Anyone have solid ATO tricks or maintenance tips to prevent over filling ?

[Spieg]

Yeah the float valve saves the day but why should this happen so frequently? It’s frustrating

As some have already mentioned, a syphon can be created if the reservoir is higher than the end of the hose that delivers water to your tank/sump. This would be my primary suspect. A syphon break can be installed to remedy this.

Or, if the ATO looses power, it will run for a bit when power is restored. If you have frequent power fluctuations, this might lead to an overfill.

Also, there is an adjustable potentiometer inside the controller that sets the amount of water that is pumped at each cycle, perhaps that needs to be turned down? (The red knob in this photo is where it can be adjusted).

 

[Pico bam]

I'm sure it will be frowned upon here, but I simply use a float valve that is connected directly to my ro/di machine. I've run it this way for many years, on many systems without any issues.

I've also tried a variety of more traditional ATO's and have inevitably had an issue with them eventually.

Edit: I should probably add that I also use a booster pump (I think it's called an "ro buddy") that is on a lamp timer. So my ro machine is set to only be able to turn on 3 or 4 times per day. I still burn through di resin fairly quickly and this may be why. The luxury of never having to worry about any sort of ro reservoir is worth it to me, though.

Honestly love this idea man.

 

[outhouse]

my homemade ato is over 15 years old with no failures ever. TRICK is having a 10G fresh water container hooked on a one hour timer to my ro/di with a pressure switch so when the float in fresh water container shuts off, it cuts power to my booster pump and it cuts the water main off. From my 10g container I use 2 floats in sump to ATO that turns on aqualifter to keep sump topped off. On top of that I put my kalk reactor inline so the aqualifter feeds it and gravity carries effluent to sump in a high flow area. This is the only way to fly for cheap, but works perfect.

 

[outhouse]

Honestly love this idea man.

Its only half of a trust worthy system, for long term usage. Im using half of it myself. but just a hair more will ensure you dont kill all your tank

 

[elysics]

I have an aqualight optical ato. Never cleaned the optical part besides turning it 180 degrees 2 times a year or so so stuff that accumulated on the lens below the water line is now above the water line and dies off.

Never overfilled, just went into emergency mode and stopped pumping now and then because i left a kink in the hose when refilling the reservoir or when a snail hung out on the lens for several hours.

 

[Ober_Reef]

As an update I wanted to let everyone know I bought a new reservoir because I think running my ATO again will be beneficial for consistency with equipment like my skimmer as well as my tank overall. In getting everything running again I noticed that water was continuing flow from the output tube even after the pump was not running. Apparently it’s developing a suction and this is probably the cause for the over filling from the start. It is not something I thought about initially because the pump and bottom of the reservoir have always been floor level. Any tips on preventing this ?

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

ya the output cant be submerged if its submerged it can start the siphon which you dont want to happen

 

[Ober_Reef]

ya the output cant be submerged if its submerged it can start the siphon which you dont want to happen

Yeah it’s not submerged, I do have a lot of slack in the return tubing though.

 

[dadnjesse]

I drilled a hole in my tube inside my container so no siphon and any water spit out stays inside the container. I'm using the Osmolator 3155

 

[lefkonj]

Multiple checks on the ATO. Optical/Float etc. I have 3. normal, high and OW S4!T

 

[Water Dog]

It has been mentioned several times earlier in this thread but ignored for some reason…. If the output/end of the ATO fill tube is below the water level in your ATO reservoir, a siphoning event will occur. Raise the outlet of the ATO fill tube to a level higher than the highest possible water level in your ATO reservoir and a siphoning event will never occur again. It’s simple physics and gravity.