DIY ATO

[cmaxwell39]

So, I have three tanks that I need to put ATO on and the cost to do it was starting to get prohibitive. At first I was just going to use float switches through the GHL controller that I will be using on this new build, but by the time I added up all the floats I am going to need for various things, and all the boards it was getting costly.

Next I looked at off the shelf standalone units, but once again, cost was getting up there. Finally I looked at Autotopoff.com and by the time I bought 3 separate setups (2 QT's and the sump for the display) it was not going to be cheap.

So, I started looking around for relays to build my own and came across this neat little relay board on amazon.

4 individual SPDT relays all individually controlled for under $10.

So that got me thinking. I could use a 12V power supply to power the board and the three different pumps that I will need, buy some float switches and float valves and build my own ATO for much less than I could buy everything for even from autotopoff.com

Here is the link to the board that I purchased off of amazon. I also ended up buying these float switches. If I were to do it again, I would get different float switches, but more on that later.
This is the power supply that I purchased which will power the whole thing. One plug makes it easy to put this on the GHL controller to add some extra redundancy and program it to shut it off during water changes, maintenance etc.

I purchased float valves from Premium Aquatics and ordered 12V pumps and brackets from autotopoff.com Once again, if I were to do the project over, I would probably have sourced these elsewhere, but they worked for this project.

Step by step details to come.

 

[cmaxwell39]

First I had to figure out how the triggers worked on this board. I was hoping to be able to power the 12V +/- to the board and send the + out to the float switches and have them send the signal back when it closed the switch (called for water to be added). Fortunately this worked in my quick dirty test set up in the living room.

Oops, forgot the obligatory unboxing pic. Here you go.

I was originally going to do two float switches wired in series for an electrical safety. If the main switch was held down or stuck the top switch would shut the pump off if the water got that high. Unfortunately, the stems on these reed switches were too long to do that on the two QT tanks unless I wanted to run very low water levels in them. I didn't so I went with a single switch and a mechanical float valve as a backup. Should still be plenty safe.

So, for the pumps, I simply jumpered the 12V + to the common of the relays and then wired that to one leg of the pump that was going on that channel. Wired all the 12V - back to the transformer to complete the circuit.

Put it all in a couple of 4x4 electrical boxes to keep the cost down and started running wires.

Next challenge was getting the tank mounts dialed in.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Like I said, I had originally planned on using two float switches and a float valve, but since I decided to just use a single float switch and a float valve I wanted to clean up the installation a little bit. It wasn't going to work to just use the brackets that I ordered from autotopoff.com because the float valve would have hung under the float switch and never would have been open to let water in when the float switch closed calling for water. The tank brackets that I ordered were longer than they needed to be though, so I cut the bottom 3.5" off of one of them and cut that in half so that I could make my own brackets at two different levels for the float valve and float switch and still mount them on one tank bracket to keep everything nice and clean.

Sorry, no pics of the process here, but this is the result of the test run.

Installed on the fish QT. Worked just like I wanted. Did the same thing for the invert coral QT and need to finish up the sump bracket, but got everything wired.

Ran tubing back to my ATO container. This is a repurposed 55 gal pickle barrel. I know a lot of people don't like having a container this large for the ATO, but with high CO2 in the well water and the need to degas the RO before sending it through DI, I wanted to make sure to have enough on hand to not have issues with running out. I will combat this by plugging the power supply into a GHL powerbar and only powering the ATO system 3 or 4 times a day for a limited amount of time.

Plumbed pumps in and finished the wiring and tested it out.

Final step was to make sure the pumps would stay at the bottom of the barrel. This was accomplished with some 3/4" PVC pipe and some zip ties.

It has been working well so far. I have only been running it for about a week, but have not had any issues with it to this point.

And, total cost, even with all the stuff that was bought that wasn't needed (extra float switches, backup power supply, extra tank brackets, etc) under $200 for all three tanks. Not too shabby.

 

[N8Hull]

This is what I am about to start. Thanks for sharing. Saved me some searching. I might have missed it, but how far away and what ride do you have from the ato container to the tanks?

 

[cmaxwell39]

I am not pumping terribly far, but these little pumps have impressed me so far. Vertical lift will depend on how empty the ATO barrell is, so lets say between 3 and 6 feet. My longest run from the ATO container is probably around 15-18 feet total.

I will say that I feel these pumps could do a whole lot more than that. It still has plenty of force when it gets to the float valves so I am sure it could handle more longer runs/more head pressure no problem.

The one modification that I have made since I made the thread is that I got a controller and just for one more layer of redundancy I plugged the 12V power supply into a controllable outlet and am only powering the ATO circuit for 10 min 4 times a day.

The reasons for this are two fold. First of all, it will limit the amount of time that the system is on in the highly unlikely event that both the float switch and float valve fail. Secondly, it limits the amount of on/off cycles on the pumps, relays, switches, etc so that they don't bounce on and off every few minutes. I didn't have a problem with it when I had it powered 24/7, but this just seemed a little better.



Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your ATO build.

 

[dirtyxducks19]

This is awesome. Thank you for this build. Is there anyway you can post a rough wiring diagram? I’m trying to make one for a single smaller tank

 

[cmaxwell39]

This is awesome. Thank you for this build. Is there anyway you can post a rough wiring diagram? I’m trying to make one for a single smaller tank

Thanks. I will work on drawing something up in the next couple of days. It looks more complicated than it really is.

 

[dirtyxducks19]

Thanks. I will work on drawing something up in the next couple of days. It looks more complicated than it really is.

That would be really helpful. I know it looks crazy but it’s not. I’m not very knowledgeable about relays but if I have a wiring diagram I know I can get it set up right Thank you a ton

 

[cmaxwell39]

That would be really helpful. I know it looks crazy but it’s not. I’m not very knowledgeable about relays but if I have a wiring diagram I know I can get it set up right Thank you a ton

Here you go. Picture of a rough wiring diagram I drew up as well as a picture of the relay board that I used so that you can see the connections I am talking about. I drew this up for one pump, but you would just scale it up for multiple pumps/tanks.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I can walk you through it.

 

[cmaxwell39]

One other word of caution. If you are going to be powering multiple pumps make sure to size the transformer used to be large enough to run all the pumps at the same time. Otherwise you could use multiple transformers to power the pumps. I can help you with that as well if you have questions.

 

[dirtyxducks19]

Here you go. Picture of a rough wiring diagram I drew up as well as a picture of the relay board that I used so that you can see the connections I am talking about. I drew this up for one pump, but you would just scale it up for multiple pumps/tanks.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I can walk you through it.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it

 

[cmaxwell39]

You’re very welcome. Merry Christmas.