Diy ato

[mrukus]

As I finish up the tank build, I have moved into the planning phases of the ATO while the tank is cycling. I was planning on just using a 5 gal bucket to house the RO/DI water and I was going to use a marine bilge set up. Anyone tried this before? I'll use a lever float switch and a 360 GPH Bilge pump. I plan on teeing off the 3/4 line I need and having a ball valve recirculate the excess flow in the bucket.

Opinions/thoughts/suggestions welcome. If I decide to set it up I'll put up a build thread and post results.

 

[Adkins]

A couple things that come to mind.

1) How many gallon of evap do you have a day?

2) What is your low to high top off volume in your sump?

3) Are you planning on using Kalk in your top off at all?

 

[mrukus]

it'll be a 75 Gallon with mesh covers and a 20G sump. i can just barley fit the skimmer in one side and the other side of the sump is for the return. Haven't been able to calculate the evap rate yet as the tank just got water put in this weekend. I think it shouldn't be over 5 Gal a week off of what i read. it'll be a FO tank for the first 6 months at least so i probably won't dose anything at first. Low to high top off will probably be about 4 inches or so.

I was planning on plugging the pump and switch circuit into a timer that only came on in intervals. so like 2 times a day for 15 min. or something like that in case it gets stuck on.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Way too big a pump for an ATO with that small of a reservoir (and therefore assuming a mid to small tank....say 40 - 50 gallon DT.) I use a Tom's Aqualifer with a ten gallon reservoir and that works just fine. At 360 gallons per hour, that five gallon bucket is empty in less than a minute of run time. I would imagine that pump would no sooner turn on where it would then be turned off.....a second or two at the most.

 

[mrukus]

That was another concern I was worried about. I was planning on using a Tee with a 3/4 tubing coming off one end and a mostly open ball valve recirculating most of the flow

 

[mrukus]

The other option i was considering was a much smaller pump, like a 5-10GPH and have it controlled by a second, low voltage/amp circuit for the switch by a relay. I have read of some crazy ideas where people are splicing directly into an extension cord and running the full power through the whole system without a relay. Didn't look incredibly safe either.

 

[Adkins]

That was another concern I was worried about. I was planning on using a Tee with a 3/4 tubing coming off one end and a mostly open ball valve recirculating most of the flow

I don't see why it wouldn't work if your dead set on using that pump. It will work OK. You will definitly want to set your shut off switch a little lower than the desired fill height. Just to compensate for the flow delay. Since there will be a considerable surge from the pump. A little testing and tweaking on the T'd return and you should be able do come up with something decent.

Using an Aqua Lifter is more desirable due to low flow rates. Adding water slowly to allow temperature acclimation before entering the DT. Plus its silent lol. It's the pump the I choose to run but it's far from the only option for you.

Hopefully this helps some!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Why do you want to recirculate the water in the reservoir? It's "dead" water....there is nothing in there that will support growth....nutrient poor. I've had my ten gallon reservoir up and running for years with no circulation. There is nothing in there growing.

 

[mrukus]

Not to grow anything, just to not have 360 GPH dumping into the sump. I was hoping to capture 5% of that through the Tee and let the rest just pass through.

I was thinking of the bilge pump route because it wouldn't require relays and the wiring would be very clean for minimal effort, and can be done for under 25 bucks. If i use a dosing pump i will have to cut in and splice for relays and run two separate circuits. It seemed alot cleaner and easier, but I could be wrong.

 

[Adkins]

Not to grow anything, just to not have 360 GPH dumping into the sump. I was hoping to capture 5% of that through the Tee and let the rest just pass through.

I was thinking of the bilge pump route because it wouldn't require relays and the wiring would be very clean for minimal effort, and can be done for under 25 bucks. If i use a dosing pump i will have to cut in and splice for relays and run two separate circuits. It seemed alot cleaner and easier, but I could be wrong.

I'd say you are good to go!