Help With Top Off Setup

[revrick3]

Asked this in New Hobbyist but havent gotten any help in several days. Getting tired of carrying water and have vacation planned in few weeks. I want to set up a top off system but need some advice please. I have a RO/DI unit set up already for evaporation water but have to carry water from it to tank. RO unit is on back porch because fresh and waste water close to there. My tank is in living area of home and I have no place to put RO unit near tank. How far can I run the water line from the RO unit? It is about 35 ft from the unit to tank. If that is not too far I can run line under home to tank then set up top off in the sump under the tank. Can I leave water to RO unit on all the time with top off system and when it gets low the water opens and discharges fresh water? Is this possible? Is this too long of a run for the water from the unit to keep enough pressure? Any ideas would be great. Thanks Guys

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by revrick3
http:///forum/post/3004466
Asked this in New Hobbyist but havent gotten any help in several days. Getting tired of carrying water and have vacation planned in few weeks. I want to set up a top off system but need some advice please. I have a RO/DI unit set up already for evaporation water but have to carry water from it to tank. RO unit is on back porch because fresh and waste water close to there. My tank is in living area of home and I have no place to put RO unit near tank. How far can I run the water line from the RO unit? It is about 35 ft from the unit to tank. If that is not too far I can run line under home to tank then set up top off in the sump under the tank. Can I leave water to RO unit on all the time with top off system and when it gets low the water opens and discharges fresh water? Is this possible? Is this too long of a run for the water from the unit to keep enough pressure? Any ideas would be great. Thanks Guys
Why not set up a system that uses a container full of ro/di water...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UmT2...x=0&playnext=1
It's a good source of info...but this kid is ANNOYING lol.

 

[spanko]

Here is my setup on a 29 biocube.

 

[matt b]

If I were you I would put a 5g bucket in the room with the ro unit and get a 1/4 bulkhead, 1/4 speed fit an a float valve and there your ato. You run the line from the 5g bucket to you sump and put the float valve in your sump. When the valve lowers it fills up. You dont want to run your ro unit straight to your sump cause if the float valve fails your going to overflow alot of water. And you dont want to have your ro unit hooked up to your 5g buck in case the one on your sump fails it will keep filling your tank. You can run the line as far as you want, The bucket just has to be higher then the sump.

 

[flower]

I placed a 32g garbage can (FISH ONLY) that I use for water changes next to the tank. Got an autotop off system and set it up. I had to keep the hose out of the water so there is no back siphon. I used a fan like plastic piece off of a sprayer I never used, as a splash guard. I used zip ties to make sure nothing moved.
I ran one sensor to my tank and the other to my garbage can, covered it losely with the lid and placed a table cloth over the top to slow evaporation. It will hold a weeks worth of RO water for top offs. Works great!
Here are some pictures.

 

[lovethemfish]

Just wondering, if the sensor on your tank fails or gets stuck will all the water from the garbage can flow into your tank? I have the same problem as revrick3 in that my display tank and water source are very far apart and I cant seem to figure out how to do an auto top off system that I wont have to refill all the time. If I only use a 5 gallon bucket with my auto topoff then I still have to fill the 5 gallon bucket everyother day. My tank evaporates about 2.5 gallons a day. Any ideas?

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Lovethemfish
http:///forum/post/3005053
Just wondering, if the sensor on your tank fails or gets stuck will all the water from the garbage can flow into your tank? I have the same problem as revrick3 in that my display tank and water source are very far apart and I cant seem to figure out how to do an auto top off system that I wont have to refill all the time. If I only use a 5 gallon bucket with my auto topoff then I still have to fill the 5 gallon bucket everyother day. My tank evaporates about 2.5 gallons a day. Any ideas?
Not at all. I have no problems with the sensors on the one I bought. I attached it with zip ties.
The sensor for the tank is attached to the tube that comes from my canister, and the one in the can is attached to the hose down by the pump. It is a safety so it won't burn out the pump if it goes dry. I do refill the garbage can with RO water once a week. I have to lug 5g jugs in from the store; my water is too bad for a RO/DI unit.
My tank evaporates about 2 to 2 1/2g a day. So 25g of water is more than enough for a week.

 

[naclh2o nut]

Originally Posted by revrick3
http:///forum/post/3004466
Asked this in New Hobbyist but havent gotten any help in several days. Getting tired of carrying water and have vacation planned in few weeks. I want to set up a top off system but need some advice please. I have a RO/DI unit set up already for evaporation water but have to carry water from it to tank. RO unit is on back porch because fresh and waste water close to there. My tank is in living area of home and I have no place to put RO unit near tank. How far can I run the water line from the RO unit? It is about 35 ft from the unit to tank. If that is not too far I can run line under home to tank then set up top off in the sump under the tank. Can I leave water to RO unit on all the time with top off system and when it gets low the water opens and discharges fresh water? Is this possible? Is this too long of a run for the water from the unit to keep enough pressure? Any ideas would be great. Thanks Guys
I have parts on order for this as I type. My R/O unit is under kitchen sink about 25' away from tank. No walls just open space(dining/LR)
Hook up will be a shut off valve for the RO unit (LFS ordered it out of their catalog)(I can get you info if you need it), P/H, 30' line, auto top off contoller(still deciding this one, DIY or something like flowers). RO unit and shut off will sit under cabinet, fill up a large plastic container-trash can, file box, etc..what ever fits. Shut off valve will keep this full. P/H in container piped to sump/tank, along with a pair of wires. The wires will go to the float switch in sump. The other end to an extension cord. The P/h will plug into this. So when sump needs water it will drop the float valve, complete the electrical circuit with the ext. cord and turn on P/H. Once float switch raises circuit will break and P/h off. R/O will fill as its level lowers through out day.

 

[jackri]

The only way the sensor fails is in the "default" mode where it stops pumping and needs to be reset (you'd know what that means if you own one).
To fix this I have an airline bubbling under my sump sensor to keep "tripping" it so if it does go to default it trips it again and starts pumping water. The unit will only pump water out for a certain amount of time before it hits default which is from 3 - 14 minutes. Well I have mine set on 14 minutes and the timer portion is unreliable -- hence the bubbler.
Everything is housed in my cabinet except the 5 gallon bucket unfortunately.

 

[revrick3]

Some good ideas but I am still trying to keep this as simple as possible and not have to carry water across my home every couple of days. I saw a top off sensor made by GAP called the Level Lock. Has anyone used this. It connects sump to RO/DI unit directly. Has 2 failsafe switches so it looks pretty safe. Any experience with this one anyone. Thanks