaning. A pump doesn't have to be perfect and can have some signs of use, but it should be obvious from the pictures that it has had some modicum of care.

9. Don't be afraid to make offers on equipment, even if the auction doesn't allow it. The dual head pump I just got for $220 shipped was listed at $250 Buy It Now. I offered $200 and they accepted.

 

[acroholic]

Here is the Cole-Parmer L/S tubing guide. They make two types: thin walled Precision Tubing and thick walled High Performance Precision Tubing.

http://www.coleparmer.com/TechLibraryArticle/772">http://www.coleparmer.com/TechLibraryArticle/772</a>

You only need the Cole Parmer tubing to go in the pump head, and not the entire length you are pumping in. For both my calcium reactor and the sulfur denitrator, I cut 7.5" lengths of the Cole Parmer tubing, then just use regular black 1/8" ID RODI type tubing from Lowes to go to/from the pump itself. On each side of the 7.5" Cole Parmer tubing I use barb x threaded, attached to John guest type push fittings to attach the Lowes tubing.

 

[joseayes]

Thank you so much for all the info! That auction is not mine, just tough on bring it here since I saw it was a nice price to start with. And like you said it won't work for the purpose of automated WC. I been buying and selling on eBay and like you said as well, I better keep searching! Thank you again both of you guys! This thread should be stickied because is really good on information and descriptions imho.

 

[silver surfer]

Here is a different option for a pump.

I have the double head adjustable speed pump. This thing is a beast. It is a well built solid pump.

 

[silver surfer]

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[acroholic]

Silver Surfer;841791 wrote: View attachment 43424

These would be a good option as well. What is the range of adjustability with these? Can you go down to a couple drops/second, or are they adjustable in gallons per day?

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

Some good solutions here. Everything else except my dosing is somewhat automated or remote controlled, so no need to worry about that. Many nights, it takes all I got to get up after I've gotten comfortable and sleepy to manually 2-part dose my tank on my way to bed.

Is there a need to keep the solutions mixed in the containers before they are pumped into the tank?

Looking on ebay now for these pumps. LOL!!!

 

[silver surfer]

You can get different pumps that have different ranges. Mine will do around 5 gallons every 2 hours. I can adjust it down to a drop every second.

The only downside to these pumps are that they do make noise. It really doesn't bother me since my sump is in the basement.

 

[mherman]

which model do you have and how hard is it to change tubing?