- Flow sensors:
water flows through them,
spins a small fan,
and they send a signal to your aquarium controller
to tell you how fast that water is moving.
Okay! Great!
But why would you want a flow sensor?
How can flow sensors help you reach your reefing goals?
And is the juice worth the monetary squeeze?
Let's answer those questions.
There are a few places where using flow sensors
to monitor flow rates is extremely helpful.
And there are also places you just plainly
should not use flow sensors,
which I'm also gonna go over.
There are two extremely useful places to monitor flow.
The first and most obvious being on a UV sterilizer.
UV sterilizers have very specific flow rates
that you'll need to provide
in order for them to work effectively
rather than trying to guesstimate the flow based
on the pump that you're using to feed the sterilizer
and what adjustments have been made
to an intake valve,
or the controller,
if it's a DC pump,
you can use a flow sensor to tell you exactly
what flow rate the UV sterilizer is receiving
and adjust it accordingly until it's dialed in perfectly
so you know that your UV sterilizer is doing its job.
Another useful spot for a flow sensor
is on your aquarium's return pump.
Monitoring the flow of your return pump
has a few advantages:
you can keep track of the ideal flow rate
for your overflow system to keep things nice and quiet
while still having adequate turnover through the filtration.
You can see when the flow begins to drop
which can indicate the pump has a clog
or needs to be cleaned.
Heck, you could even set an alarm
to notify you if the flow rate increases,
which could happen
if you accidentally bump a valve
or the controller of a DC pump
and change the setting.
In either case,
monitoring the flow of your return pump can save your pets
and your floors.
Beyond UV and return pumps,
those of us with closed loops,
external filtration equipment
like recirculating skimmers, refugium, or reactors,
or mixing stations
can also use flow sensors
to keep track of how our equipment is performing.
Dial in the optimal flow rates
and keep track of when pumps need to be cleaned.
Like I was mentioning earlier, though,
there are some places
that you should not be putting a flow sensor.
Don't do it.
While there might be some good arguments
for monitoring the flow of a drain,
flow sensors should not be used on drain lines.
for obvious reasons.
The passive flow of a drain is easily hindered
and even the fan of a flow sensor can affect
the flow inside of that drain.
Because water passing through the drain is also unfiltered,
there is a higher risk of it clogging up
which would be a big problem.
Flow sensors also have minimum
and maximum flow rates that they can handle.
If the flow rate is too low,
the sensor won't be able to register it.
If it's too high,
it could damage the sensor.
So it's important to also size the sensor
to the equipment you're intending to use it with.
For example, the FMK,
or flow monitoring kit from Neptune Systems
gives you a one inch sensor rated
for 150 to 1,500 gallons per hour
and a pair of half inch flow sensors rated
for 30 to 250 gallons per hour,
along with PVC couplings.
So you can easily install them
with standard PVC pipe and fittings,
which is going to cover the vast majority of reefer's needs.
But, there are also two inch
and quarter inch flow sensors as well.
So if you have a much larger system or tiny tubing,
you're covered.
Setting up the FMK is really simple.
Once you connect the FMM module to your Apex
using the Aquabus cable
and plug in the flow sensors to the ports on the FMM module,
you'll see tiles for each flow sensor
right on the dashboard in the Fusion app
where you can view the current flow rate.
Then you can click on the tasks clipboard icon,
search for flow sensor,
and it'll walk you through the simple setup for each sensor,
including high and low alarms
that can send a notification to your smart device
if the flow is ever outside of your set range.
But if you're like me
and you'd also like to have an audible
and visual alarm right at the aquarium as well,
you can pick up one of the Adaptive Reef alarms
that plugs directly into one
of the 24 volt accessory ports on your EB832 energy bar.
Then in the Fusion app,
you can click on the triple cogwheel icon
to reveal the hidden icons.
Then click on the flowchart icon,
click on EB832.
Then click on the cogwheel on link A,
or link B,
depending on which of the 24 volt ports you've plugged
the alarm into.
Scroll down at the bottom where the configuration field is
and enter this code.
I'll leave a link to the code
in the description below as well,
so you can just copy and paste it.
Once you're finished,
scroll back up to the top
and click the upload icon.
And from then on,
anytime a sensor is tripped,
your Adaptive Reef alarm will beep and flash
to immediately draw your attention
even if your phone isn't in your pocket.
And that isn't the only simple trick
to really make the most out of your Neptune Systems Apex.
In fact, we'll walk you through all of the best ways
to use all kinds of sensors
and other Apex peripherals to make reefing not just easier
but safer in this master your Apex playlist right here.
(upbeat music)