Water Changes - Automation ?

[phoenix001]

Right now, I'm using a water delivery pump located in my basement to push RO/DI through 3/8" OD tubing to my sump housed in the cabinet of my main display upstairs. the delivery pump is activated by a dual float valve in the return section of the sump. My questions is, would it be a problem if I used the same delivery pump (Aquatec 5800 Delivery Pump) and tubing to pump new saltwater to my sump during my weekly water changes? Right now, I haul water in buckets from the basement upstairs so I'm just trying to save my back and get water changes done quicker. The only concern I can see is possibly having saltwater in the tubing the first time RO/DI is pumped through ti after my water change. Any thoughts?

[tkeracer619]

It is going to take forever with 3/8 tubing. I would stick with the buckets personally or setup a water tank and a large hose with a powerful pump that you can drag up the stairs.

[sedor]

I would probably suggest going with a separate pump to drive an auto water change system. You can use ball valves on the return line so when you want to do a change you can just redirect the water your removing down a drain or something. When your ready to send the fresh SW back to the sump just flip the pump on and let it do its thing. By taking advantage of separate pumps you can use a pump that is powerful enough to pump 20+ gallons of water in a decent amount of time and eventually you can set up completely automatic water changes using a controller to time it.

[r-balljunkie]

this ties into sedors commetn................i had a conversation with someone with a rather nice,well thought out system. he made mention that he had baffles in his sump, but had holse cut into them, whereas all the water (sans a small section) could be drained. i am assuming it was 20-30 gallons of water. he could dump his fuge, add new water to the tank, and restart his tank. logically it makes sense to have holes in your baffles. i can only drain 1 of 3 areas at a time in my sump.
my next setup, i want to do this, to make WC easier, or even automated.