AutoAqua Hydros ATO

[169468]

I have just bought a cheap AutoAqua ATO for my pico tank. I'm guessing it is the same (or very similar) pump to all of the AutoAqua ATOs and the Hydros ATO.

For the price, it seems to work pretty well and is very quiet when pumping, but when the pump stops it doesn't hold the pressure. So, when it stops pumping the water rushes back into the ATO reservoir and makes a gurgling sound.

Has anyone who has used this ATO/pump seen this? If so, did you do anything to fix it? Can I add a check valve or something to stop the water rushing back?

Thanks.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have just bought a cheap AutoAqua ATO for my pico tank. I'm guessing it is the same (or very similar) pump to all of the AutoAqua ATOs and the Hydros ATO.

For the price, it seems to work pretty well and is very quiet when pumping, but when the pump stops it doesn't hold the pressure. So, when it stops pumping the water rushes back into the ATO reservoir and makes a gurgling sound.

Has anyone who has used this ATO/pump seen this? If so, did you do anything to fix it? Can I add a check valve or something to stop the water rushing back?

Thanks.

There is normally a syphon break provided with ATO kits. Did you install it?
Also, the pipe from the ATO pump should be above the water level in the tank, not submerged.

 

[169468]

I tried it but that's not the problem; all it does is drip water out of the siphon break.

The ATO reservoir is underneath the tank. There is nowhere I can put a siphon break that will stop the water rushing back to the reservoir. The top off tube is not in the tank water, so there is no real siphon. It is just the water in the tube rushing back into the reservoir that makes the gurgling noise.

 

[169468]

Fast forward to about 7:40 in this video. This is the same gurgling noise that I am trying to stop.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I tried it but that's not the problem; all it does is drip water out of the siphon break.

The ATO reservoir is underneath the tank. There is nowhere I can put a siphon break that will stop the water rushing back to the reservoir. The top off tube is not in the tank water, so there is no real siphon. It is just the water in the tube rushing back into the reservoir that makes the gurgling noise.

I don't know that model, but does the pump have a flow control lever which you can back off so the water is slowed down some?

If it's bothersome at night, you could always put the ATO on a timer switch.

On my office nano, I only turn on the ATO for 1 minute twice a day at 9am/pm.

Prevents overflow disasters on a small tank with a large top off reservoir.

 

[n2585722]

I don't use that type of pump for ATO. I use a dosing pump and it has to pump from the garsge up through the attic and down inside the wall out a wall plate to the sump. I have had no issues with it. For that distance and height a small pump like that would never work for me. But the syphon break is working as it should if the water drains back into the reservoir. That is how a syphon break works. It allows air to enter back into the tube when the flow stops to prevent a syphon from the tank from happening.