Give me some idea, PLEASE

[bellaroxio]

Have a huge refugium (43" x 20"). Have a 4-chamber RO. Have new JBJ ATO. Have (2) Kent Marine float valve only.
I don't have room for a reservoir tank.
Please tell stupid me how to control the the water level in the sump. I am thinking of having the RO directly drip in to the sump.
Thanks from the dumb one.

 

[2quills]

Many of the experts say you should never attempt to do this because it is a disaster waiting to happen.
But if you're feeling froggy you could probably just hook up one of them float valves to a water shut off selonoid installed before the R/O unit. That would be my guess.
Good luck.

 

[bellaroxio]

After spending the the whole day thinking of the sump and reading all the searches (that's what happened when you are in 4th get together that has NO alcohol), I will build another cabinet for the reservoir tank, which is my ex-wet-dry-sump. The RO will be 1 feet above the reservoir. The reservoir will be 3 feet above the refugium. Both float valves that came with the ATO is bad. Since the RO is higher than the reservoir which is higher than the refugium, can I just use gravity-type flow rather than depending on pump....?
1) On the ball valves of the reservoir (pic), can I convert this into some gravity to the refugium? I just hate to drill another hole
2) May I ask what I need to get - float valves, pressure solenoid..?.
Thanks for your help.

 

[2quills]

Sure you could run some tubing from the reservoir to the sump and just put a ball valve on the line and fill the sump manually as needed. Or you could hook up a float switch in the return chamber of the sump connected to a small pump in the reservoir and have an ATO.
Just remember...the more complicated you make it by adding more switches for automated controls...the more chance there is for failure or complications down the road. Float switches can and do fail from time to time so it's just something to consider before you hook anything like that up.
If it were me...I would use a modest size reservoir tank...something large enough to keep the water level in my sump up for a few days but not too large that if a float switch were to ever fail by not shutting off that it wouldn't overflow the entire sump. I would have a second container for the RO water to be made in and I would just fill my reservoir from that. That way I could make up say 40-50 gallons of RO water on a weekend when I was home...when it was done I would turn it off. That way I would have plenty of water to last for at least a week and then I would just top off my reservoir every few days.

 

[acrylic51]

Originally Posted by 2Quills
http:///forum/post/3283823
Many of the experts say you should never attempt to do this because it is a disaster waiting to happen.
But if you're feeling froggy you could probably just hook up one of them float valves to a water shut off selonoid installed before the R/O unit. That would be my guess.
Good luck.

I strongly urge you not to go this route...It might work for months, years, but at some point that float valve is/will hang up and will happen when your away(vacation) whatever and it will flood your system with tons of fresh water, and even better might overflow your sump causing a mess........