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Midnight

My Auto Top Off

Rating: 2 votes, 5.00 average.
So I finally got around to setting up the auto top off. I do spend a lot of time away from the reef and decided that, though I love my wife dearly, she won't always remember to check on the tank. So I spent about 30 dollars on parts from http://www.aquahub.com. I actually got 3 float switches, the third I may add to the reservoir or just hang on to for a spare. I had a small sheet of 1/4 inch acrylic in the garage to use for the mounting bracket. I ripped off a two inch strip and and heated it with a small propane torch to make the bends. And notched the hole with the table saw. I also ripped a small piece for a second switch to mount above the first.



Then I welded the smaller bracket to the larger one using a similar product to weldon 16.



However, I hadn't started drinking yet and didn't think to make sure the notch for the upper flat switch would fit. So I had to take the assembled bracket, that was still curing, to the table saw to enlarge the upper notch. Not fun.

I mounted the two float switches, the upper one being a back up to the lower one, if it sticks.



Then I wired the two switches in series on one leg of the extension cord. I know the pic is tough to make out what is going where. I opted to use silicone wire nuts, the kind made for out door lighting, and then wrapped them in plastic and zip tied it shut.



This is how the bracket hangs on the side of the sump in the return section, I forgot to take the final product picture.

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Categories
Tank Entry , ‎ Electrical , ‎ Plumbing , ‎ Water Chemistry

Comments

  1. melev's Avatar
    That's great! Good job. FYI, Aquahub sells this special material that you can put in boiling water to melt it into a hanger bracket. It's neat stuff, developed for NASA. So if someone else wants to copy you, they can do that and order that stuff from the site while getting their float switches.
  2. Midnight's Avatar
    Thanks Marc, tomorrow I will take a photo of the finished product and get it posted for everyone to see.
  3. Hat39406's Avatar
    Awesome job Midnight! I went to that site and checked it out. I will hopefully do that soon - I need too. I know how much you enjoyed doing the aCrylic work so if you feel like having more fun and making me one of those brackets well okay. ;-p. Good and simply DIY, thank you!