DOS for ATO filling

[menos_el_oso]

I am looking to use a 120ft apex cable to hook up a DOS unit from my RO in basement to ATO upstairs. I may add on some additional sensors but will likely start with just a simple sensor in the ATO reservoir to kick it on/off. Does anybody else use a similar set up or can recommend a compatible sensor to turn/off? Thanks!

 

[Reef Jedi]

I am looking to use a 120ft apex cable to hook up a DOS unit from my RO in basement to ATO upstairs. I may add on some additional sensors but will likely start with just a simple sensor in the ATO reservoir to kick it on/off. Does anybody else use a similar set up or can recommend a compatible sensor to turn/off? Thanks!

I use two optical sensors in my ATO in the stand. One is a low sensor and a high sensor. When water hits the low sensor, it opens a solenoid from my rodi in the basement and directly fills the ato container till it hits the top optical sensor, then it closes the solenoid. I have the RO line going through a float switch as a failsafe incase the top sensor doesn’t close the switch. In a year that’s never been a problem but I’d rather be redundant than not. This set up works great and I haven’t lifted a single bucket filling my fresh ato. This is all controlled through the apex.

This is how it looks on my apex controls.

 

[menos_el_oso]

This is very helpful, thank you! Do you need a specific type of solenoid or will any work? I was looking at the Neptune SV-1 Solenoid Valve on BRS. Thanks!

 

[Reef Jedi]

This is very helpful, thank you! Do you need a specific type of solenoid or will any work? I was looking at the Neptune SV-1 Solenoid Valve on BRS. Thanks!

That will work, you want one that when power is off = closed. This way when water hits the low level sensor, it turns on the solenoid (open) until it hits your top level sensor then powers it off (closed).

I found it was much easier to run the ato directly from the RODI since it would push the water from the basement and I didn’t have to use another pump to get it up there. I then used the 2nd dos I had for auto water changes since I already had a RO line running into the tank, I just followed the same path for those RO lines.

 

[Reef Jedi]

This is the line of code I used to make it all autonomous and this way it’s a set and forget. I do have another leak optical sensor sitting next to the ATO res in the stand. Again, being overlay cautious if the leak is detected it will also force the solenoid closed to prevent a water mess on the floor.

If you have any more questions let me know and I’m happy to help get this running for you. I’d say the hardest part was getting the RO lines nicely tucked along floor beams and up/into the tank stand. But once you have a path it makes it so much easier to add other things through that route. Another thing I did was connect the solenoid to the apex in the stand, and ran the solenoid just under the floor on the basement side. This way I didn’t need to run a long apex cable to where the RODI is in the basement. The cord it came with I think was like 6 feet so it was just enough to mount along the floor joice in the basement. I eventually did end up running an apex data cable about 100 feet because I decided to move all my dosing dos and bins into the basement to clear out the stand. I figured since I already had the runs going into the stand, I may as well move all of that down there anyways lol

 

[obanarama]

I was planning on doing the same thing as you this week but realized that I didn't need the DOS after realizing that the RO line that fills my RO tank in my mixing room is pressurized. So I put a 1/4" T fitting (i.e. a splitter) in the RO line just after my RODI filter and just before my RO mixing room tank, then ran an RO line from the T fitting 50 feet directly to my ATO. Then I put a Neptune Solenoid at the end of that pressurized RO line, right before it enters my ATO. I already had a Neptune water level sensor in my ATO and programed my Apex so it opens and closes the Neptune solenoid based on high and low water levels in my ATO. i.e. If the ATO water level is below 10" then turn the solenoid on, and if the water level is above 15" then turn it off. Its working amazing for me and saved me having to run the 50' USB line to my mixing station and eliminated the need to use the DOS at all. I put some redundancy in my setup to ensure no overflows happen as well, just to be safe, but now can use my DOS for, um, dosing!

 

[menos_el_oso]

Sorry for all the questions - I have a simpler AIO setup right now but do you put the DOS in the stand? I am concerned about a cable running over +100’ from the basement. It’s mainly horizontal and only a 5-6’ vertical incline to the tank location. I have purchased the silent DOS so hoping it will not be too noisy for the water change portion.

 

[menos_el_oso]

I was planning on doing the same thing as you this week but realized that I didn't need the DOS after realizing that the RO line that fills my RO tank in my mixing room is pressurized. So I put a 1/4" T fitting (i.e. a splitter) in the RO line just after my RODI filter and just before my RO mixing room tank, then ran an RO line from the T fitting 50 feet directly to my ATO. Then I put a Neptune Solenoid at the end of that pressurized RO line, right before it enters my ATO. I already had a Neptune water level sensor in my ATO and programed my Apex so it opens and closes the Neptune solenoid based on high and low water levels in my ATO. i.e. If the ATO water level is below 10" then turn the solenoid on, and if the water level is above 15" then turn it off. Its working amazing for me and saved me having to run the 50' USB line to my mixing station and eliminated the need to use the DOS at all. I put some redundancy in my setup to ensure no overflows happen as well, just to be safe, but now can use my DOS for, um, dosing!

This is awesome and I will definitely follow your lead! Thanks for sharing!