Good protein skimmers

acrylic51

Active Member
Actually if you knew your evaporation rate you could have a container with that amount and use a small pump/PH and put the pump on a timer to start and quit for a specified amount of time.
 

psycho

Member
Ha ha. Ok cool! I'll order the tunze soon as I get back from trip.. Hey also what abou skimmers... I liked the octopus but some are saying to big it won't skim correctly for my size tank ... 56g and some r saying go bigger with the skimmer.... Any suggestions on which way to go...? I like the octopus but the smallest I seen was 100g skimmer.... However I can get the 150g for 20.00 more... What do u suggest?
 

psycho

Member
It evaporates about 3 to 4 gallons every 4 days.... I know why it evaporates so much ... I have a 150w mh along with 2 pc under the canopy ..... I'm using an 8inch fan to keep water cool, which is what is causing alll the evaporation. But surprisingly my tanks temp stays around 78 to 79 in the hottest part of the day. My corals like all the light... Bright as hell to
 

psycho

Member
Ok after much debate I think I'm going to keep using the float valve in the sump. The reason is my ro/di machine has a pressurized 4g holding tank ...... I will cut off the main water supply when I'm not at home and let my aquarium auto fill off the 4g holding tank.... So that way IF there were to be a problem and it the float valve didn't close all the way. It would only use the 4g that was in my holding tank and possibly wouldn't over fill my sump. It would only use the 4g that's in the holding tank and that would be it. ! :laughing:
 

psycho

Member
No the holding tank is pressurized 7psi .... It's fills u
Op when I have water turned on when it gets full it shuts off at control vale that on ro/di system..... Since the holding tank is pressurized I can cut off the water at the hook up and it will still have pressure in the holding tank to pump water into sump.... So it's not a pump nor gravity ..... The holding tank is pressured with 7psi .....
 

meowzer

Moderator
I was wondering cause I have a 10-12G can that I keep my ro/di in.....and was wondering if I plumbed the ato that goes into the sump from the can how would the water get into the sump
 

psycho

Member
I'll take pics of my setup guys when mget home tonite from my trip and post the pics online so y'all can see what I'm talk in about. It's a 4g pressurized tank. The water comes in from my laundry room faucet hook up into the ro part of my system, from there it is stored in my 4 g tank, when my sump needs water it's comes from my storage tank through the di part of my system and then in to my sump.... So since my holding tank is pressurized I can cut the water off at faucet and still have pressure from holding tank to make the water run into my sump. Woohoo it's my Friday guys! One more leg from St. Lewis to DCA, and then catch a ride home to atl! :evil:
 

acrylic51

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/387043/good-protein-skimmers/40#post_3403498
OK...like a maxijet 400???? Can a float control a pump?
Sorry Meowzer!!!!! A really cheap; simple way to do it is with a timer and PH.....If you know roughly your evaporation rate per day. You would take that amount, and and see how long it takes for the PH to pump "X" amount of water into the container. You would just plumb that line from the PH and yes you could use a float, and set the timer to turn on and off in the time it would require the PH to pump the water.....
 

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/387043/good-protein-skimmers/40#post_3403627
Sorry Meowzer!!!!! A really cheap; simple way to do it is with a timer and PH.....If you know roughly your evaporation rate per day. You would take that amount, and and see how long it takes for the PH to pump "X" amount of water into the container. You would just plumb that line from the PH and yes you could use a float, and set the timer to turn on and off in the time it would require the PH to pump the water.....
HMMMM....that sounds doable.....thanks....I may play with that this weekend....
 

prh123

Member
Search on float switch, I think its Coralife that made one, you install it in the sump at the level you want to maintain, and hook up a connection to a collected water source from RO with a small power head, or, directly to RO. In my experience I ran the line from a laundry room sink into the basement below and up to the sump. I learned the hard way you need to turn down the water pressure on the RO on float switch. Just like it sounds like, turn the faucet pressure down. The laundry room sink had a cheap faucet so I replaced it with a kitchen or bathroom one which could be use a simple adaptor to connect to RO. You lose access to the sink basically.
On a collected water source you can also do calcium and carbonate hardness buffer, I put a little salt mix in the water, you need a second power head in the collected water to circulate it.
On a six foot tank, I managed to find two large oak corner cabinets I put to the left and right. One had a HDTV, one had a 50 gallon rubber maid with the lid on. Home Depot sold wheels for them so in one application I would fill RO in the garage and wheel it in. Yes, it’s heavy.
 

acrylic51

Active Member

Search on float switch, I think its Coralife that made one, you install it in the sump at the level you want to maintain, and hook up a connection to a collected water source from RO with a small power head, or, directly to RO. In my experience I ran the line from a laundry room sink into the basement below and up to the sump. I learned the hard way you need to turn down the water pressure on the RO on float switch. Just like it sounds like, turn the faucet pressure down. The laundry room sink had a cheap faucet so I replaced it with a kitchen or bathroom one which could be use a simple adaptor to connect to RO. You lose access to the sink basically.
On a collected water source you can also do calcium and carbonate hardness buffer, I put a little salt mix in the water, you need a second power head in the collected water to circulate it.
On a six foot tank, I managed to find two large oak corner cabinets I put to the left and right. One had a HDTV, one had a 50 gallon rubber maid with the lid on. Home Depot sold wheels for them so in one application I would fill RO in the garage and wheel it in. Yes, it’s heavy.
Not trying to be rude, but turning down water pressure does nothing but make the RO/DI inefficient. The RO/DI needs a certain water pressure to preform at it's peak. Also it's never a good idea to plumb straight from the RO as I mentioned earlier. Floats are prone to stick and reduced water pressure still does nothing for overflowing/filling the system with freshwater!!!!
 
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