DIY Flood Control of Sporadic Skimmer

[redfishbluefish]

OK, this is not a “rocket science” DIY…actually a very simple solution to a potential problem.  I still felt it had some merit and that’s why I’m posting.

I run an MRC 2 skimmer that, on occasion, starts to puke out volumes of water into the collection cup that drains into the skimmate container (1 gallon)…and then onto the floor.  Well this morning was just one of those days, and I was fortunate to have just walked into the room when the skimmer was spewing it’s guts, like a freshman plebe after the fraternity hazing night.  Anyway, with the tank and sump located in a finished first floor room, I needed some failsafe to keep from flooding the house.  So here’s my simple solution:

Parts
Empty five gallon salt bucket, cut down five or six inches
Section of PVC 3 inch pipe cut to reach the top of the 5 gallon bucket.  Holes drilled to allow water to flow in
Float switch connected to an outlet box
Plastic ties
2 Stainless 6 x 1/2” panhead screws

Here’s the DIY:

First cut down a 5 gallon salt bucket just below the reinforcement ring (about five inches on an IO Reef Crystal’s bucket).

Cut 3” PVC pipe to fit the height of the bucket.  Also drilled four (number not important) of large holes into the pipe.  This pipe will protect the float switch from getting hung up on the skimmate collection container.

Attached float switch to plactic outlet box.

Using plastic ties, attached the float switch inside the 3 inch pipe.

Screwed the pipe/float switch combo to the side of the 5 gallon bucket.

Plug the skimmer pump into the controlled outlet box and here it is in use:

Now if the skimmer container overflows, it will cause the float switch to turn off the skimmer.

Sorry if this was overly simplistic.

 

[SWITCH420]

nice diy one reason i stopped using a skimmer

 

[ricwilli]

Ha!!! This is too funny. I'm actually working on the same thing right now. I decided to take a break, came on here and found this post. I'm actually doing it a different way though. I have my float switch in the skimmer cup. The skimmer over flooded twice this month and lots of water went on the floor. The reason why I put it in the skimmer cup is because the skimmer cup is very close to the edge of the sump and when it overspills, it also goes on the floor. While the water overspills onto the floor, the ATO kick on and starts to dump RO/DI water in the sump. This is not good. About two days ago I had this happen to me and the ATO turned on and dumped 40 gallons of RO/DI water in the sump. My basement was flooded. I want the skimmer to stop when the cup is full.
Tell me something. Does the water have to come out of the top of the plastic container in order for the float switch to turn off the skimmer? If so, that is allot of wasted water in order for the switch to turn off the skimmer.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Tell me something. Does the water have to come out of the top of the plastic container in order for the float switch to turn off the skimmer? If so, that is allot of wasted water in order for the switch to turn off the skimmer. 

Yes, the one gallon jug has to overflow for the switch to eventually float to shut off the skimmer.  My guess is 1 1/2 gallons before the skimmer turns off.

Realize I'm running a MAG 24 for the skimmer, so we're still talking of less than a minute for the skimmer to turn off.  When I walked into the room and just saw it start to go off, the skimmate container was already half full....seconds...before I could turn off the skimmer.

I'm also not sure how I would get the switch into the overflow or skimmate container. Maybe they make smaller ones. Post up your mod Rich.

 

[radiata]

Kudos to redfishbluefish on a nice fix for that problem!

 

[Steve0xr]

Are those float switches rated for 125V AC ?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Steve, good point. I didn’t put in a disclaimer that water and electricity don’t mix. If you have no idea what you are doing, go buy the complete float switch assembly, making sure it can handle the voltage and draw of your pump.

And yes, they make float switches to handle all voltages and amps.

 

[ricwilli]

This is the way I did my mod to prevent the skimmer from flooding my floor. Lots of pics.

The items that I used. ATO, Plastic pen, Electric wire, Wire clips and interlocking connectors.

This is the cap of the collection cup. I was lucky the it already had holes. You can easily drill one if yours does not have any.

I cut a piece of the pen. This will be used to route the wire through. Make sure that it is plastic.

I made four cuts on it and bend the cuts back to make it look like helicopter blades.

This is why the pen needs to be plastic.

Insert it in the hole and glue.

I cut the float from the ATO and marked one of the wires.

Pass the wires attached to the float, through the glued piece of plastic on the collection cup cap and glue.

This is what it should look like all glued.

In this pic you can see that I extended the wire attached to the ATO switch and also connected the interlocking connector to the other end.

The interlocking connector on the float.

Here it is in the collection cup.

Wire clips to hold the wire.

ALL DONE!

***** LIKE STATED ABOVE. DO THIS MOD AT YOUR OWN RISK. *****

 

[justchad]

Just another idea.... I bought this a while back off a reefer from another board.. works great! its a float switch and a solenoid. when the float raises it shuts off voltage to the solenoid that's mounted on a bracket and shuts off the switch to whatever is wired to it.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Great topic! I was also trying to come up with a solution for the same issue.

Before I start posting pics and an explanation of my plan, I'll post a link to something that someone suggested to me: http://www.myreefcreations.com/Waste-Collectors

That thing won't turn off your skimmer pump, but it will cut off the airflow when it's full, thus preventing your skimmer from discharging more water once it is full. I think this is a very simple and effective solution to this type of problem.

However, that actually won't work for me, mostly because I don't have a place to mount that thing under my stand, and I'd rather not have a container of any sorts outside my stand... which is why I made this acrylic container to collect waste from my collector cup drain (sorry it's a bit blurry):

Now, that holds about 4 gallons, which is a decent amount for my EV-120 skimmer w/ a mag 7 pump. It also is only 3.5" wide, which allows it to squeeze between my sump and the front doors. It does it's job (store more skimmate than the basic collection cup), except if the skimmer goes crazy and starts pumping my sump dry, I could get a flood. I also have a 5gal ATO setup, so that will add up to 5 extra gallons for the skimmer to utilize. This definitely has a potential for the acrylic container to fill up, and overflow under the stand doors, onto my carpeted floor.

So, my basic plan was to get a float switch, and set a high-level cutoff point inside the container. Then I could just run my skimmer pump through the controller and when the skimmer gets crazy it gets shut down. Basically, the same idea as redfishbluefish!

For the float/control system, I was thinking a basic JBJ ATO setup would work great. Here's a pic I borrowed from Tom (tgee) who is/was selling a JBJ ATO unit (not sure if it's still available.)

That should have everything I need to make this work, I just have to get it and set it all up. The float switch mounting strips should easily slip right onto my container, and I can just set it at whatever "safe" level I choose.

I'm thinking I would just use the low level float to be at my "safe" level, and that will let the controller keep the pump running (virtually endlessly) until the acrylic container got filled to that point, which would give the controller a "level" signal and shut off the skimmer pump. I would also (if there is room) have the high-level float at the same height so that I have a failsafe backup shutoff. There shouldn't be any critters in there thatcould interfere with the floats, but it could possibly stick for whatever reason.

What do you all think? Sounds like it would work to me.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Well, I bought the JBJ ATO and attempted to set this up to accomplish the goal of preventing the skimmate collection container from overflowing.

I set one sensor in my container (the clear acrylic box standing next to my sump in the pic above), and set it as a "high-level" sensor. When water reaches a level high enough to lift this float up, the pump is supposed to stop. This would be the same as putting it at your "normal" level in your sump if you set it up as an ATO controller... where the pump would kick on until the water lifts the float at the desired level, then shuts off the pump.

I then set one sensor in my skimmer chamber of my sump (it's in the front-left corner of my sump in the pic above), and set it about an inch above my skimmer pump (mag 7) intake as a "low-level" sensor. If the water level drops below this sensor, it should shut off the pump. This would be the same as putting it in your ATO resevoir to stop the pump if you run out, thereby preventing a run-dry situation.

I tested both sensors and they are in their proper levels/locations to stop the pump when it's supposed to, and if they sensors aren't tripped, the pump runs so the system worked perfectly... except for one thing...

Apparently, there is a "float failsafe time duration" on the circuitboard of the JBJ ATO controller. It's normally set at a max 3.5 minute pump runtime duration, but it is adjustable to up to 14 minutes of runtime. There is no option to disable it though. Well, this basically kills my whole plan of using this controller for this task. I can't have any time limitations on the pump running, because it's supposed to run 24/7 until/unless the container is full or if the skimmer chamber is low. So, I need some help in figuring out a way to disable this feature on this controller.

For reference, the link below is the instructions on how to adjust the failsafe timer and pics to show what the circuit board looks like... but maybe someone with an electrical background can take a look at it to see if I can just remove the lil blue piece or do something else to disable this thing?

http://www.jbjlighting.com/pdfs/ATO_ht_adjust_float.pdf

I sent an email to the manufacturer asking if this is possible, but it's a weekend and I don't expect to get a reply any time soon. Any help would be appreciated.