Top Up

[mlmoore]

I am planning to make an automatic top-up system for my reef tank and wanted to get some opinions on the proposed set up below. Are there any serious potential problems with this set up? What benefit would a peristaltic pump have over the small power head?

- 260 gal reef with 40 gal LifeReef LF-200 Berlin sump.
- 5 gal evaporation loss per day.
- Top-up with calcium hydroxide in RO.
- 25 gal Rubbermaid top-up prep tank (fill line in prep tank higher than fill line in sump, but both sit at the same level).
- Kent Marine RO outlet tapped into top-up prep tank with Kent Marine RO shut off float to keep top-up prep tank full.
- In-sump LifeReef float switch controlling MaxiJet 400 power head in top-up prep tank.
- Power head output split: 95 gal/hr to recirculate in top-up prep tank, 5 gal/hr runs to sump (split ratio controlled with ball valve on sump tubing) to provide slow top-up addition.

 

[mlmoore]

Does anyone have an opinion on this setup idea??

Thanks!

 

[mlmoore]

Does anyone have an opinion on this setup idea??

Thanks!

 

[aakks]

Well I just typed a long reply that got lost in space... sigh... This will be the short version.

You probably don't want the powerhead churning around the kalk that much. You want to minimize contact with air. Consider getting a timer for the powerhead that can be set to 5 minutes mixes several times a day.

If it were me I'd slow down the speed at which you add kalk to the tank. 5 gal/hr is a lot when you only need 5 gal/day. You could slow it down to a trickle and still keep topped off.

Otherwise the setup sounds ok.

Have you looked into a kalk (nilsen) reactor? It might be a nice addition to your setup. Check out:

http://www.theplague.net/reef/kalk.htm

There is also a good kalk article in the ozreef site's diy section http://ozreef.org/diy but the bbs won't let me post the exact URL because it has a parenthesis in it. Go figure.

Peter