EchoPear
Active Member
Looking for a sanity check here. Have a basic glass box tank and my tuxedo urchin loves to pull down my Tunze float switch and trigger my ATO. Because of this I can’t leave the ATO on unattended so I resort to turning it on for short stints when I am watching the tank but would like to not have to keep remembering to do this
Came across the sumpless ATO from XPAqua. I suppose it works because the evaporation takes place inside the little box since there is a little return pump at the bottom like a mini one chamber AIO or something. XPAqua quoted me a lot for just the box and the pump (to try and DIY with my tunze float switch) and also said it won’t work since their box has a built in magnet which would interfere with my tunze magnet.
I had an idea to combine this with those Aquaclear HOB filter skimmer boxes people make for the older aquaclears. I have a new redesigned AC50. Found a guy on Etsy who will sell me a 4 sided overflow box with a bottom for a great price that is 4x4x8 inches (picture is 3 sides but box I order would be all 4). I would use the strong tunze magnet to hold the box against the aquarium glass with the float switch clipped in, then run my AC50 filter intake into the box. Will this work with evaporation taking place inside the box?
Sorta like this but with the bigger box
I’m thinking this will solve 3 problems for me
1) no more urchin access to float switch
2) get some actually good surface skimming because the separately purchasable aquaclear surface skimmer attachment from Fluval kinda sucks
3) with a smaller chamber for evaporation my ATO should trigger more keeping salinity more stable. My tank is a 33long so big footprint for small water volume. Lots of water has to evaporate for my ATO to even trigger.
Let me know if you think this will work or not. Thanks!
Came across the sumpless ATO from XPAqua. I suppose it works because the evaporation takes place inside the little box since there is a little return pump at the bottom like a mini one chamber AIO or something. XPAqua quoted me a lot for just the box and the pump (to try and DIY with my tunze float switch) and also said it won’t work since their box has a built in magnet which would interfere with my tunze magnet.
I had an idea to combine this with those Aquaclear HOB filter skimmer boxes people make for the older aquaclears. I have a new redesigned AC50. Found a guy on Etsy who will sell me a 4 sided overflow box with a bottom for a great price that is 4x4x8 inches (picture is 3 sides but box I order would be all 4). I would use the strong tunze magnet to hold the box against the aquarium glass with the float switch clipped in, then run my AC50 filter intake into the box. Will this work with evaporation taking place inside the box?
Sorta like this but with the bigger box
I’m thinking this will solve 3 problems for me
1) no more urchin access to float switch
2) get some actually good surface skimming because the separately purchasable aquaclear surface skimmer attachment from Fluval kinda sucks
3) with a smaller chamber for evaporation my ATO should trigger more keeping salinity more stable. My tank is a 33long so big footprint for small water volume. Lots of water has to evaporate for my ATO to even trigger.
Let me know if you think this will work or not. Thanks!
