dpmamay

I recently added a separate sump to my FOWLR tank. Up until now I used a shared sump between my reef and fowlr. Now I was having to top off twice a day to keep the salinity right. So I decided to purchase a second top off kit from Aquahub since the first one I bought worked so well. By the way the reason I heard about Aquahub was from Reefcast!


For all you Canadian's. Aquahub ships United States Postal Service and when it arrives there is no duty or taxes to pay. So on with the DIY part.

I bought the Top off Deluxe kit. It includes two float switches. The first one to turn your pump or aqualifter on and off. The second float switch is set about 1 1/2" above the first one so if the first one gets stuck in the "ON" position the second float switch turns your pump "OFF" and you don't end up with either a bunch of water on the floor or lowering your SG.

Sorry about skipping some steps in the pictures...I forgot I should be taking pics for this...whoops.

So making the holder is the most difficult part. You heat the plastic they give you using hot water. The instructions say to submerge the whole thing but I only place the part I need to shape in the water otherwise you have a really sticky piece of plastic that won't turn out the way you want.
Next is drilling holes in the snail guard so the water can flow in and out and fixing the float switches to the mold-a-holder. I used 1/2" tubing to slide over the float switch posts as to protect them from any salt creep or in case of a power failure and my sump fills up. You don't want to expose the top of the post with water even though it's been filled with epoxy.

The kit comes with a relay switch, project box and mount for the relay. The purpose of using the relay is so the float switches run off 12V, not 120V. Follow the rest of the directions provided for the wiring. You use an extension cord to plug your pump in and they provide a small transformer that provides power for the float switches.

Place it in the box when you're done and screw it down.


Now you have a finished top off kit that if it fails it only puts 12V in your tank instead of 120V

You start with a rectangular piece of plastic that Aquahub supplies called a "Mold-A-Holder" and cut a slit up one end and then place it in hot water and it becomes pliable. Then you make the "L's" to hold the float switches and then bend it over your tank. It cools in about 2 minutes and becomes rigid again.