ATO -aqua lifter help

[tidus10]

So I read that the aqua lifter has a 30" head on it?

I'm trying to set up my ATO and I plan on mounting the aqua lifter in the room next to my tank (running the hoses through the wall) but I want to pull from the bottom of the drum into the sump, the drum is like 36" tall but from there it's all down hill... Will this even work?

 

[_sludgefactory]

No, it will probably create a syphon and just overflow the tank. Thats what mine does if the water level in the ATO container isn't at or lower than my sump level.

 

[tidus10]

So I should just buy another sump pump then?

 

[Spsnut]

Head height is measured from the surface, I would think lift is as well. Gravity won't be a problem; if anything it will help the pump better and last longer.

 

[Spsnut]

So when measuring head height you measure from water surface to water surface, your's sounds like it is a negative value; there are other losses that effect head: distance, fittings, tube size... I doubt you will have a problem.

 

[tidus10]

No, it will probably create a syphon and just overflow the tank. Thats what mine does if the water level in the ATO container isn't at or lower than my sump level.

This gentleman is saying that it will create a vacuum and overflow the sump.

And I thought it was measured from the intake tube end to where it was going (the length of the run) if it's measured from water height to water height I will certainly be at a negative "head"

Will this be ok for this pump? Does anyone else have a water storage tank that's on the same floor as their tank and that water level above the water level of their sump? Can you let me know how to set up an ATO pump and if the aqua lifter will actually work for this or is there a different pump I should get?

 

[ReeferBen]

I use a tunze osmolator for my ATO right now. I have used a liter meter 1 and 3, JBJ ATO, as well as a few others.

I would never do a float valve directly to my sump for ATO.

Sounds like your in the right direction as far as having a separate container for the ATO water, but have to have your res on the above sump level. If you were using a standard pwerhead it would also create a siphon. How are you going to control the pump? Timer? Electric float valve? You could use a check valve but I dont like ever relying on those either.

Can you move the res so its at or lower then the sump so you have a way to set the line so the siphon breaks when the pump stops? Certain pumps like the LMIII would stop the flow either way since they have 3 rollers and the tubing is pinched, I have heard of other 2 roller ATO pumps having siphon issues.

I have my ATO res in my pantry on the floor. The tunze osmolator feeds through the wall to my kalkreactor, there is no siphon issues and the tunze has both an electric eye and float valve making it a safe system.

 

[tidus10]

I'm getting a RKL tomorrow and it's coming with a float valve. So I was going to use that to tell me ATO pump to kick on... I planned on using a garbage can to hold my reserve of RO water and have a pump pump it from there into my sump whenever needed through a wall.. I have no way of putting the sump higher or the reservoir lower

 

[tidus10]

For everyone else with this issue this is what I found