Set-up refinement

Mental1 · 01/16/2007, 02:10 PM

I was thinking about how to make life easier and less crowded so I had the following idea. At the moment my ro/di is attached to the shower in the downstairs bathroom which also houses 2 32 gallon brutes on wheels - crowded and shower useless except for making ro/di water! Next to my tank in the living room are two 5 gallon buckets -- 1 for top off, the other for skimmate. Crowded and at times stinky. So I thought about sending it all down into the basement where there is a floor drain which I think goes out back and not into the septic so let my skimmate drain out that way. Then get my husband to plumb my ro/di unit in downstairs and use my two big barrels for topoff -- one with fresh water and one with salt water. I could do a water change by simply turning the air up on my skimmer and attaching in the salt water barrel to the topoff. So my question is this -- that would slowly put in new water and it would be going into the same chamber in my sump as my skimmer. Would this work okay? Obviously I have to buy a much more powerful topoff pump but I am wondering if this is an okay way to do a water change.

bertoni · 01/17/2007, 12:46 AM

I don't think I'd try to use the skimmer pump to do a water change. I don't think the flow through it would be very high that way. I guess you could measure it and see.

Phillstone · 01/17/2007, 01:19 AM

Caution on septic tanks and salt water ! Excess salt may cause septic failure and or blockage. Especially if you have a water softner in house.

Mental1 · 01/17/2007, 09:03 AM

bertoni -- my skimmer will pull really wet skimmate out -- it will pull 5 gallons in an hour! If I nudge the air valve just the right amount it will pull tons of the wet stuff. The challenge I would have is figuring out a topoff system that would keep up. I also have living things in my sump -- a big red mithrax crab and a mantis shrimp -- so I don't know if that kind of water change would affect them negatively. I think it would be okay because the whole tank would still be circulating.

Phillstone -- actually my husband and I were just talking about that because we do have a softener and we decided to create a way to get the tank water to go down the hill away from our leach field! I am not sure how it would work with the softener ...

01/16/2007, 02:10 PM	#1
Mental1 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 1,593	Set-up refinement I was thinking about how to make life easier and less crowded so I had the following idea. At the moment my ro/di is attached to the shower in the downstairs bathroom which also houses 2 32 gallon brutes on wheels - crowded and shower useless except for making ro/di water! Next to my tank in the living room are two 5 gallon buckets -- 1 for top off, the other for skimmate. Crowded and at times stinky. So I thought about sending it all down into the basement where there is a floor drain which I think goes out back and not into the septic so let my skimmate drain out that way. Then get my husband to plumb my ro/di unit in downstairs and use my two big barrels for topoff -- one with fresh water and one with salt water. I could do a water change by simply turning the air up on my skimmer and attaching in the salt water barrel to the topoff. So my question is this -- that would slowly put in new water and it would be going into the same chamber in my sump as my skimmer. Would this work okay? Obviously I have to buy a much more powerful topoff pump but I am wondering if this is an okay way to do a water change. __________________ Sherri Current Tank Info: 400g - 65g DT and 180g peninsula DT both drop into basement. 5 tanks plus a QT in the basement.

01/17/2007, 12:46 AM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	I don't think I'd try to use the skimmer pump to do a water change. I don't think the flow through it would be very high that way. I guess you could measure it and see. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

01/17/2007, 09:03 AM	#4
Mental1 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 1,593	bertoni -- my skimmer will pull really wet skimmate out -- it will pull 5 gallons in an hour! If I nudge the air valve just the right amount it will pull tons of the wet stuff. The challenge I would have is figuring out a topoff system that would keep up. I also have living things in my sump -- a big red mithrax crab and a mantis shrimp -- so I don't know if that kind of water change would affect them negatively. I think it would be okay because the whole tank would still be circulating. Phillstone -- actually my husband and I were just talking about that because we do have a softener and we decided to create a way to get the tank water to go down the hill away from our leach field! I am not sure how it would work with the softener ... __________________ Sherri Current Tank Info: 400g - 65g DT and 180g peninsula DT both drop into basement. 5 tanks plus a QT in the basement.

01/17/2007, 01:19 AM	#3
Phillstone Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Waukesha, WI USA Posts: 241	Caution on septic tanks and salt water ! Excess salt may cause septic failure and or blockage. Especially if you have a water softner in house.