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Unread 01/01/2016, 12:32 AM   #1526
jason2459
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Happy New Year!

I've about finished off the new ATO split from the standalone kalk/lime dosig. It's all running now. Only thing I have left to do is drill two holes near the bottom but waiting now for it to empty out which could be a while. One will be for the ATO is near empty switch sending me an alert. The second hole is for a viewing tube that attaches back to the top of the container. Gives a quick view with out having to open the top to see how full or near empty the container is. Didn't need it on my 29g tote as it was clear.

Far left tube is the quick view on how full the container is. Next to that is the water is full switch to send me an alert I can shut off the RO/DI water supply. Then the water line in to a float valve inside that will shutdown the water supply when full via ASO on the rodi unit. Last and far right tube is connected to a puml at the bottom pushing water into the sump for top off and controlled by many things. I'll post the Apex code after this.



The SlimJim does bow a little but not bad and the top or bottom is not deformed at all. About as much as my 29g tote does.



I started cleaning up the water supply and one of these days I'll organize all the wires strung around everywhere.

Far left is a free rodi line for me to use for anything with a valve toward its end. Next is the valve for the new rodi top off. Then the valve for the lime water reservoir. Last to the far right is the new saltmix brute valve. The bigger gray valve is the supply line in.


There's another not seen which is a line after the RO membranes and before the DI stages. I use it to flush the TDS creep before each use and for anything I just want RO water for.

Then there's also the waste water valves. One is for flushing and another is for tweaking the flow rate to keep water pressure at 80psi for optimal water flow rate.


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Last edited by jason2459; 01/01/2016 at 12:39 AM.
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Unread 01/01/2016, 12:52 AM   #1527
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Here's the apex programming to start with and may change as I'm doing things a bit differently now and strategy is changing.

The Main pump program that sits at the bottom of the Slim Jim ATO container. It's a MJ1200 so don't want it running for more then a minute at a time which is more of a failsafe option slowing it down in case somethings gone wrong. For normal operation 1 minute should be plenty of time.
[ ATO_6_4 ] ( 6_4 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Up/Down Arrows
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 015:00/001:00/000:00 Then ON
If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = ON Then ON
If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = OFF Then OFF
If Outlet vSumpHigh_A7 = ON Then OFF
If Outlet return_7_1 = OFF Then OFF
If Condx9 < 33.0 Then OFF
If FeedD 230 Then OFF

With the ATO pump being able to be more aggressive I have that Condx9 failsafe in there and if for some reason it is broken or not working I have another pump in my saltmix container that can kick in to help. Here's it's programming. whicih I don't want it kicking on if the salinity is to high EXCEPT if for some reason the ATO pump is broken. I'll get an ATO Failure alert and will be able to inspect anything before any real salinity drifting really happens. It would take a while for salinity to get into any kind of danger zone. This is why there's an ON after the condx9 tells the normal operation to shutdown.
[ NewSalt_6_7 ] ( 6_7 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Hourglass
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 030:00/001:00/000:00 Then ON
If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = ON Then ON
If Condx9 > 35.5 Then OFF
If Outlet vATOWarn_B8 = ON Then ON
If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = OFF Then OFF
If Outlet vSumpHigh_A7 = ON Then OFF
If Outlet return_7_1 = OFF Then OFF
If NSE9_4 OPEN Then OFF
Defer 000:10 Then ON


And for the lime/kalk dosing via the old Rubbermaid 29g tote I'm going to have it run for 1 second every 10 minutes 24/7 to start with. It's on a spectrapure stand alone doser and kind of figured out the flow rate and how much that will put out and should be under what my ATO needs will be. I'll be monitoring the Apex Graphs to make sure and to also watch the pH.
[ Lime_7_3 ] ( 7_3 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Hourglass
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 009:59/000:01/000:00 Then ON
If Outlet vPH_High_C7 = ON Then OFF


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Unread 01/01/2016, 07:21 PM   #1528
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I've been pleasantly surprised at the noticeable difference in my tank since switching over to the vinegar and vodka mixed based on TMZ's ratio and dosing.

Sand seems whiter,rock seems cleaner, and my anemones particularly the green one is constantly out and full. Could be coincidence but haven't seen my tank looking like this in a long time. It seems to have hit a good balance. I'll be cleaning the ATS screen tonight or tomorrow night and see how that's been doing.

Couple shots from earlier.

From above seeing the white white sand









Goniopora looking good





I hadn't had a good shot of this critter but love this little conch



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Unread 01/01/2016, 07:36 PM   #1529
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Looks like I've also got the limewater dosing timing about right the first time. I'll keep monitoring water levels and pH in case I need to adjust.

But water level has not raised very high and has still allowed my top off to run periodically. First time doing this separate but I think this seems just about perfect.

pH the past two days has also not had near as high of swings and still maintaining above 8.0. Again, I'm very happy with this.

Not going to high.



Lime/kalk dosing every 10 minutes for 1 second. And the ATO just RO/DI periodically running. pH spikes not as high.



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Last edited by jason2459; 01/01/2016 at 08:04 PM.
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Unread 01/02/2016, 12:20 AM   #1530
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Had the chance and cleaned off the Turbo ATS screen. It was as expected heavy, overgrown with algae, some bacteria, and many critters crawling through it all.

Everything has its place now and all working together like a well oiled machine. But it certainly seems like as soon as my tank saw that Vodka it said you complete me.

I'll have to do a few tests tomorrow night. I was planning on doing at least a phosphate and Alk test by now but just haven't gotten to it. I suppose I could do it now but really don't want to get up to do it right now.


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Unread 01/02/2016, 11:41 AM   #1531
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Lime dosing looking great and ATO running as it should.

pH staying above 8 over night. Also, to note my CO2 scrubber's soda lime has been purple for a while now too. Wanted to see how the constant lime water dosing goes and will take it completely offline today and keep monitoring.




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Unread 01/03/2016, 12:21 AM   #1532
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I wasn't going to but then was and then wasn't. But I went ahead and did some testing tonight. I did disconnect the CO2 scrubber earlier tonight around 10pm.

Something I did last weekend and forgot to make note of is I calibrated the Apex salinity probe again and relocated where it was at. It would swing around quite a bit through out the day and I was hoping it was getting some interference. The past week its been really steady with some slight variations up and down here and there but nothing like it was. It would swing from 32 to 37 quite a bit before. The past week its swings are all with in 1ppt. Much better.

Salinity/Temp/pH via Apex


Salinity via veegee refractometer:
Just a hair under 35ppt.

API Alk: 10

API Calcium: 420

Salifert Mg: 1485

Salifert Nitrate: < .25

Hanna 736 ULR phosphorus: 3ppb or .009ppm phosphates.






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Last edited by jason2459; 01/03/2016 at 12:27 AM.
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Unread 01/03/2016, 09:32 PM   #1533
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I definitely think the salinity probe was getting some interference.

This is much better. Staying with in 1ppt or less



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Unread 01/03/2016, 10:00 PM   #1534
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I was feeding my copperband tonight some hikari mysis and noticed that starfish was way up on the glass so I put a little mysis on it and it climbed all the way to the top and extended one of its arms out. I put a couple mysis on them and then noticed the rest of its body was making like a cup so I squirted some more in. It "cupped" up even more to not allow any of i t to get out. Pretty smart.







I always forget about that tiny mini max anemone I got when I got the bubble tips. It hasn't moved from this spot in a long time since it wandered around for a while when I first got it. It's grown a bit but darn near impossible for me to get a good shot with my lousy camera skills



And because I love the bubble tips



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Unread 01/03/2016, 11:17 PM   #1535
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What kind of starfish is that?

Corey


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Unread 01/03/2016, 11:23 PM   #1536
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Quote:
Originally Posted by biecacka View Post
What kind of starfish is that?

Corey
Common starfish from KP Aquatics. Supposed to be reef safe.

http://www.kpaquatics.com/product/common-starfish/


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Unread 01/04/2016, 11:09 AM   #1537
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My ATO has been kicking in plenty often so I'm going to double the lime dosing rate from 1s every 10 minutes to 1s every 5 minutes and see what happens.




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Unread 01/04/2016, 10:19 PM   #1538
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Picked up a couple new mixing jugs I saw at Walmart I instantly fell in love with. Big wide openings to easily poor stuff into with out a funnel, easy poor opening with the lid on, handle to easily shake/mix contents, and just a hair over 1 gallon mark at top.



Rubbermaid Mixer mate




Left one there I just mixed up some Mag Chloride/Sulfate with some RO/DI. And the right one I mixed up the rest of a bottle of vinegar I had with some vodka. So easy to measure and dump into them, close them up, and shake.

I'll still use this vinegar bottle for the dosing and use a funnel to poor into it.



The mag I just measure a small amount of it out and poor it into my new saltwater mixing brute.

I'm collecting Rubbermaid products all over the place now. 50g Rubbermaid Brute saltmix container, 29g Rubbermaid tote for limewater/kalk dosing, 23g Rubbermaid SlimJim for RODI ATO, 2x Rubbermaid MixerMate pitchers for mixing, I noticed tonight I have three funnels all Rubbermaid, use these little Rubbermaid tupperware like things to thaw out frozen foods with tank water in, and I remember something else the other day I was using said Rubbermaid on it but can't remember what it was.


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Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank
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Unread 01/04/2016, 10:33 PM   #1539
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Noticed you can see that yellow tubing going into a white T and tubing and that is my CO2 scrubber disconnected since yesterday.

pH still didn't go bellow 8 and didn't think it would since the soda lime looked to have been exhausted.

I did bump up the lime dosing to what I thought was 1 second every 5 minutes but looks like I fat fingered it and has been dosing 1 second every 2 minutes all day.

But actually looks good there at that rate and the ATO has still been kicking in quite often. So, going to leave it for another day to see. I don't want to reduce the ATO rate to much as right now this time of year it does run a bit more often then transitional periods of fall and spring where the Heat or the AC doesn't run as much.

pH maxed out at 8.14 and started out the morning at 8.01 so there's plenty of room to bump the rate up even more but need to make sure to monitor alkalinity too.



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Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank

Last edited by jason2459; 01/04/2016 at 10:39 PM.
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Unread 01/04/2016, 10:54 PM   #1540
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What the heck. Just did a quick calcium and Alk test. Super easy and quick.


API:
Calcium: 420
Alk: 10

No change from yesterday.


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Unread 01/05/2016, 10:01 PM   #1541
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So, I couldn't help myself this morning. This is to much fun. lol

ATO has been kicking on plenty so I went ahead and bumped up the limewater dosing to 1 second every minute. That slowed down the ATO noticeably. So, I will halt and hold back on increasing any dosing and watch.




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Unread 01/06/2016, 12:12 AM   #1542
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I think I posted a while back some parts of what I planned on doing for maintanence on my skimmer once I got the swabbie and Davey Jones Locker. I just posted this in another thread and figured I'd log it here.

My skimmer maintanence is extremely minimal. I use a swabbie neck cleaner that has done an excellent job cleaning the neck keeping it squeaky clean.



Then that red tube connects down to a 5 gallon bucket. That 5 gallon bucket has a horizontal float switch that alerts and tells me I need to dump it. Then it also has a pressure switch above that level that again alerts me saying you idiot why didn't you listen to me before and then it also shuts down my skimmer.

Now the maintanence on that is me bringing up Apex Fusion on any web browser and turning a pump on that I also have sitting at the bottom of that bucket. That pump has a hose attached that feeds to a floor drain next to it. The beauty of it is I don't have to time it when to turn it off. I turn it on for a second and right back off. It then siphons the rest out.

So, far I've spent 3 seconds of my time every so often on maintenance. If I want I have a IR night vision type webcam I can remotely control to get a visual of what's going on or can see how full the skimmate bucket is and dump it sooner than alerted if I cared too.

The next maintanence chore on it is cleaning out the collection cup. I'm far to lazy to bring it up to the sink. So, I put my finger on the air intake which then floods the collection cup to the skimmate bucket flushing it all out. I also have a new saltmix container that has a pump in it directly to my sump. I turn it on for a few seconds so my ATO doesn't replace the saltwater that just flushed out the skimmer's collection cup. I fill up the bucket and release my finger. I then take my 3 seconds to turn on the bucket's pump for a second to empty it.

That maintanence is a real chore and takes me a good 60 seconds to fill up that bucket. Not to mention the 5 seconds to turn on the new salt mix pump AND back off. Then the bother to take the final 3 seconds to turn on and off the bucket's draining pump.

It's a drag and I do that every TWO weeks! Or really on schedule now when I scrape my ATS screen which I do now on the 1st and 15th of the month so its easier to remember then every two weeks.

The Bucket




As for cost. If the pump goes out its a reliable and efficient yet inexpensive sicce based pump.

I am looking to try out an MTC skimmer which I already have a fairly inexpensive mag1800 pump to go with it.

Which I already have spares of both. As I also run a mag 1800 for my return pump. I always keep spares of stuff.

But yes, some skimmer pumps are crazy expensive but very nice.


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Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank
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Unread 01/06/2016, 12:56 PM   #1543
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My urchin was in a new hiding spot yesterday. It's growing quickly. Notice my starfish climbing around towards it to.






















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Unread 01/07/2016, 08:24 AM   #1544
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I think I'm set now with tweaking out the limewater/kalk dosing.

It's set to 1 second every minute 24/7. pH as taken a nice little bump up and hanging around 8.1's to low 8.2's. Nice little swing and I would assume extremely low to non-existent alk swing. ATO still kicks on but not nearly as much. Come spring I'll need to monitor more to make sure the ATO still kicks in at least every few hours. If anything the limewater would be shutdown if it raises the water to a high float switch.




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Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank
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Unread 01/07/2016, 01:44 PM   #1545
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I got back my Avast Marine 25ml/m peristaltic pump. It broke last year and I finally got around to contacting them for warranty repair. Technically it was about 8 days out of warranty but they said send it on in and they'll fix it. They replaced the motor and shipped it back.

I was going to switch my vodka/vinegar to dose 2x per day from the 6x it's doing now. But I don't know if I'm comfortable doing so. I just ran the pump and it doesn't seem like it operates very smoothly and has this click that happens every revolution. I think I'll just stick with the BRS 1.1ml/m dosing pump that's been running solid now for the past 6 years or so. I probably should replace the inner tubing though. I keep forgetting to do that for about the past 5 years.


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Last edited by jason2459; 01/07/2016 at 02:04 PM.
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Unread 01/08/2016, 12:16 PM   #1546
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Here's the Apex programming that it looks like I'm finally settling on between my ATO of RO/DI, newsalt water adjustment/backup, and lime water dosing.


I have a couple pH probes and they are referenced in a few spots for a low and high value. So, if I want to adjust my low and high threshold I only have to do it at one virtual outlet instead of searching for and forgetting someplace that's referencing the pH. Kind of a like a global variable in programming or a central config. The virtual outlets also allow for a defer on the pH value incase they are getting interferences and bouncing up and down.

pH High and Low triggers central configs
[ vPH_High_C7 ] ( Cntl_C7 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Up/Down Arrows
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Set OFF
If DT_pH > 8.50 Then ON
If BM_pH > 8.50 Then ON
Defer 001:00 Then ON


[ vPH_Low_C8 ] ( Cntl_C8 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Up/Down Arrows
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Set OFF
If DT_pH < 7.85 Then ON
If BM_pH < 7.85 Then ON
Defer 001:00 Then ON


kalk/limewater

[ Lime_7_3 ] ( 7_3 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Hourglass
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 000:59/000:01/000:00 Then ON
If Outlet vPH_High_C7 = ON Then OFF
If FeedD 230 Then OFF

That's very simply saying dose for 1 second every minute 24/7. Unless the pH hit's what I have my vPH_High_C7 virtual outlet to trigger on at. I calculate this out to around 1.5 gallons every day of fully saturated lime water based on the stand alone spectrapure pump that's used. The FeedD timer is for when I fill up the 29g tote and mix up the kalk into the fresh ro/di. I don't want it to dose until it's all settled out. I turn on the feedD which does nothing but make sure this is used for a few hours. Then I don't have to forget to turn off or back on the outlet. It will turn back on automatically.


Now for the ATO components. I have a low and high triggers on top of the tsunami AT1's that I have my pumps plugged into for the ultra high failsafes but those aren't in my apex as they are separate. I like having a few things like that separate in the off chance the apex outlet gets stuck on which is not common.

High virtual outlettriggered by a float switch and backed up by a few Tsunami AT1s. One for each new salt pump, lime water pump, freshwater ato pump, and AWC pumps.

[ vSumpHigh_A7 ] ( Cntl_A7 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Up/Down Arrows
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Set OFF
If SmpH_2 OPEN Then ON
If SmpH_2 CLOSED Then OFF
Defer 000:01 Then ON

Low virtual outlettriggered by float switches. I have two setup in serial working together one failsafe higher then the normal operating one. This one triggers the ATO.
[ vSumpLow_A6 ] ( Cntl_A6 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Up/Down Arrows
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Set OFF
If SmpL_1 CLOSED Then ON
If SmpL_1 OPEN Then OFF
Defer 000:02 Then ON


Now that I have my lime water split and I have my conductivity probe stabilized I can do a little logic to decide to top off with RO/DI or my new salt mix used in AWC. But I also have a failure to operate override so the opposite will kick in. I'm also more comfortable doing this with the conductivity probe now that my Top off is so much less now. If one or the other is used in error it's not that much at all and will easily catch it as I calculate it would take just over a week of the wrong one being used to switch the salinity by ~.5ppt. Otherwise I would not feel comfortable with using the conductivity probe that can easily be thrown off by something as simple as an air bubble.

The ATO warning that something is wrong with one or the other top of pumps. I have a mj1200 in my 50g brute new saltmix container and a mj1200 in the bottom of the SlimJim ro/di container. (I some how have like 100 mj1200 pumps. )

[ vATOWarn_B8 ] ( Cntl_B8 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Hourglass
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Set OFF
If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = ON Then ON
Defer 034:00 Then ON

That defer is there for a reason which is coming now and where the order of the lines of code really matter. Here's the Fresh RO/DI ATO outlet programming that references the Low/High switches, pH, and ATO warning. And this will need a lot of comments.

[ ATO_6_4 ]
( 6_4 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Up/Down Arrows
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 015:00/001:00/000:00 Then ON
(I do not like unrestricted continuous flow. It's not needed and 1 minute every 15 minutes should be more then enough time to top off. This is where the ATOWarn virtual outlet kicks in if it's not and will trigger the new salt mix pump to top off. )

If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = ON Then ON
(Simple enough.)

If Condx9 < 34.5 Then OFF
(Now here is where the order of programming lines come in. This will cause the New Salt pump to kick in to top off.)

If Outlet vATOWarn_B8 = ON Then ON
(IF for some reason there's an issue and the new salt pump doesn't kick on this will turn this pump back on. Look above. vATOWarn has a defer timing of 34 minutes. The ATO and new salt pump outlet are 1 minute every 15 minutes. If that's not enough time to complete for some reason with in two cycles that means there could be something wrong and this ATO pump should kick in to help out regardless of what the conductivity/salinity probe says.)

If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = OFF Then OFF
(This turns the entire thing off as soon as it's topped off.)

If Outlet vSumpHigh_A7 = ON Then OFF
(High mark failsafe which there's also the Tsunami AT1s in case this even fails. )

If Outlet return_7_1 = OFF Then OFF
(no need to top off as the vSumpHigh will be triggered as well but again incase it does this will turn it off too.)

If Outlet vATOEmpty_B6 = ON Then OFF
(Run Dry protection. I'm looking at the Avast 400ml/m Diaphragm pump to eliminate this worry. Right now I have a ton of spare mj1200s so using those. This is also part of my email alert so I know to top off my top off container. This is a horizontal float switch at the bottom of the SlimJim.)

If Outlet vATOFull_B7 = ON Then OFF
(I also have a horizontal float switch at the top to trigger this and an alert. Basically I can now have my ATO run as normal while I'm filling up the ATO SlimJim container. It has a float valve connected to my RO/DI which has an ASO that will shutdown the RO/DI once the container is full. BUT I do not want the ATO to continue running once full. I don't like the idea of a continuous unlimited supply of water from the water company being available. I also don't want to RO/DI to start/stop continually causing TDS creep wasting away my DI very quickly. So, once this is triggered it will shutdown my ATO and alert me via text and email. I will then manually shutoff the RO/DI unit and turn off the vATOFull virtual outlet resuming the ATO operation. Once the switch is cleared I can turn that virtual outlet back on.)


OK, so now for the new salt mix backup/ salinity adjustment. I would not normally advise this kind of control as the conductivity probe in a sump continuously is susceptible to a lot of different interference from electricity, bubbles, slime, precipitation, bacteria growth, coralline growth, algae growth, etc. etc. BUT like stated above my risk if very very minimal now with the lime water dosing taking up the majority of my top off needs and this is a good backup to incase the pump for the freshwater ATO fails for some reason.

[ NewSalt_6_7 ] ( 6_7 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Hourglass
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 015:00/001:00/000:00 Then ON
(Just like above this shouldn't need near a minute to top off what's needed. Top off needs are not that often so every 15 minutes should be plenty.)

If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = ON Then ON
(same as above)

If Condx9 > 35.5 Then OFF
(here is the opposite from the fresh water. If above 35.5 don't run.)

If Outlet vATOWarn_B8 = ON Then ON
(EXCEPT if for some reason the freshwater ATO pump can't keep up or is having problems for some reason. Something is wrong this will be a backup to that regardless of what the salinity is.)

If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = OFF Then OFF
If Outlet vSumpHigh_A7 = ON Then OFF
If Outlet return_7_1 = OFF Then OFF
(Same as above)

If NSE9_4 OPEN Then OFF
(This is a horizontal float switch in the 50g brute can. I'm also looking to replace the mj1200 in here for the 400ml/m diaphragm pump.)

Defer 000:20 Then ON
(This little defer statement allows the freshwater ATO pump be the primary.)

I also have a ATO fail virtual outlet. Which will shutdown my return pump and in effect my skimmer as well.
[ vATOFail_A5 ] ( Cntl_A5 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Hourglass
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Set OFF
If Outlet vSumpLow_A6 = ON Then ON
Defer 102:00 Then ON


[ return_7_1 ] ( 7_1 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Spigot
Logging: Enabled
Program:
Fallback ON
Set ON
If DT_Sw1 OPEN Then OFF
If Outlet vfeed_A8 = ON Then OFF
If FeedB 000 Then OFF
If Outlet vATOFail_A5 = ON Then OFF
Defer 015:00 Then ON


The dual inline low and high switches with the pressure switches to tsunami all in behind that nastiness.


another one of the several of the pressure switches in use



redundant failsafe high switch


The SlimJim


All three containers



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Last edited by jason2459; 01/08/2016 at 12:25 PM.
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Unread 01/08/2016, 01:21 PM   #1547
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And with that above things are stable and awesome. This was all influenced by TMZ.

The ATO kicking in as needed I think just enough but not to much is nice.


But here's some charts I had to pull off the Apex directly as fusion doesn't go back far enough. These show how the CO2 scrubber helped and now with the consistent lime dosing its not needed and protects against one off daily spikes from events where humidity significantly drops.

Here's a graph of my system with using my kalk/lime as ATO no CO2 scrubber. It would dip just under 7.8 regularly at night. It most likely wasn't an issue and I could have continued with that most likely indefinitely

Limewater ATO alone

Edit: fyi those big dips 4 times there are my automated 4x per day feedings where my Apex shuts down my return pump/skimmer and feeds a mix of NLS Marine/AlgaeMax pellets.




But I personally would rather maintain above 8.0 if there's a reasonable and easy way which the CO2 scrubber is. This kept my pH above 8.0 consistently. I picked these dates as it shows what happens when humidity drops a lot and ATO kicks in more. It snowed quite heavily on the 24th here. pH would normally range with this setup between 8.0 and 8.3

Limewater ATO + CO2 scrubber.



Now that I have my ATO and Limewater dosing separate for some reason I do not need the CO2 scrubber and maintain in what I see as about as perfect range as I could be in with little effort of 8.1-8.2. Small swing and I image little to no alk spikes. Alk has maintained at 10 as it has been. The past few days have been perfect as well as its been snowing the past 2 days. So it shows 1 day of no snow and two days with snow with no significant pH spike like there was above on the 24th with limewater as ATO up to 8.5.

Limewater dosing 1s per minute alone. ATO separate. No CO2 scrubber. Snow last two days



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rebuild and recovery log:
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Last edited by jason2459; 01/08/2016 at 02:13 PM.
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Unread 01/11/2016, 10:40 AM   #1548
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I think this is the same starfish but looks slightly different but it could be I'm just getting a good view of it. I still think I only have one left out of the two I got in.



I also picked up this thing.


It has a couple bald spots



My goniopora is looking like a bit more growth. It's slow.



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Unread 01/14/2016, 10:30 PM   #1549
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I tried bumping the water flow higher on the ATS again. Same thing happened again. Very poor production and very light coloration.

I have no idea why I didn't take front and back pictures. I thought I did but my mind's all over the place this week so must not have since I don't see them.

I did get this picture of the little bit that was scraped off and can see it's not all nice and green like I've had before.



I've reduced the flow a bit again.


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Unread 01/15/2016, 01:28 PM   #1550
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Jason, what are you feeding the ATS with? I'm getting ready to put mine online soon and feeding it with a line from my return pump. How many GPH are you shooting for?

Corey


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