Building an automated refrigerated feeding system

[jonnybravo22]

I'm building this

http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r332/Aquabacs/Autofeeder/IMG_0030-1.jpg

Source article can be found by googling "Refrigerated-Automated-Feeding-System". It's on reef a*dicts.

My question is, how do I securely attach the feed airline tube into the venturi line?

I have all the parts and am doing the build today. The airline fits in the venturi line but not all that securely. Any thoughts? Should I silicone it in?

[C Dog]

Sweet. Why not use zip ties?

[jonnybravo22]

the airline attaches on the inside of the kent venturi line, not the outside, so that's the confusion

[Kawi9_cf]

Can you glue in hard ro tubing?

[DHyslop]

Lowes or HD should have push-connect fittings for 1/4" RO line that are threaded on the other end and can be connected to a PVC manifold. I wouldn't use soft air line hose.

[jonnybravo22]

This is a kent Venturi valve. The Venturi piece is not threaded though

[jonnybravo22]

Hard ro tubing sounds like a worthwhile thing to try

[DHyslop]

Sorry, it was hard to see in the picture. You could try making a simple venturi out of PVC. Whatever you do I'd avoid jerry-rigged solutions like caulking or gluing the tube in place. The last thing you need is for this thing to get jostled and pop open.

[jonnybravo22]

That's an idea. Any schematics on building your own Venturi?

[rcmania]

OK this is a damn good idea!!!

[nemosworld]

That's an idea. Any schematics on building your own Venturi?

Really easy to do, you can get a tee and then use a bushing to reduce to the john guest fitting. Like this picture minus the tee
http://jandrstudios.smugmug.com/Other/DIY-PROJECTS/i-xhspJjz/0/M/DSC01683-M.jpg
In the photo above you will see the bushing and the john guest fitting.

Hope this helps, would show more but its hard to post from my phone.

[jonnybravo22]

Thanks nemosworld - I like the idea for connecting the airline, but that does not appear to be a Venturi from the other examples I've seen. Where is the suction created in the main flow path?

[madean]

Ok, im not understanding why you want the venturi effect here if you are using a dosing pump. The dosing pump injects your cooled substances into the manifold and the rushing water takes it away to be fed to said tank. In my eyes a venturi effect uses water to create a sucking effect to suck something from somewhere else into its path. Kind of like how some of the older skimmers used water to suck air into the protein skimmer chamber. In the picture above the dosing pump is pushing the liquid into the stream of water. Now what effects that refrigeration will have on the dosing pump, what could happen to the dosing pump from having some back pressure on them, im not sure about all of this. A good person to ask would be uncleof3, i think that's his name. He seems to know a lot about pumps and head pressure and back pressure ECT. If you could keep the humidity low, then it might not be an issue with the electronics, but im not sure. Its a great idea.

[Northside Reef]

I would guess so that whatever is injected is sucked out instead of using a T and having water blown out of the injection hole.

[tj1627]

IIRC the venturi provides *some* failsafe so that if the airline/feeding tube becomes dislodged, the water flowing through the venturi will not empty your tank/sump into the food fridge and onto the floor. Yes, it will suck in air creating a lot of microbubbles, but bubbles are still better than gallons on the floor.

[rrasco]

Tagging along. I've been planning one of these for awhile now.

[madean]

Then I would think you would want more of a "y" instead of a "t"

[jonnybravo22]

Ok, im not understanding why you want the venturi effect here if you are using a dosing pump. The dosing pump injects your cooled substances into the manifold and the rushing water takes it away to be fed to said tank. In my eyes a venturi effect uses water to create a sucking effect to suck something from somewhere else into its path. Kind of like how some of the older skimmers used water to suck air into the protein skimmer chamber. In the picture above the dosing pump is pushing the liquid into the stream of water. Now what effects that refrigeration will have on the dosing pump, what could happen to the dosing pump from having some back pressure on them, im not sure about all of this. A good person to ask would be uncleof3, i think that's his name. He seems to know a lot about pumps and head pressure and back pressure ECT. If you could keep the humidity low, then it might not be an issue with the electronics, but im not sure. Its a great idea.

I would guess so that whatever is injected is sucked out instead of using a T and having water blown out of the injection hole.

IIRC the venturi provides *some* failsafe so that if the airline/feeding tube becomes dislodged, the water flowing through the venturi will not empty your tank/sump into the food fridge and onto the floor. Yes, it will suck in air creating a lot of microbubbles, but bubbles are still better than gallons on the floor.

Yes, this is the reason. The person that did the write up I'm following said its a bit of protection if (when in his words) the peristaltic pump ruptures from wear and tear

[mtcoins123]

What keeps the food particles from settling to the bottom of the containers and causing the feeding to be unbalanced

[tj1627]

What keeps the food particles from settling to the bottom of the containers and causing the feeding to be unbalanced

2 options: there are products on the market such as reed's (reef nutrition) and i'm sure others that have an additive or process that keeps the food in suspension, so no worries on it settling down.

If you're feeding something that settles (such as a DIY food mixture) then you can use a magnetic stirrer (just google DIY magnetic stirrer for ideas) to keep the food mixed. I built one a while back with an old PC fan, some magnets, and an actual stir bar (you can pick these up for $6 IIRC). Just have it turn on maybe 5 minutes before you feed to re mix the food.

[madean]

Gotta a pic by any chance, this sounds pretty interesting actually.

[tj1627]

I'll look for a pic when I get home, but this (not my pics) will give you the idea:

http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FVM/X6M0/H337KKI0/FVMX6M0H337KKI0.SMALL.jpg

You can use any pc fan - they're extremely cheap. I used an old 80mm fan I had laying around.

To power it, I found a spare (did I mention I have a closet full of random old pc scraps?) 4pin molex ac/dc adapter similar to this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Coolerguys-100-240v-Molex-Power-Adapter/dp/B000MGG6SC

I hot glued 2 neodymium magnets to the fan (see above pic - I did it similar to that) with one positive side up on one and one negative side up on the other.

I stuck it in a hobby box from radioshack, but you can cover it however you'd like. Don't place the beaker/jar/glass directly on the fan, or you'll risk spinning it off in random directions or ripping off the magnets.

Lastly, i purchased a stir bar for $6 (looks like they're $6.95 now) from:

http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cfm/terms/17815

(theyre retail stores are close by me. Its like disney land in there).


There are lots of improvements that can be made: variable speed, better enclosure, better magnets to use, etc. But this got it done for me. Keeps my kalk stirred up quite nicely in my ato bucket.

[jonnybravo22]

So still haven't gotten much insight on 1) using the kent Venturi or 2) making my own Venturi. Appreciate the posts so far but I still don't have a clear schematic of how to build Venturi.

So this has me thinking of other ways to do this without the potential flood risk of the above design...open to ideas. Path I'm exploring noe is more extensive use of Gil dosers

(That fan / stirrer is awesome, thanks for the tip!)

[madean]

You have got me thinking about this, but not too much as to build one yet since I am not really there in my build process to devote too much time. But take a look at flexpvc.com. They have a huge selection of fittings and you could probably come up with something pretty cool. The little time I did spend on this idea and I came up with a wye pvc fitting that had a john guest manifold y hooked up to it. from the john guest manifold would be a shut off valve and the the tubing and connections needed to go to each dosing pump. You could if you wanted to put in check valves in line with the dosing pump and manifold. Just make sure you get everything set up to be disconnectable, so if you need to replace a check valve, all you would need to do is shut a valve off, turn dosing pump off, unscrew check valve install new check valve, turn valve on, and turn dosing pump on. Process should take a few mintues. If it were me this would be something i would do like once a year to insure the check valve would operate when needed. You might even be able to clean the old check valve and use it the next time.
But logic still tells me that you need a wye connection to integrate the water supply to the feeding supply. Make sure the water supply flows through the wye so it flows straight. Think of the wye of two sides flowing into one. One of the two sides flowing into one will be straight and the other will come in at an angle. The one that is flowing staright would be the incoming water supply. The inlet coming in at an angle would be the connection where you would have the food supply injecting food into the water supply. They would mix and be sent to the display tank.
I guess this could be done as well for two part dosing, but probably a little more elaborate than whats needed. Either way just make sure if you use this system, i guess really any system, to put shut offs in line with the wye or tee to each feeding supply.
Good luck

[jonnybravo22]

So I did this.

I still want to build the magnetic stirrer and haven't done that yet.

I will post pics eventually.

[madean]

Can't wait to see the pics

[jonnybravo22]

anybody want to help me order the right parts to make the magnetic stirrer?

I am planning to use some cheap silenX fans and an AC/DC power supply that could plug into the wall outlet. What I'm trying to research now (or remind myself as I did this a few years ago) is the interface between the fans and the power supply.

In the past I abandoned a build for something where I was using these fans and I found a 2.1mm jack power supply and connector, i just like the clean connection vs some other ways I had seen this done. Any suggestions here? If you could send over a complete setup that would be awesome. Here are the fans

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226038

[Charlene]

Check this one out. Only $90.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/public/YrJgY0rOHMhrqeKhEzw4JyiIVmJdgq15EbHvKWaBNnsIFEhsnf_z3XgZq6KzODriTwWB3gAfGAbc5a2HMmDJRXTKDc8pmglCNmUb TdCTe3B5JWepO1tbtuj3FOsHb5IsaIov3E7ytLwiSFccfepthEA=s220-c

https://www.google.com/shopping/product/6917323574507433554?q=magnetic%20stirrer&hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42965579,d.aWc&biw=1212&bih=548&sa=X&ei=3scsUZXLN4e9yQHz8oDYBg&ved=0CF0Q8wIwAQ

[madean]

I think the trick is to come up with an idea where the stirrer will rotate and keep everything in suspension and still have a tube to reach the bottom or at least close to the bottom of the container so your dosing pump will pull most of the material out of said container without you have to refill it often. If the tube only reaches a quarter of the way in as opposed to reaching the bottom. You will be filling it up 3-4 times as much as if it were to just pull from the bottom. Or maybe having a container that has a port on the bottom of it to hook up the tubing. Just food for thought.

[SI_rEEfer]

For desert, how about adding water to the refigerated food container with a dosing pump causing it and the food in it to overflow into tubing that goes to the tank. It could be tank water or RODI water. My thought is that it would still have to be stirred so that the food does not settle but overflows as well. Over time the amount of food in the container would be diluted.

As opposed to slowly emptying the container.

[SI_rEEfer]

I meant dessert (food for thought)

[Tigé21v]

How many times a day do you plan on feeding? Curious as to whether or not you have (or will have) it set up to flush the feed line outside the refrigerator once each pump shuts off, or if that is even necessary to do. (I guess one wouldn't have to, if the tank was being fed often enough.)
I've been kicking around doing something like this, would love to set up a NPS-only tank.

[jonnybravo22]

4 to 6 times probably. Haven't tweaked it all quite yet as I'm building the mixer this weekend.

Yes I have a flush line to clean the line outside the fridge with each feeding.

[Wereami881]

JonnyB what size tank do you have? What a great set up!. I'm fairly new to all this well new to taking it seriously anyway. So just around asking questions. I'm brand new to the site so you have to excuse , well I guess you dont HAVE to lol I'msure somewhere it tells me all about your tank, I'll find everything eventually.

[jonnybravo22]

JonnyB what size tank do you have? What a great set up!. I'm fairly new to all this well new to taking it seriously anyway. So just around asking questions. I'm brand new to the site so you have to excuse , well I guess you dont HAVE to lol I'msure somewhere it tells me all about your tank, I'll find everything eventually.

Here's my tank thread in the general forum.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums//showthread.php?t=1905303

it is an Elos system 70; about 55 gallons in the display

[jonnybravo22]

Here are a few pictures. As I said, I still need to build the mixers so right now I'm just testing some dense food / have a free food line, etc. So far I've successfully tested cyclopeeze, live pods, and oyster feast.

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss35/jonny_bravo22/coral-3_zps5af8f99b.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss35/jonny_bravo22/coral-4_zpsbd3bf2d0.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss35/jonny_bravo22/coral-1-2_zps8d3680b4.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss35/jonny_bravo22/coral-2-2_zps83aaf191.jpg

The way I've built this is similar to the idea on page 1, with the difference being that I didnt like the perceived risk of having large quantities of water flowing externally out from and back into the tank. It seemed like it could be an opportunity for wet floors and trouble. In addition, I never got comfortable with a method of actually attaching the airline tubing to the venturi. So just before I started drilling, I decided to go with just the dosing pump for the flow.

Essentially I use 3 of the four dosing pumps to pull food from the containers and they all dump into a common drop line. That line is then connected to a "flush" line that the first doser operates, pulling water from my top-off reservoir, and flushing through back up to the tank.

It is all managed by my GHL Profilux controller from my computer. I just pull a few milliliters of food from the container which gets dumped into the common line, then the flush line pushes it all the way up to the tank.

I like this concept because it's all very controlled so hopefully very low potential for errors..., but *IF* something went wrong, 1) the food pumps only come on for a few seconds each day, and the flush line for 2 or 3 minutes at a time a few times a day. All in, it's only a few minutes of "on time" each day so that should limit downside risk; 2) this is just the flow that 1/4 inch airline can support, so not that much volume flowing; even if something spilled it shouldnt be much water; 3) the feed line drops above the water line so no back-siphon, and the source water for the flush line is just the topoff, so at most, that would be the amount of water that could conceivably spill if something completely unexpected were to happen. Those were a few of the thoughts I had on the design anyways.

[jonnybravo22]

double

[zachts]

Very Cool!!! I think I'll be building one someday for my dream tank............
I've always toyed with the idea of doing this to not have to manually dose all the refrigerated stuff.

Have you considered installing a small DC fan inside the fridge, say sitting on that empty rack space next to the pump? likely could be powered off the doser's power supply. this would keep the internal temperature more evan and evaporate any condesation that happens when you open the door, I would think this would be good for the electronics in the doser as well as keeping things better refridgerated. Mini fridges are notorious for having hot and cold spots and freezing stuff.......

[zachts]

never mind, I missed the part about the fan based DIY stirrer. that would kill to birds with one stone as they say......... :)

[sandyland]

I like the idea of abandoning the venturi.
The flush line seams like a great solution.

[Charlene]

Here is a better stirrer solution. Same as the other stirrer but the rotor is turned with an air pump instead of an electric motor.

magnetic stirrer powered by air:
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7AbtLzJMX3Le-FP-hAGdgw8rw6EPGG72ATPNL8v9oVlbgxmHE&usqp=CAY

Using these you save on the overall height requirement and the air powered stirrer can be powered by air produced outside the fridge (perhaps). The only problem is would outside air pump hinder the cooling of the fridge? Technically the air for the stirrer would only have to run for a few seconds prior to dosing to put the food in suspension.

[ca1ore]

Wouldn't the peristaltic pump pulverize the food (or at least kill any live pods)?

[ReeferAl]

I built a similar feeder about 5 years ago. It was about my 3rd go around with the idea. I had previously tried using thermoelectric cooling but they would slowly die. A compressor fridge is much more durable, IME. There used to be pics on RC but they disappeared with one of the forum upgrades. The biggest difference was I only wanted to feed 1 thing- a mixture of frozen foods of fairly large size. The mix contained mysis, brine shrimp, small plankton (about mysis size) and cyclopeeze. Maybe some other stuff. Can't recall.

I used a peristaltic pump with 3/8" ID tubing. That's a hard pump to find. 1/4" tubing might work. I tried using a magnetic stirrer but couldn't get it to start consistently. It would always eventually get off center and just quiver instead of spinning. Eventually I made a stir rod that enters from the top, through the container lid. It would all work like this:

1. A timer would signal a feed cycle. I used the Aquacontroller but any timer would work.
2. That started the stirrer going for 5 min.
3. The stirrer would stop and the peristaltic pump would go on for a couple seconds.
4. The food would be discharged into a flowing loop of tank water which would discharge near the return pump intake and send food all through the tank.
5. A valve would open for 1 sec to flush the tubing with RO water. This wouldn't be necessary if the tank water flowed through the fridge as in johnny bravo's build. I would insulate the pipe well if it flows through though.
6. The fish went crazy.

This would repeat every hour during lights on. I'm currently in the process of redoing the feeder for my new tank so it's all taken apart. Not doing anything much different. Just trying to make it a bit more stream-lined. I think this is a great way to keep fish fed more naturally.

Allen

[sandyland]

If you are introducing air from outside the refrigerator into the refrigerator wouldn't that cause a problem.
Wouldn't that cause the refrigerator to burp; due to the fact that the door is sealed air tight.
I do not stand behind my theory, I'm only offering food for thought.

[ReeferAl]

I suspect the places where the tubing and pipes penetrate the walls aren't completely air tight so I doubt it would be a problem when the air is only on a short time.

[james1990]

Cool idea

[ReeferAl]

Cool idea

I get it. "cool" idea. :clown:

[zachts]

I tried using a magnetic stirrer but couldn't get it to start consistently. It would always eventually get off center and just quiver instead of spinning.

Allen

If you use a disc shaped stir bar that is just a bit smaller than the diameter of your beaker, it will start every time and never get hung up. These were preferred for mixing stuff in the lab untended in college. the straight bars would sometimes stop even after you had them going.....

[ReeferAl]

I've never seen those. That's a great idea. Hmm... I've still got the magnetic stirrer. Maybe I need to buy one of those new fangled stir bars. :)

Allen

[Charlene]

It might make sense to have one of the dosing pumps dose some ro water after the feeding or at least every other day to clean out the line. Just a thought.

[ReeferAl]

Wouldn't the peristaltic pump pulverize the food (or at least kill any live pods)?

Not very likely. The peristalsis occurs by the rollers pinching the tubing and pushing the fluid and food ahead of the pinched area. There would have to be something preventing the food from moving for it to get pinched by the rollers.

Allen

[Venom0vv0]

It would appear the a good deal of ingenuity went into the fabrication. Nice work.

[e55driver]

That is a great looking system.

[ReeferAl]

I don't mean to hijack your thread but figured I'd show my version of a frozen food feeder. This was designed to feed fish food instead of finer food for suspension feeders. I'll be using a mixture of foods including mysis, small plankton, brine shrimp, cyclops, daphnia, and cyclopeeze.
This is the inside of the feeder, without any food in the jar. The jar holds 1 gal and the pump tubing has 3/8" ID to pump fairly large fish food.

[ReeferAl]

These are the components. Center is the inside without the jar. Left is the back and right is the control/timer box. Sorry it's out of focus.

[Mudbeaver]

Take a look at this video the guy seem to have resolved the issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ0qNlJpymk&list=PLk_Pw-jAYdFdQJOslBfMfVJP0_GWx-gLV&index=13

[ReeferAl]

I hope theirs holds up better than the one I made using a thermoelectric fridge. I did the same thing as in my post above but with a TE fridge. It would barely get cold enough initially and over a couple of months got warmer until it would only keep things slightly under 50 deg. That's why I went with the old reliable compressor model.

Allen

[Charlene]

According to the guy in the video these foods are in suspension. I think he's using Reefnutrition products. Is this correct? If so then a stirring module may not be necessary.
Anyone use this product? I'm most interested in a system for feeding fish and corals in an office setting and this would make going on business trips and the weekends easier.

[Mudbeaver]

According to the guy in the video these foods are in suspension. I think he's using Reefnutrition products. Is this correct? If so then a stirring module may not be necessary.
Anyone use this product? I'm most interested in a system for feeding fish and corals in an office setting and this would make going on business trips and the weekends easier.

You are correct about the foods yes.

[Decadence]

Instead of running your foods through the peristaltic pumps, you could seal the containers and put two holes in the top; one outlet, one inlet. Use the pump to push air into the top of the containers which will force the foods out of the outlet tube through the pick-up. If you did this, you could have chunkier foods.

[ReeferAl]

Instead of running your foods through the peristaltic pumps, you could seal the containers and put two holes in the top; one outlet, one inlet. Use the pump to push air into the top of the containers which will force the foods out of the outlet tube through the pick-up. If you did this, you could have chunkier foods.

I tried this. The outlet tube quickly plugs. It needs more force to keep the food moving. It might work well with fine, suspended foods but not "chunkier" foods.

Allen

[Decadence]

I tried this. The outlet tube quickly plugs. It needs more force to keep the food moving. It might work well with fine, suspended foods but not "chunkier" foods.

Allen

I guess the more room in the top of the bottle, the ore pressure will just build up and will be needed to overcome the chunky foods. Perhaps a water pump with a bladder in the top of the feeder?

[s2nhle]

tagging along

[Mudbeaver]

Instead of running your foods through the peristaltic pumps, you could seal the containers and put two holes in the top; one outlet, one inlet. Use the pump to push air into the top of the containers which will force the foods out of the outlet tube through the pick-up. If you did this, you could have chunkier foods.

I tried this. The outlet tube quickly plugs. It needs more force to keep the food moving. It might work well with fine, suspended foods but not "chunkier" foods.

Allen

I guess the more room in the top of the bottle, the ore pressure will just build up and will be needed to overcome the chunky foods. Perhaps a water pump with a bladder in the top of the feeder?

I find that keeping things simple and using a proven desing works best the guys hasn't fed his tank for 6 months with that design, fair to say its perfect like that. He just shakes the bottles once a week to make sure the food in suspension is still in suspension, now don't tell me thats too much work now, lol.

[ReeferAl]

I guess the more room in the top of the bottle, the ore pressure will just build up and will be needed to overcome the chunky foods.

The size of the air pocket will have nothing to do with how much air pressure there is. That will be determined entirely by the capability of the air pump The only way to increase the pressure from the pump would be to use a pump designed for deeper water. I've chosen to avoid the problem altogether by using the peristaltic pump. It works like a charm.

Allen

[Charlene]

How do we keep thawed fish food from spoiling for up to a month in the fridge? I’m guessing thawed fish food will last about 1 week in it’s current state. Maybe longer if you bring the fridge temp down low to almost freezing. Preservative food additives can be antimicrobial, which inhibit the growth of bacteria or fungi, including mold, or antioxidant; such as oxygen absorbers, which inhibit the oxidation of food constituents. Common antimicrobial preservatives include calcium propionate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sulfites (sulfur dioxide, sodium bisulfite, potassium hydrogen sulfite, etc.) and disodium EDTA. Antioxidants include BHA and BHT. Other preservatives include formaldehyde (usually in solution), glutaraldehyde (kills insects), ethanol, andmethylchloroisothiazolinone. Obviously some of these ingredients are going to work and some are going to be toxic to fish. Perhaps Randy Holmes-Farley can help answer this question? It would be nice to have a way to you own foods with a reef safe preservative. I may post this as a separate thread to see if I can get him to reply.

[willfly4food]

I don't mean to hijack your thread but figured I'd show my version of a frozen food feeder. This was designed to feed fish food instead of finer food for suspension feeders. I'll be using a mixture of foods including mysis, small plankton, brine shrimp, cyclops, daphnia, and cyclopeeze.
This is the inside of the feeder, without any food in the jar. The jar holds 1 gal and the pump tubing has 3/8" ID to pump fairly large fish food.

That is a great set up! Do you have any more pictures/info on your setup?

[dwolson2]

Tagging along, I really like the idea of using a dosing pump, but I would probably use an aqualifter as the purge pump. And pull tank water for the source before during and after a feeding.

[jonnybravo22]

hey. yeah i'm doing exactly that. I have the flush line of tank water running every hour or so and i feed about twice a day now b/c i don't currently have the type of fish i intended to have that needed feedings many times a day. i ultimately scrapped the idea of a stirrer for 2 reasons. 1) it was very inconsistent to keep it stirring, would often not properly startup and for my level of engineering, seemed like it would have been an expensive and time consuming effort to fix. 2) they arent needed for the type of food i'm feeding. reef nutrition, as some have mentioned, seems to stay in suspension. i shake the bottle when i think about it every couple of weeks and replace as needed. they have a handful of food options that work this way.

the flush line comes on a minute or 2 before each feeding and lasts until the 2 to 3 minutes after each feeding is done, in addition to just running as a flush line when there is no feeding happening. it's been up since february and i havent needed to feed my tank manually since then. every now and then i toss in a few pellets for some variety / interaction with the fish. i realized through this process that the tank becomes so much less hands-on when you literally don't have to touch it / be around it for days at a time. (went on a 3 week vacation and all was well, just have enough top-off water and you're set!)

[dwolson2]

. (went on a 3 week vacation and all was well, just have enough top-off water and you're set!)
Look into a solenoid controlled valve. I will be plumbing my RODI into that valve then the valve over to a float vavle in my ATO reservoir. When full it will have about 2 inches from the top of my 20 gal tank. once a week the solenoid will open up and let water flow over to the reservoir. the float valve will stop it from over filling. I will have 2 fail safes in place, one, the solenoid valve will only be energized once a week by my apex, and only for about 10 min longer than I figure it will take to top off the ATO(I am going to time it and figure out how long to energize it for) the second failsafe, is I am going to add a water bug(on the floor) or float switch(at the top of the tank) to tell my apex I have an over fill condition.
I say will in all of this because all of the parts are sitting at my house, but I have been working so much(at work now too) I haven't gotten a chance to set it up.