ATO unnecessary?

[Trever]

It's looking like my tank will "typically" evaporate no more than 1-2 cups of water a day. 1/8th of a gallon at most. The total system volume is 38 gallons (actual/measured when I added it).

I don't see the necessity of an ATO for this size of a system, even though I fully understand how for larger systems, an ATO would be invaluable, and I understand the importance of an ATO to help maintain stable water parameters. But what I'm saying is, unless and until we go out of town for more than say 4 days, it seems to me I do not need an ATO and I can still easily maintain water parameters with just as much stability as an ATO would give me.

I work from home, the tank is in my office. Adding a cup a day of RODI is easy and a welcome ergo break from my desk.

Am I missing something? The only way I can see this being incorrect is if the amount of evaporation I think the system is doing is not what I currently think.

Time will tell me what I need to know of course, but thought I'd see what folks say- what other people's experience is. It doesn't seem like an ATO is necessary for my mid size tank that is on the low end of midsize.

 

[twilliard]

I find that over time people tend to become lax at topping off. With small tanks, this can be hard on the Sg.

 

[loui]

who told you that an ATO was necessary?

 

[IzzysPop]

small bits of loss in a small tank = larger salinity fluctuations. Of all the stuff I've added to my tank, the ATO is by far the best time saver and also a sense of security since I know I won't forget and all of a sudden be a few gallons low.

 

[PicassoClown04]

My 20 gallon evaps about a gallon a day, same for my other tanks (rimless and lidless) so for me a ATO is a must have. But if your tank doesn’t need one, you certainly don’t need one. If you should ever want one, it’s a pretty easy install so nbd

 

[92Miata]

Do you need one? No. Should you buy one? Yes.

I work from home and have a 40g, and a 10g in my office. The 10g has an ATO, the 40g doesn't. At least a couple times a week I'm doing something, and irritated, and realize its because the tank is making a ton of noise (splashing/etc) because the pump section is almost empty.


They're great convenience devices.

 

[Philly Reefer]

ATO is just another tool to help us in our hobby. I would think most of us use it because we don't want the "chore" of topping off the water everyday.


And of course so the salinity is stable

 

[Trever]

Sounds to me like time will tell... I don't see myself getting tired of adding a cup or three a day, or easily forgetting, compared to having to keep clean the ATO sensors and worrying about it malfunctioning and possibly flooding the place. In all cases, I still have an RODI reservoir to maintain. But time may prove these notions quite mistaken. What I hear is a chorus of people saying essentially "You will eventually want one, even at your size tank and evaporation rates".

The main thing I worry/wonder about is longer trips out of town... for that, it seems like an ATO can be considered a necessity, and not something you'd want to turn on only for vacations since you'd want experience with it. But for longer trips... tank sitter may be necessary and can do the manual top off.

I appreciate hearing people's experiences/thoughts!

My motivation is partly that we are soon going out of town for 4 days... having to think ahead, do I need this thing or not? I may not have any living things in the tank when we go, but we go again in a few months and by then I will have fish at least.

 

[Philly Reefer]

Sounds to me like time will tell... I don't see myself getting tired of adding a cup or three a day, or easily forgetting, compared to having to keep clean the ATO sensors and worrying about it malfunctioning and possibly flooding the place. In all cases, I still have an RODI reservoir to maintain. But time may prove these notions quite mistaken. What I hear is a chorus of people saying essentially "You will eventually want one, even at your size tank and evaporation rates".

The main thing I worry/wonder about is longer trips out of town... for that, it seems like an ATO can be considered a necessity, and not something you'd want to turn on only for vacations since you'd want experience with it. But for longer trips... tank sitter may be necessary and can do the manual top off.

I appreciate hearing people's experiences/thoughts!

My motivation is partly that we are soon going out of town for 4 days... having to think ahead, do I need this thing or not? I may not have any living things in the tank when we go, but we go again in a few months and by then I will have fish at least.

Your concern is valid. But thats why ppl will vouch for tunze ato and for advance reefers - controllers.

Depending on a tank sitter can be more worrying for me. What happen if they cant be there? Or they put regular water, etc

 

[Shep]

Necessary? nope! Highly recommended? yep! You can live with out it but it just makes life easier and if you have a smaller tank, it can really help maintain stability

 

[Cell]

ATO is not a requirement, but there is no question it improves stability and convenience.

Keep in mind evaporation rate in the winter tends to be much greater than in the summer.

 

[DSEKULA]

It's not necessary to have an ato it is necessary to keep your salinity stable. I use this for my 2gal pico, their cheap no sensors etc. Even if I was going to top daily by hand I'd probably have something like this in case I go away for a week or weekend. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B083TFLF9N?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[RobB'z Reef]

ATO is totally optional, it's really up to you in how you want to manage evaporation at any level.

 

[Regular_Reefer]

ATO is not a requirement, but there is no question it improves stability and convenience.

Keep in mind evaporation rate in the winter tends to be much greater than in the summer.

+1 the only reason I eventually set one up was due to the fact that I had a trip coming up that I would be gone for about a week. Other than that I just marked my sump and checked the water level twice daily. But having one since then is way nice!

 

[shred5]

I find that over time people tend to become lax at topping off. With small tanks, this can be hard on the Sg.

This here ^

You forget once and your main pump goes dry?

Does this tank have a sump or AIO?

My AIO the section where the pump is in would be sucking air in a little over a day or two..

 

[secret_reefer337]

Not really necessary but for more stable and consistency in water salinity I opt to install one. One less thing to worry and become aquatic hobby chore. Way back then we don’t have an ATO and tanks flourish. But since the technology is here, why not use it. Even my freshwater tank have one.

 

[Reef.]

Do you have a lid on the tank?

if not you will be loosing more than you think a day. Maybe 1-2 litres a day.

getting one now as you said you will need one in the future means you will be able to get to grips with it rather than waiting until you are away and have to buy one last minute.
with your tank being on the small side, I would recommend the smart micro ato or the Tunze nano, the down side of the Tunze nano is it only as a float switch, no backup incase that fails, it will shut off after 1.45mins tho, you could go for the big Tunze ato as that has a sensor and a backup float switch but the down side for a small tank is, if you work on the tank a fair bit, and turn the ato off so it doesn’t trip whilst you work on the tank, when you turn it back on it primes itself, flushing RO water through the system, do this a few times and it will throw off your salinity.

Oh and the downside of both Tunze the pumps are not quiet!

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

I was the same as you the first few weeks and manually topping off, but then I started to slack off, especially with no life in the tank.

In the end I went with a gravity fed DIY ATO. I got a 5L bucket and connected air tubing and a valve near the bottom. I've adjusted the valve down to a drip. This lasts me about 10 days. The air hose is very long, so the bucket is out of sight.

 

[piranhaman00]

IMO an ATO is the most necessary unnecessary item in reef keeping if that makes sense.

 

[Amstar]

To me it all goes back to your time and what is it worth to you and piece of mind An ATO gave me more of my time Back to Enjoy my tank, more piece of mind that my tank was stable (especially on vacations).

it was a “bells and whistles” add that made the most sense to me over some of the other “gadgets” I have seen for reef keeping