I need to buy a couple of these for pumps in the sump I'm building. Lifereef wants 100.00 a pop. I know that they would be quality, but that is a rediculous amount for a switch. Do you folks know of a reliable one that is cheaper? I'm worried about buying one that will get stuck open or closed and mess me up.
Float switches
- Thread starter Oceans Ferevh
- Start date
I'm in the process of building a two tiered sump. The water from the top tub passes through the pump (Mag 9) that feeds the skimmer. The water flows through the skimmer and exits into the bottom sump tub. A Little Gient pump will draw the water from the bottom tub up into a Bornman Flush Device above the tank and then flush it back into my display creating waves. I'm woried that if the Mag 9 shorts out for whatever reason, that the Little Gient will be left sucking air and burning out. I can't afford to loose a 130.00 pump. Another thing is if my little gient ever stoped working the Mag 9 would run out of water and fry (70.00 down the drain or up in smoke I should say 
).
).Ocean, there are other reed switches you can use; checkout Digikey's catalog. I got some for $10, but depending on your pump you may need to add a relay (mine does up to 500W). Go to www.digikey.com and look for LS02-1A71-PA-500W. The have both normally closed and normally open switches. After you find the part
http://rocky.digikey.com/scripts/Produc ... 71-PA-500W go and see the pdf catalog page, there are lots of options.
However, my main worry about your system is that it seems that you are trying to achieve the impossible: to match the rate of the mag with the rate of little giant. It will never happen. Instead I suggest you place the first sump higher than the second and have an overflow in place (then have the skimmer pump do a cycle somewhere, either within one of the sumps or within both (i.e., taking from lower and putting in the higher one).
Furthermore, having the mag suck water directly from the drain is a bad idea - just let it come down by itself into a container then you suck it through the mag.
M.
http://rocky.digikey.com/scripts/Produc ... 71-PA-500W go and see the pdf catalog page, there are lots of options.
However, my main worry about your system is that it seems that you are trying to achieve the impossible: to match the rate of the mag with the rate of little giant. It will never happen. Instead I suggest you place the first sump higher than the second and have an overflow in place (then have the skimmer pump do a cycle somewhere, either within one of the sumps or within both (i.e., taking from lower and putting in the higher one).
Furthermore, having the mag suck water directly from the drain is a bad idea - just let it come down by itself into a container then you suck it through the mag.
M.
Righty":2t7xe97v said:
http://aquadevices.50megs.com/order1.htm
I've never used one of these units myself, but they look nice...
mark78":1yhxrx72 said:
I would think so, at least in my application it did. What I did was hook an air pump up to the float switch. When the switch kicks on, the air pump pumps air into a 5 gallon capped resivoir which forces the water out. This water then runs through a DIY kalk reactor and tops off the tank until the proper water level is reached.
Ok I found another float switch manufacturer. Now I can't decide. They are:
http://aquadevices.50megs.com/order1.htm
http://www.autotopoff.com/products.html
http://aquadevices.50megs.com/order1.htm
http://www.autotopoff.com/products.html
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
