Check thisout!

[turbocav250]

I've been doing some heavy research lately on the water movement in my tank and I've come up with this schematic of my system. About 40% of the piping is already in place but please check it out and let me know what I'm missing what I need to change or what I'm not accounting for. This will be a full out reef someday, I am not interested in keeping fish. The only think I know I dont have in the schematic are the dosing machines can someone enlighten me?
For the New school people:

For the Old School people:

Let me know your opinions good or bad!

 

[darknes]

Wow, very nice. It took a while to study the whole thing. I wish I could start all over with a setup like that.
I do have a few questions..
Why do you have piping leading from your 32 gallon rubbermaid tank to your main tank, if your topoff water goes to the sump?(or is this for when you do water changes, it pumps it right into the tank?)
Also, how do you control the amount of water that gets pumped into the topoff tank?
Otherwise, looks like a great start.

 

[turbocav250]

My future plans are to have a 2nd 32 Gallon Rubbermaid garage can for saltwater mixing and water changes. That way I can just take the MAG pump and drop it in the other can and pump the water directly into the tank. I plan to control the topoff water container by running the MAG on a timer like a few minutes a day but if it isn't consistent like what I'm thinking I'll just have to fill it up manually with someone watching the container fill up. What I'm really concerned about is have the space for future machines like a kalkwasser doser, reactors, etc and such... Where would they tap into my system?

 

[darknes]

I see what you are saying...but why not get rid of the topoff container, and have the line from the float valve in the sump run right to the 32gallon container? That would solve the problem, since you wouldn't be mixing your salt in that one (plus, you wouldn't need a container quite so large).
As for the dosers and reactors, I don't have any, but I believe it's best to have them tap into the sump so that they can mix with the water before it runs right to the main tank. Some people also have them tap into their topoff container, so that the topoff water already has them mixed in.
Just some suggestions.

 

[turbocav250]

The "Garbage Cans" are in a separate room 15 feet away. I'm actually pumping the new RO/DI water through a wall and then into the separate topoff container. The picture however doesn't show how far away the cans really are. I'm having a problem with the kent float valve right now with the small topoff container. The float valve, even though closed still allows water to enter the sump. The water goes over the float valve about an inch and still keeps filling until the container is empty! The valve must be defective or there is too much pressure from the container on the float valve which is pushing it open.