Auto Water change pump problem

[Sted]

Hi all was hoping you could help me. Am setting up my fish room and need suggestions on what pump system would be best to pump the auto from two linked ibc totes in my tanks. Only after doing a small water change every day. Was looking to use 1/4 inch hma hosing to run to the rakes but that’s open to suggestions also. The run is about 9 metres with max a 1.5m incline out of the tote initially. Hope this all makes sense. Thanks. 
 

 

[Sted]

Wanted to add. Would love to be able to do it like corys new room and have zones but no idea if this is possible with the water not coming from a mains. Thanks in advance 

[gardenman]

This is an interesting situation. You're not pumping dramatically uphill which is good. The 1/4" diameter feed pipes means you don't need enormous head pressure as you won't be pushing against a lot of water. (Smaller diameter tubing is easier to move water through. Try sucking water through a drinking straw or airline tubing and a one inch pipe. It's a lot easier to suck water through the straw.)  I was going to suggest an RO booster pump as the fittings are the right size, but have read that many require at least 20 PSI on the input side and you couldn't guarantee that with the totes. A cheap pond pump might give you the power you need. Part of me wants to recommend a well pump/pressure tank setup and treat the totes like they're a well, but that might be overkill. (Probably would be overkill.) I'd probably opt for a cheap pond pump and see how that goes. I buy the cheap under $20 ones for my fountain and rain barrels. The one I'm using in my rain barrels to auto water my box planters has a 3/4" outlet and pumps the water about 1 meter vertically. It's rated at 400 GPH. You probably wouldn't need one that was that powerful. I might target one in the 150-200 GPH range to start with and see how it works. If it works, great. If not, you can always use it for something else.

[Sted]

9 hours ago, gardenman said:

This is an interesting situation. You're not pumping dramatically uphill which is good. The 1/4" diameter feed pipes means you don't need enormous head pressure as you won't be pushing against a lot of water. (Smaller diameter tubing is easier to move water through. Try sucking water through a drinking straw or airline tubing and a one inch pipe. It's a lot easier to suck water through the straw.)  I was going to suggest an RO booster pump as the fittings are the right size, but have read that many require at least 20 PSI on the input side and you couldn't guarantee that with the totes. A cheap pond pump might give you the power you need. Part of me wants to recommend a well pump/pressure tank setup and treat the totes like they're a well, but that might be overkill. (Probably would be overkill.) I'd probably opt for a cheap pond pump and see how that goes. I buy the cheap under $20 ones for my fountain and rain barrels. The one I'm using in my rain barrels to auto water my box planters has a 3/4" outlet and pumps the water about 1 meter vertically. It's rated at 400 GPH. You probably wouldn't need one that was that powerful. I might target one in the 150-200 GPH range to start with and see how it works. If it works, great. If not, you can always use it for something else.

Ok thanks will try that out. 

[StevesFishTanks]

It would be possible to use a sprinkler controller and setup zones. You would need the pump to be triggered by a relay controlled by the timer.  It would turn the pump on prior to the zones.

[anewbie]

You could use a smart socket and then use your phone as the 'remote' switch. I've used kasa smart plug and they seem to work well (i use them as timers for my co2).

[Sted]

2 hours ago, anewbie said:

You could use a smart socket and then use your phone as the 'remote' switch. I've used kasa smart plug and they seem to work well (i use them as timers for my co2).

Yes that’s my plan but ideally wanted to have different racks on different switches. Which I guess is possible by using multiple pumps in the totes I guess. 

[anewbie]

I see you need some sort of smart multi-way valve. I think such a thing exist - not sure if it would be cost effective. They certainly exist with timers for sprinklers.

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Btw they do have kasa smart power strips with multiple plugs if that helps at all.

Edited May 5, 2021 by anewbie