how to make a water top up tank??

[LoReNsIa]

my tank seems to have water everporating.. and it lessen and lessen.. anyone can teach mi how to make one?? as my tank is 4x2x2.. and the sump is 3ft..

Thanx..

Lorenzo..

[diabolus]

which tank does not have water evaporating?

you can either DIY your own top up kit or get a TUBBY from our sponsor.

[hotlemond]

I ever tot of the idea of two float switch that power up a small power head to pump out water from a container. wander if this is cheaper than the TUBBY system

and also if you can have a container above your sump, try the slow drip siphon method. can add kalk too.

[LoReNsIa]

hahax.. tubby is too ex for a sec 4 boi like mi.. hahax.. eh.. thought of using the dripping.. but not nice.. hahax.. eh.. the 2 float is like toilet bowl inside the thing.. the ball.. hahax.. eh.. i did sae some one using in thier design tank..

[cjh]

u can use a tank of something then drill a hole and make a drip system...

i use that to ensure the salinity and the water level of my 2 ft tank from dropping.... maybe it will work for ur 4 feet tank by using a bigger tank and more drops /min??

[zarkon]

someone ever did a simple top-up using a timer and a pump. Set the timer to activate the pump on some interval to top up.

If I'm right, it's like activate on hourly with duration of 1-3 minutes.

Of course you'll need do some estimate base on:

1. how much you want to top-up vs the evaporation rate.

2. your pump-flow rate.

(i think)

Yap, it's not dynamic like a Tubby. But it'll work.

[hotlemond]

someone ever did a simple top-up using a timer and a pump. Set the timer to activate the pump on some interval to top up.

If I'm right, it's like activate on hourly with duration of 1-3 minutes.

Of course you'll need do some estimate base on:

1. how much you want to top-up vs the evaporation rate.

2. your pump-flow rate.

(i think)

Yap, it's not dynamic like a Tubby. But it'll work.

interesting idea. i wouldn't mind to try it out during those long Friday nights out after work. But really its the timer i dun trust. either i need to QC the manual ones many times or get a reliable digital.

[diabolus]

someone ever did a simple top-up using a timer and a pump. Set the timer to activate the pump on some interval to top up.

If I'm right, it's like activate on hourly with duration of 1-3 minutes.

Of course you'll need do some estimate base on:

1. how much you want to top-up vs the evaporation rate.

2. your pump-flow rate.

(i think)

Yap, it's not dynamic like a Tubby. But it'll work.

i'll be one of them.

wat u need is a air tight jerry can, a air pump, and a timer(digital preferred)

[LoReNsIa]

but thing are hard to sae.. and do those thing tt bro zarkon mention.. will it consume alot of electricity..??? and will the jerrycan fall when u place it in tt narrow place??? sry if i'm wrong.. juz wan u all to teach.. thanx..

[diabolus]

an air pump consumes only 1.2w of electricity.(at least mine is rated 1.2w)

thats all.

how can the jerry can fall?unless you balance it on a narrow ledge or something.

[LoReNsIa]

and wher can we find a small jerry can olso mah.. hahax.. that the problem..

[diabolus]

bro,

do a search lah...this topic have been discussed countless times liaoz.

dun expect ppl to spoonfeed you lah.

[LoReNsIa]

eh bro diablous laxing lah.. i don noe tt much thing mah.. i was asking for help.. but not a lacture...

[diabolus]

am in no way lecturing you...

i have posted a step by step method before.

just do a search, lazy to post again.

[LoReNsIa]

hmmm.. okie okie.. will go check ur post.. sry..

[klim]

Hi Bro diabolus, can tell us the exact place on this "step by step guide"...your post is alot...very tired going thru.

[dandelion76]

i'll be one of them.

wat u need is a air tight jerry can, a air pump, and a timer(digital preferred)

I made one exactly the same as mentioned. In fact there's trick to get it work as close as possible to the Tubby (well to me Tubby is still better as you can control the water level precisely, and it's dynamically replenishing ur evaporated water).

Things u need:

1x Electronic timer

1x Small power head

1/2" PVC tubing

1x 1/2" ball valve

1x 20 litres pail (or jerry can)

With the ball valve, u can control the amount of water to top-up ur system more easily by playing around with the top-up time and ball valve opening.

The problem with this set up is the inability to attain a fix water level once water top-up is completed wrt timer setting. Over time ur sump water level might become either too high or too low.

The TRICK:

What I did was to actually connect the power head to a PVC tubing , in which the discharge opening of the PVC pipe is going straight down to the sump, just above the desired water level of the sump before evaporation.

Then, adjust the top-up volume such that after topping up, the discharge opening of the PVC pipe is slightly submerge under the sump water. As the power head is turned off, back siphoning will took place; excess water will then back siphoned to ur reservoir, and viola the water level will be fixed at the desired level (of course don't try to top-up ur water by 10 litres and let it back siphon ~5 litres ... ur sg will then be reduced overtime, don't blame me if there's any casuaties hor )

Beware too, that ur water reservoir level needs to be at a level lower than that of ur sump ... else get ready for a flood

[shoelevy]

Then, adjust the top-up volume such that after topping up, the discharge opening of the PVC pipe is slightly submerge under the sump water. As the power head is turned off, back siphoning will took place; excess water will then back siphoned to ur reservoir, and viola the water level will be fixed at the desired level

if water is back siphoned into the reservoir am i right to say that the water in your reservoir is salt water?

[dandelion76]

Nope... as onli a little bit of water (<1 litre,can be tuned properly) is back siphoned to the reservoir...

So u can cal. the change in salinity, assuming that u r using a 20L reservoir, top up the water by 4 litres each time, and 1 litre of salt water back siphoned into ur reservoir:

New Salinity of Reservoir Water = ((1x1.024)+(16x1))/17

= 1.0014

So the salinity of the reservoir would not change too much.

[dandelion76]

Opps.. left out some details: (why I can't modify my own post??)

So u can cal. the change in salinity, assuming that u r having 100 litres of sea water in ur tank and r using a 20L reservoir, 3 litres of water evaporate from ur system, u top up the water by 4 litres each time, and 1 litre of salt water back siphoned into ur reservoir:

Salinity of tank water after 3 litres of evaporation = ((1.024-1)*100/97)+1 = 1.0247

After top up:

New salinity of tank water = (97*1.0247+4*1)/101 = 1.02372

New Salinity of Reservoir water = ((1x1.024)+(16x1))/17 = 1.0014

2nd top up, Reservoir s.g. = 1.0031 ; Tank s.g = 1.02378

3rd top up, Reservoir s.g. = 1.005 ; Tank s.g. = 1.02393

4th top up, Reservoir s.g. = 1.009 ; Tank s.g. = 1.02408

And 5th ..... time to refill ur reservoir

So the salinity of the reservoir & ur tank water would not change too much.

[Clownfish]

u can create a simple top off system using float switch(es).... link is below... my only concern is the float switch in direct connection with 230V... wld be best if it is stepped down at the float switch... i guess that explains y tubby is more ex. than DIY in this way cos it uses a relay circuit for this if i'm not wrong....

http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/auto_topoff.html

[shoelevy]

Opps.. left out some details: (why I can't modify my own post??)

So u can cal. the change in salinity, assuming that u r having 100 litres of sea water in ur tank and r using a 20L reservoir, 3 litres of water evaporate from ur system, u top up the water by 4 litres each time, and 1 litre of salt water back siphoned into ur reservoir:

Salinity of tank water after 3 litres of evaporation = ((1.024-1)*100/97)+1 = 1.0247

After top up:

New salinity of tank water = (97*1.0247+4*1)/101 = 1.02372

New Salinity of Reservoir water = ((1x1.024)+(16x1))/17 = 1.0014

2nd top up, Reservoir s.g. = 1.0031 ; Tank s.g = 1.02378

3rd top up, Reservoir s.g. = 1.005 ; Tank s.g. = 1.02393

4th top up, Reservoir s.g. = 1.009 ; Tank s.g. = 1.02408

And 5th ..... time to refill ur reservoir

So the salinity of the reservoir & ur tank water would not change too much.

hey bro

thanks for such a detailed explanation

[dandelion76]

No problem bro Shoelevy .. actually I never did any calculation before, just think that it's alright.

Ur question actually spur me to check if my intuiation is right?

So now that I know how much my tank s.g. is fluctuating.. time to get a bigger tank to reduced s.g. fluctuation