FishyMike Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 Thank you in advance for everyone’s responses!! So I’m in the process of setting up a new fish rack with auto water built in and need some help. For the past year and a half I have been doing the bucket method and dosing with prime. But now I’m thinking can I get some sort of filter that removes my chlorine so I can run it straight to the tank? My ph levels are great water chemistry awesome around neutral I’m just scared of putting it thru a filter and loosing “good stuff”. I see many people to a tank or a large water holder that they use to fill the tank is that necessary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSH OUTDOORS Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 Do you know what your chlorine levels are from the tap? The reason I ask is I'm one of those that has a 65 gallon holding tank at ceiling level that I put my tap water into. I run an aggressive air stone in it at all times. My chlorine levels are low to begin with so within 24 hours I show it at zero out of the tank from it gassing off. At that point my holding tank gravity feeds to all my tanks. I would look at your city water report to first determine their average test level of chlorine to see if this is a viable option for you. Btw I have over 500 gallons worth of tanks that run off this. You could possibly get away with something much smaller. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyMike Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 On 7/27/2021 at 11:45 PM, DSH OUTDOORS said: Do you know what your chlorine levels are from the tap? The reason I ask is I'm one of those that has a 65 gallon holding tank at ceiling level that I put my tap water into. I run an aggressive air stone in it at all times. My chlorine levels are low to begin with so within 24 hours I show it at zero out of the tank from it gassing off. At that point my holding tank gravity feeds to all my tanks. I would look at your city water report to first determine their average test level of chlorine to see if this is a viable option for you. Btw I have over 500 gallons worth of tanks that run off this. You could possibly get away with something much smaller. Thank you for your quick response!! I have very low levels but I will deffinitly check. So I’m a bit confused so you have a 65 gallon tank but 500 Gallons worth of tanks do you have to do 8 days of water changes? And wouldn’t that not work because you have to wait 24 hours to read 0? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyMike Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 My local fish shop said I would be okay with a carbon filter and a sediment filter but I’m just looking for verification?!?! Would the carbon be a disadvantage at all it won’t mess with my ph? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 (edited) Here's a good thread on what you're wanting to accomplish. He doesn't talk much about what it does to other components of the water though (GH/KH/pH) I'll bet if you tag him he'll elaborate. Edited July 28, 2021 by Ken added link 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSH OUTDOORS Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 Most of my tanks are heavily planted and lightly stocked. I'm not that big on water changes period. For fry and bare bottom tanks yes I'm on it, But those are mostly 5&10 gallon tanks so I have days before I need to worry about running out of holding tank water. Push comes to shove, I'll use prime. I don't know if it's relevant to your situation but it's definitely filterless. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 IIRC there was a dean's fishroom tour where we see his water change setup and he runs through a carbon filter to remove chlorine. Given his success breeding I'd guess it's okay. Its probably going to be "different" water though. The filter's aren't too expensive so if 20-40$ isn't too much for an experiment to you, you could just buy it and test it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevesFishTanks Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 I have chloramine and I run auto water changer daily thru several different filters, mostly carbon. If you have chlorine instead it's even easier and the filters can treat alot more gallons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 This is what I use for my water prior to entering the automated water change system. The first filter is sediment and then the next 2 are carbon. The last 3 remove ions. The pH of the water is neutral as it enter the storage container. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyMike Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 On 7/28/2021 at 11:54 AM, Daniel said: This is what I use for my water prior to entering the automated water change system. The first filter is sediment and then the next 2 are carbon. The last 3 remove ions. The pH of the water is neutral as it enter the storage container. is there a need for a storage container? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 Yes, I have a 100 gallon one: This is the reservoir that the automated water change system uses when it needs to make a water change. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyMike Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 On 7/28/2021 at 4:15 PM, Daniel said: Yes, I have a 100 gallon one: This is the reservoir that the automated water change system uses when it needs to make a water change. thank you for that visualization!! i think i understand now!! you need a reservoir because you wont be able to pump that much water straight through? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 On 7/28/2021 at 4:27 PM, Mikeo said: thank you for that visualization!! i think i understand now!! you need a reservoir because you wont be able to pump that much water straight through? Exactly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyMike Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 On 7/28/2021 at 4:44 PM, Daniel said: Exactly! Do you fill your resivoir? Or is it auto mated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 The reservoir has what is called a float switch at the top which come on and starts filling the reservoir when the reservoir dips below completely full. When the reservoir get full to the top again, it shuts off water coming in through the fill tube. It is all automatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyMike Posted July 28, 2021 Author Share Posted July 28, 2021 Awesome!!! Where did you get something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 I did most of the plumbing, but my plumber did the tricky stuff. Everything came from different places. If you look at the photo of the RO system you can see where I bought that from. It has been set up since 2007 and I cannot remember where the storage tank came from. Float valves and RO units are big in the saltwater hobby so that where I would look. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 On 7/28/2021 at 8:54 AM, Daniel said: This is what I use for my water prior to entering the automated water change system. The first filter is sediment and then the next 2 are carbon. The last 3 remove ions. The pH of the water is neutral as it enter the storage container. you run straight RO+DI? do you remineralize? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 Why not have a slow continuous water change going? A 100 gallon tank at 30% a week is about 4-1/4 gallons a day or 0.18 gallons an hour. At that rate I don't think temperature would ever be an issue, or the rate at which you can make filtered water. Even if you have 10 of them (1000 gallons of aquariums) you're still only up to a couple gallons an hour. With an overflow system I would think that would be the simplest system you could come up with. But, people don't do it that way, I wonder why not? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 On 7/28/2021 at 8:41 PM, Ken said: Why not have a slow continuous water change going? A 100 gallon tank at 30% a week is about 4-1/4 gallons a day or 0.18 gallons an hour. At that rate I don't think temperature would ever be an issue, or the rate at which you can make filtered water. Even if you have 10 of them (1000 gallons of aquariums) you're still only up to a couple gallons an hour. With an overflow system I would think that would be the simplest system you could come up with. But, people don't do it that way, I wonder why not? I always kind of wondered why people don't do continuous water changes. Is it just harder to judge intuitively how much you're doing, or harder to get the flow rate consistent and correct? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevesFishTanks Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 I do small daily automatic water changes using solenoids and a sprinkler controller. The flow rate is 0.5 gallons per minute. The time the valve is open is set based on tank size. The tanks are drilled for overflow. Water goes thru the filters and straight into the tanks. The drainage goes into my outdoor pond stock tank. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 King of diy has a good video on drip systems 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Smith Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 On 7/27/2021 at 8:59 PM, Ken said: Here's a good thread on what you're wanting to accomplish. He doesn't talk much about what it does to other components of the water though (GH/KH/pH) I'll bet if you tag him he'll elaborate. Sorry I missed this earlier! My method did not negatively affect my water. I have Southern California liquid rock and high pH that stays that way after being filtered. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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