ATO. What do you used? Looking for recommendations!

[sugar]

Hello!

Sorry about the title typo!!

I am in the market for a new ATO and having been out of the hobby for a few years, the options are a little overwhelming!!

I currently have an AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro on my 25g Lagoon. I love it. It's simple and has never failed me (yet).

I am upgrading to an IM EXT 100 and since I will be keeping the 25g running as a QT, I'll need another ATO.

I've considered a few (IM HydroFill, Tunze 3155, or another AutoAqua Micro). But I'm now leaning towards the Neptune ATK. I do have the A3 Apex, and I like the equipment and layers of protection with the ATK. The ATK will also work with the RFS sump I have.

I'd love to hear what everyone is using and why! I love the simplicity of my Micro but if the ATK can offer 4 levels of protection, well, that's tough to beat.

(I also already have to get another FMM for my Apex, which comes with the ATK, so that works out pretty well!).

 

[Pistondog]

Tunze is the gold standard, imo. I have a 3155 and 2 3152s on my tanks. Never an issue. Replaced 1 pump in 6 years of use.

 

[Reef.]

Why not stick with what you know?

I have heard the IM is a little unique, I would like to try that one but no stock where I am.

Tunze have just upgraded their ato, better pump and I believe moved to just the digital sensor, they have dropped the float switch backup, the sensor now has 2 sensors build into the same device…just sounds exactly like your smart ato tbh, so not sure I would pay nearly $200 for something you can get for half the price.

I am picking up an AP Aqua tomorrow, seems to get as good as reviews as the rest and the price is very reasonable.

Edit did not answer your question, I presently use the Tunze nano, never liked it, it has now stopped working, pump was very loud and the float switch was unreliable, very glad to be rid of it, don’t think the nano was included in the Tunze upgrade? It needs to be.

 

[sugar]

Why not stick with what you know?

I have heard the IM is a little unique, I would like to try that one but no stock where I am.

Tunze have just upgraded their ato, better pump and I believe moved to just the digital sensor, they have dropped the float switch backup, the sensor now has 2 sensors build into the same device…just sounds exactly like your smart ato tbh, so not sure I would pay nearly $200 for something you can get for half the price.

I am picking up a AP Aqua tomorrow, seems to get as good as reviews as the rest and the price is very reasonable.

I couldn't believe the price of getting a new Micro!!! In Canada anyway, I'm seeing it at $189 or so. The Neptune ATK clocks in at around $324, but I was going to get another FMM ($155) anyways, so really, the difference is $169, which is less than the Micro??!!

There's so many available now that weren't when I was in the market years ago. Just wanted to see what everyone was using (and I should be considering!).

I saw a video today about a reefer's Hydrofill AND Tunze (as the backup) both fail, which just rattled me!!

 

[sugar]

Tunze is the gold standard, imo. I have a 3155 and 2 3152s on my tanks. Never an issue. Replaced 1 pump in 6 years of use.

I've read amazing things about the Tunze! BUT I just saw a video where someone had their Tunze fail on?? So that seemed odd (I thought they all failed off but I'm not sure).

 

[Reef.]

Yeah always has blown my mind why Tunze has so many fans, the ato was bulky and the pump was a joke it was so loud.

My AP aqua is rebadged a lot, its called D&D h2ocean here, maybe worth a look to what it’s called where you are as the company that makes them are well respected.

 

[Pistondog]

I've read amazing things about the Tunze! BUT I just saw a video where someone had their Tunze fail on?? So that seemed odd (I thought they all failed off but I'm not sure).

Anythings possible, but look for more than 1 failure example as there may be other causes.
3152 has a timer that prevents the float switch sticking from causing too much overfill.
Failing on would imply an electronic failure, which is possible unless tunze has eng ineered that out with redundancy.

 

[Reef.]

Oh and to help guard against failing on, I put my ato on a smart timer, comes on only 4 times in 24 hours for 30secomds at a time, so the max time the pump can run in 24h is 2 mins….the tunze brags it cuts of after 5 minutes,!!! Not sure what the new cutoff is on the upgraded but in 5 mins you can add a lot of water and when the pump resets thats another 5 mins worth of water untill you catch it.

 

[Daniel92481]

I had been using the reef prism ATO with good results until it failed. I would say it was good for about a year before it did. I had liked the form factor since I couldn’t find another micro in stock anywhere. And like you said, the price!? I think I paid $69 US for the prism.

 

[Daniel92481]

Oh yea and I came here to say welcome back sugar!

 

[DarkReefer]

I went with a cheap $100AUD Kamoer ATO.
It's worked well apart from a sensor that died. It wasn't a sensor that was really required for it, more of an 'extra'. Can't remember what it was for but that was the only issue thankfully and has worked for the past 3 years.

 

[tsharpe291]

Hello!

Sorry about the title typo!!

I am in the market for a new ATO and having been out of the hobby for a few years, the options are a little overwhelming!!

I currently have an AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro on my 25g Lagoon. I love it. It's simple and has never failed me (yet).

I am upgrading to an IM EXT 100 and since I will be keeping the 25g running as a QT, I'll need another ATO.

I've considered a few (IM HydroFill, Tunze 3155, or another AutoAqua Micro). But I'm now leaning towards the Neptune ATK. I do have the A3 Apex, and I like the equipment and layers of protection with the ATK. The ATK will also work with the RFS sump I have.

I'd love to hear what everyone is using and why! I love the simplicity of my Micro but if the ATK can offer 4 levels of protection, well, that's tough to beat.

(I also already have to get another FMM for my Apex, which comes with the ATK, so that works out pretty well!).

I used to run the atk but I had a few problems with it that required me to reach out to Neptune support, they were great. they had to create a couple virtual outlets for me because the pmup wasn't responding properly. worked well for a while but ultimately failed me again so back to the tunze I went. I love my apex and all the features but when something fails that I rely on like the ATO not so great.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Tunze for me, been rocking the osmolators on all my tanks for at least 10 years now

 

[Cthulukelele]

Tunze is the gold standard like everyone has listed, but I've had 2 over the last 6 or so years and they were both bad off brands I aggressively abused. The first one lasted almost 5 years and the new one I'm at 1. It's a gamble and all about cost/reward balancing, but if money isn't a consideration I agree tunze

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

Auto top off dot com. 40 bucks and use your favorite pump. I use it with a litermeter and pump water from the basement.

 

[JM302]

I've been running some form of Tunze ATO's since....... 2000ish. I can't recall exactly when, but it's the only ATO I've ever run. As mentioned, the 3155 has a double fail safe - one being the second float and the other being a 10 minute timer. I have two 3155s in use, one is at least 10 years old and still works perfectly.

If you have an Apex and an FMM, you could add a third backup level sensor that turns off the Tunze outlet if it's breached. It's what I do. I'm confident the Apex FMM will be less reliable than any form of a Tunze ATO.

Where I openly admit I'm a Tunze fanboy (in general), and as much as I love the core functionality of my Apex, I do believe that Neptune add-on gear is mostly .... sub par. The MXM, LLS, EB832's, Flow Sensor, COR Pumps (I can keep going ) have all proven to flat out not work or very have high failure rates. Based on my personal experiences, I would absolutely not use the ATK as my primary ATO.

 

[Rjukan]

Auto top off dot com. 40 bucks and use your favorite pump. I use it with a litermeter and pump water from the basement.

I've used the single one of these with a aqua lift pump since my first reef tank in the 00s, still works great after all these years. Never a problem (knock on wood), but my reserve is only 5 gallons at max to minimize a real disaster if it does get stuck on.

 

[Kayvon]

I couldn't believe the price of getting a new Micro!!! In Canada anyway, I'm seeing it at $189 or so. The Neptune ATK clocks in at around $324, but I was going to get another FMM ($155) anyways, so really, the difference is $169, which is less than the Micro??!!

There's so many available now that weren't when I was in the market years ago. Just wanted to see what everyone was using (and I should be considering!).

I saw a video today about a reefer's Hydrofill AND Tunze (as the backup) both fail, which just rattled me!!

I think I saw that same video. The Tunze he was using was the older model fwiw.

 

[braaap]

Spectrapure makes the best ATO on the market. Avast Marine makes the 2nd best ato on the market. Both use a Pressure sensor which is fail nearly proof. And a backup float just in case.

SpectraPure® G7 LiterMeter® Basic Auto Top Off

SpectraPure, Inc. is an Industry Standard in the Water Purification world. From Drinking Water to Aquarium Systems, you don't just want pure water, you want the PUREST Water! Get it with SpectraPure!

spectrapure.com

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

I've used the single one of these with an aqua lift pump since my first reef tank in the 00s, still works great after all these years. Never a problem (knock on wood), but my reserve is only 5 gallons at max to minimize a real disaster if it does get stuck on.

Ya. Funny how you can get a real pump like a litermeter and ato float switch for about the same as Tunze charges for a way lesser pump.