diy auto top-off

[Max]

any one have a link to a sight for diy atuo top off, and how much will it cost me??

thanks

 

[Max]

ok here is what i was thinking... have a 2L bottle (or more but must be capped) cut 2 holes in the top just big enough for airline stuff, have one line going to a pump and another to the tank, and have the float switch power the air pump to make pressure forcing the water out until its high enough to turn off the switch? think that would work??

any one who doesnt know what a float switch is go here... float switch

or its basicly a flating thing hanging on your tank and if the water level goes to low it compleats the cirrcut turing somthing (in this case a air pump) on...

 

[Ricoch3T]

You might want to try a grainger book (i can't spell) to see if they offer anything similar to what your looking for.. The best idea in my opinion would be to find a float valve and just buy a saddle valve from lowes to pipe up to it (saddle valve or piercing valve i've seen it called both, basically just makes a small hole in the pipe. commonly used for hooking up icemakers). It would work sort of like your toilet valve (old style) when the ball goes down it lets the water in the tank. When the ball floats up it shuts off.
This way you wouldn't have to worry bout ever filling the bottle or tank up with water.
I've thought many times about piping up a drain and fill valve for tanks (mines only a 42 gallon so not really needed). I just like the idea of having everything automated so I can just enjoy the tanks. 8)

 

[csr mel]

you can make an auto topoff which requires no moving parts, no electricity, and has only 1 single piece to it. this top off also costs $1.00 to buy and is available in any grocery store.

think of how a water cooler works and visualise this.

you cut a small hole in youre tank lid. fill a 2 liter bottle up with water (this is the thing which costs a dollar). put the 2 liter bottle's neck in the tank lid hole.
when the water level gets low enough so that the water uncovers the opening in the bottle, water will excape and air will enter the bottle. this will keep happening untill the water level rises to sufficent hight as to submerge the neck of the bottle.

as an option, if youre tank has a lid which is quite high, you may need to attach a small piece of plastic pipe to the bottle's neck so that it can go down far enough to touch the surface of the water.

this basically works exactly like a water cooler.

 

[Stryker]

ooooh

hang on then, so why do all the marine geeks have like $100 topoff systems? or is a pepsi bottle too common?

 

[csr mel]

well, on somthing like a huge marine tank a 2 liter bottle will not even raise the water level 1mm. the 2 liter bottle is really only suited for sub 160 liter tanks.

anything bigger would probably need 25 liter water cooler bottle, which is heavy enough to crush a tanklid.
so you see why the reef guys do not do this.

 

[Stryker]

heehe yeah I see, just could not resist tho. I guess any sealed container with a downwards pipe to enter the tank would work tho.... its something to do with the weight of the water above vs the surface area of the tank but I'm not sure of the maths to work out how much water could be suspended above.