RE: RE: Fish Tank Automation

["Ray Barnett" <lists@xxxxxxx>]

Stuart,

 

I have a Tunze water top up system. Cheating I know to buy one rather than build it (cost £100), but I wanted something reliable and easy. Anyway, the good bits of it that you might want to replicate:

 

It uses an optical sensor to detect when the water level drops - which presumably gives it greater sensitivity over a float sensor.

It uses a float sensor to check for an overflow situation - intended to shutdown the top-up pump if the "low water" sensor fails for some reason and erroneously decides the tank needs filling.

The system also shuts down the power to the pump should the tank fail to reach level within ten minutes. This save guards against the top-up system running out of water and running the pump dry, and is also handy should the pump ever get air locked.

Finally the kit comes with a nice rail that clamps to the side of the tank and holds all the sensors neatly in place.

 

Are you sure an airpump can supply enough pressure to push water out of the barrel up to the tank? And are you sure that you can seal the barrel well enough? The water pump on my system is very effective, with the only downside being that it is noisy. You can buy the Tunze top-up pump as a spare for between 10 and 20 pounds AFAIK, so I would use either that or a very small powerhead.

 

HTH,

 

Ray Barnett

For more information: http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
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