Finally succeeded in setting up fully automated top off and push button water change. I'm getting too old to haul buckets on Saturdays and if I missed a week it I might go 3 weeks without water change if I have to go out of town. Then tank looks terrible and I wonder why I have a tank at all. Nothing looks worse than an unkept Reef, especially in the living room.
Setup auto top off using spectrapure ro system and 2 ATO kits. one ATO manages the ro and the other manages the sump fresh water topoff. Not the low end kit but the 200.00 kit. its worth the money. Tied ro into waterline in the garage, like the ice maker, works great. Also setup water change using apex feed mode to shut system down and restart everything after 10 mins in order of importance. I have two separate pumps pulling and replacing water. Bucket below the tank pumps fresh saltwater into sump and bucket above the sump gets waste water. i have a float that kicks on in waste bucket to pump waste water outside in the yard once the water in the waste bucket gets over 2 inches high. Waste and change water leaves the house and is dumped in backyard, via a conduit under patio, almost into the creek, so if the salt kills the grass, it will look natural. Also added apex water sensors to turn system off if any water is detected on floor. They are very sensitive to moisture.
I may never stop reefing now, water changes almost ran me out of the hobby. There are chances that you take just by having 100 gallons a salt water in your home, for the doomsayers, something can always go wrong, but for me, it's worth the chance. All systems have dual fail safety measures in place. If it goes bad, at least the water is in the garage. I'm a happy camper!
Setup auto top off using spectrapure ro system and 2 ATO kits. one ATO manages the ro and the other manages the sump fresh water topoff. Not the low end kit but the 200.00 kit. its worth the money. Tied ro into waterline in the garage, like the ice maker, works great. Also setup water change using apex feed mode to shut system down and restart everything after 10 mins in order of importance. I have two separate pumps pulling and replacing water. Bucket below the tank pumps fresh saltwater into sump and bucket above the sump gets waste water. i have a float that kicks on in waste bucket to pump waste water outside in the yard once the water in the waste bucket gets over 2 inches high. Waste and change water leaves the house and is dumped in backyard, via a conduit under patio, almost into the creek, so if the salt kills the grass, it will look natural. Also added apex water sensors to turn system off if any water is detected on floor. They are very sensitive to moisture.
I may never stop reefing now, water changes almost ran me out of the hobby. There are chances that you take just by having 100 gallons a salt water in your home, for the doomsayers, something can always go wrong, but for me, it's worth the chance. All systems have dual fail safety measures in place. If it goes bad, at least the water is in the garage. I'm a happy camper!
