ATO set ups

[clowns101]

Whats your favorite ATO set ups?Right now,I am using the jbj set up,and it has now failed on me twice,first time a ton of FW in my tank,and now,it dumped a 5 gallons of FW on my floor,new hardwood flooring,under 8 months old...YAY!

I need a new one,like ASAP...suggestions?

Thanks,
Austin

 

[btkrausen]

I use a cheapo Aqualifter on a Apex timer to add RO water in set increments to match my evaporation.

However, on my new tank, I'll be getting the Tunze Osmolator, as my buddy runs one and its awesome. He can take out like a small cup of water, and it quickly turns on and replaces that water. Pretty cool, and it has multiple failure safeties built in.

 

[sf_ramsden]

I plan on tagging along on this one. Still trying to decide what to do with my 34g Solana. I go on vacation in a month, so need to figure it out soon (yikes!).

 

[gar732]

Wow that sucks. I just bought the jbj too.

 

[swannyson7]

I'm using multiple float switches for redundancy through a breakout box on my Apex. I set up the programming so that the pump can't run for more than 3 minutes at a clip, with a one hour down period in between. I learned the hard way after a float switch stuck and pumped 5 gallons of RO throguh my kalk reactor, spiking my pH enough to kill a melanarus and a leopard wrasse. :squigglemouth:

 

[btkrausen]

I'm using multiple float switches for redundancy through a breakout box on my Apex. I set up the programming so that the pump can't run for more than 3 minutes at a clip, with a one hour down period in between. I learned the hard way after a float switch stuck and pumped 5 gallons of RO throguh my kalk reactor, spiking my pH enough to kill a melanarus and a leopard wrasse. :squigglemouth:

I've yet to understand how the breakout boxes work on the controllers, any explanation on them? It might help Chris decide on going that route if he had a controller already.

 

[clowns101]

So,is the Tunze the best one to go with?

 

[secretreefer]

I'm tagging along. need a ATO here as well. gettin' tired of lifting those 5gallon water bottles!

 

[btkrausen]

So,is the Tunze the best one to go with?

I seen a lot of positive stuff with this one, but other cheaper ones have worked for other people as well. The Tunze is just shy of $200, but hit me up about what we've talked about previously about pricing :) I'm thinking about ordering one soon as well to use for the new tank.

 

[greg0385]

tagging along on this one as well, thinking of going with a small fountain pump on a timer, with a float switch mounted at the top so if it gets engage it kills the pump. as cheap as the float switches are might even have a back up. great thing i have read about them is you hook them in a series and have the float switches as kill switches. just my thought on it, still haven't done mine yet. good luck

 

[red02]

tunze top off had mine for a few years works great

 

[Celestin]

I'm using the Elos digital and it works great for me. It's designed so you can set how much water it puts in each time it turns on and it will only turn on once every 30mins. The Tunze works great but if you have microbubbles where you put it, i have seen it fail quite often. No experience with other ATO systems

 

[kellerexpress]

I'm using a dual float ato from autotopoff.com with an aqualifter. Simple and affordable. The second float acts as a failsafe in case the first floats fails/sticks.

 

[Bugg_zy]

Bought The Tunze myself. I have had it about 5 months now, so far so good.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

I use an Osmolator (primary=optical sensor, backup = mechanical float) with a fail safe provided by the Apex monitoring a conductivity probe which turns off the Osmolator and sends a text and email should salinity drop below 34.5 ppt or rise above 35.5 (normal operating range 34.8 - 35.2.)

 

[swannyson7]

I've yet to understand how the breakout boxes work on the controllers, any explanation on them? It might help Chris decide on going that route if he had a controller already.

The Breakout box plugs into your I/O port and allows you to add any low voltage circuit such as a float switch, water alarm, window alarm, etc. Then you can set up a virtual outlet where, in this case, the float switch will be recognized as either on or off. Then you can write a line of code with conditional statements so that once it is tripped it will turn on the pump. You can have it conditional upon mutiple float switches being tripped to prevent problems with a calcified switch. Then you can add a oscillating command so that the pump will only run for X amount of time before being inactive for Y time. Plugging a water alarm into it would allow you to set up an alarm that notifies you via text/email if you have water on the floor or the window alarm could notify you if someone has opened up the doors on your stand or canopy.

 

[Viva'sReef]

Spectrapure LLC-M is what I use(Multi Liquid Level Controller). It's been flawless for 5 years now, never a hicup. Uses a pressure sensitive type switch. When there is positive pressure, it shuts the valvle off, when negative pressure(water dropping below switch) it opens the valve and lets water run through my Kalk reactor and into my sump. My sump's return area holds around 15 gallons, so it takes about 2 gallons of evap to turn the system on so that it's not constantly turning the topoff on and off.

No pumps either, it uses my house waterline pressure to push water through the system. That allows me to push water to anywhere in the house without having to worry about headloss etc. It will also let me topoff multiple containers/tanks using regular float switches, so I have my FW reservior also using the same top-off system. Then I have another line hooked to the system that is used for whatever, usually to rinse mysis etc.

 

[Reef lvr]

I use a 7 gal gravity fed drip, so if fails it's my fault.. Dont trust the ATO's.. my .02.. GL

 

[btkrausen]

The Breakout box plugs into your I/O port and allows you to add any low voltage circuit such as a float switch, water alarm, window alarm, etc. Then you can set up a virtual outlet where, in this case, the float switch will be recognized as either on or off. Then you can write a line of code with conditional statements so that once it is tripped it will turn on the pump. You can have it conditional upon mutiple float switches being tripped to prevent problems with a calcified switch. Then you can add a oscillating command so that the pump will only run for X amount of time before being inactive for Y time. Plugging a water alarm into it would allow you to set up an alarm that notifies you via text/email if you have water on the floor or the window alarm could notify you if someone has opened up the doors on your stand or canopy.

Thanks. Sounds like something I need to look into for some safety nets :)

 

[swannyson7]

Thanks. Sounds like something I need to look into for some safety nets :)

It's like a $30 item and you can get float switches online for under 5 bucks. A wise investment in my eyes by providing multiple levels of redundancy