Gravity fed ATO

[Saltywaters]

Working on my new fish corner in the basement.
This area is roughly 6’x6’ I’m dedicating for fish fun.
I’m using a 150 gallon stock tank as my sump, which will be plumbed to my waterbox upstairs.
I’m going to have a 60 breeder tank on a stand about the stock tank which will be my RODI reservoir.
I have a float valve and RO tubing. I’m trying to figure out what to use for a bulkhead into the 60 breeder. I have some of the 1/4” RO bulkheads however they are not rated for underwater.
Any suggestions?

 

[winzig]

Could you use return bulkheads and just reduce for the RO tubing?
Just a thought I have no experience with this.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@Troylee

 

[Paul B]

I use a gravity fed ATO. That blue bucket at the far left holds the RO/DI water.
It goes through the RO then the DI resins and gets dumped in that bucket hanging at the ceiling.

There is a DIY float switch in there made from an old mercury thermostat that shuts off the electric valve that adds water to the RO.

It flows down to a cheap float switch on the edge of my tank as I have no sump.

I have been using this set up for about 45 years with no issues.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I would not use a 60 gallon reservoir. A stuck or broken float valve ( it happens) will dump 60 gallons of RODI into the system.

If you don’t have automation, you can use a 5 or 10 gallon poly tank or bucket equipped with 2 float switches and a solenoid fed through a fail-safe float valve in the reservoir.

The reservoir fills when it is empty using a simple latching relay and a 24 hour timer as a fail-safe that prevents it from running more than once a day — or two days or whatever you general average usage is.

So, two float valves, 2 float switches a solenoid and a timer. Or skip the timer and put a 3rd float switch in the sump to cut power to the solenoid if the sump is overfilled.

 

[BeanAnimal]

https://beananimal.com/wp-content/uploads/latchcircuit.gif

The pump in the image below would be the RODI solenoid and the right hand tank the RODI unit, left hand tank your reservioir.

 

[Saltywaters]

Here’s the whole scoop.
I got this idea and it saying Jake Adam came up with this idea however that’s where I heard of it listening to Reef Builders podcast.
I have a Red Sea ATO already. I wanted to go with a simpler method with what I was thinking was fewer fail points.
Another benefit I was looking for was to pull from a larger reservoir. Less need to worry about filling. For the last 2 years I have had a 5 gallon reservoir under my 75 gallon.
I’m not stepping up to a 6’ waterbox and using a 150 gallon brute stock tank in my basement for my sump.
I was thinking I’ll have more evaporation and this would be a good idea.
I was going to build a rack and house the Reservoir about the sump.
Am I silly wasting my time and I should just use my Red Sea unit?
I guess another option is I could have the 60 breeder under my sump. This method I would use the Red Sea unit.
Again I was trying to ditch 1 of many electronics on my system, and have the benefit of a larger reservoir.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I wouldn’t dream of relying on a $12 made in China float valve as the only means of preventing 60 gallons of fresh water draining into my system, but I am not you and it is not my tank.

My reef is over 25 years old and I have gone through maybe 5 or 6 float valve failures.

The method that I outlined above limits inflow to 5 or 10 gallons and has 2 layers of fail-safes.

 

[Paul B]

I have a cheap Chinese float valve but my intake water can only supply slightly more than my tank requires so if the cheap thing fails, the water will enter very slowly, It would take all day or two days to overfill my tank

 

[BeanAnimal]

I have a cheap Chinese float valve but my intake water can only supply slightly more than my tank requires so if the cheap thing fails, the water will enter very slowly, It would take all day or two days to overfill my tank

Exactly