How do you fill your ATO?

[Impunitus]

Honestly curious how everyone fills their ATO.

Are you bucketing your RODI around every other week? Do you have an elaborate hose setup in your walls that fill it? Something else? Share what you have going on!

We have 2 tanks that are in our living room/dining room. I find myself bucketing water during the weekend, but I'm sure there is a better way...knowing my RODI lives in the basement and probably needs to get about 8-10 feet of head pressure to fill the ATO res under the tanks.

 

[allof fish]

Unfortunately a bucket. Rodi system in garage tank on other side of house. I run kalk in a container which i usually fill once a week and then ato also like once a week so not too bad

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I send water directly from my ro/di into my 3 x 44 gallon Brute cans plumbed together to make my ATO reservoir.

I use a Tunze RO controller to shut it off since I had way too many overflows in the past.

 

[Impunitus]

Unfortunately a bucket. Rodi system in garage tank on other side of house. I run kalk in a container which i usually fill once a week and then ato also like once a week so not too bad

I dont mind the bucket persay but curious how others are doing it! I can get by to about biweekly on both tanks right now. The 25 has a 5 gal res and the 60 has a 15.

That being said, I'm looking at a 125 plus 30 gal sump and I think I'd be doing a few more trips up and down the stairs than I do right now with that system in the mix. If I automate this it would be for the new system and the 60 since my wife will be taking it over

 

[BuffaloLake]

I have a float valve installed on my ATO, hooked up to my RODI.

 

[Impunitus]

I send water directly from my ro/di into my 3 x 44 gallon Brute cans plumbed together to make my ATO reservoir.

I use a Tunze RO controller to shut it off since I had way too many overflows in the past.

I’m assuming the tank(s) pull directly from the RO Brutes directly into the systems then?

 

[Michael Hughes]

That being said, I'm looking at a 125 plus 30 gal sump and I think I'd be doing a few more trips up and down the stairs than I do right now with that system in the mix. If I automate this it would be for the new system and the 60 since my wife will be taking it over

I have a 125 with a similar sized sump. My ATO reservoir holds 7 gallons. My process is to fill up a 5 gallon bucket (RO is in the garage right around the corner) and carry it over there about every 5-6 days. I have a small pump i keep in the bucket 24/7 so I can just drop the hose in the reservoir, plug it in, and fill it that way.

I don't mind this, since I managed to design a bucket-free water change system which handles higher volumes (usually 20 gallons per weekly water change) without having to drag buckets for that. So my weekly ATO bucket trip doesn't really bother me.

But since stairs are involved, in your case I'd find a way to automate the ATO filling.

 

[Impunitus]

That being said, I'm looking at a 125 plus 30 gal sump and I think I'd be doing a few more trips up and down the stairs than I do right now with that system in the mix. If I automate this it would be for the new system and the 60 since my wife will be taking it over

I have a 125 with a similar sized sump. My ATO reservoir holds 7 gallons. My process is to fill up a 5 gallon bucket (RO is in the garage right around the corner) and carry it over there about every 5-6 days. I have a small pump i keep in the bucket 24/7 so I can just drop the hose in the reservoir, plug it in, and fill it that way.

I don't mind this, since I managed to design a bucket-free water change system which handles higher volumes (usually 20 gallons per weekly water change) without having to drag buckets for that. So my weekly ATO bucket trip doesn't really bother me.

But since stairs are involved, in your case I'd find a way to automate the ATO filling.

I’d love to have RO in the garage but it would freeze during the winter in NY! Garage is detached, so it gets COLD in there during peak winter months

 

[Skibi]

Float switch in the ato fill it up then turn the valve off so RODI isn’t always on and potential for leaking.

 

[Michael Hughes]

I’d love to have RO in the garage but it would freeze during the winter in NY! Garage is detached, so it gets COLD in there during peak winter months

I have the opposite problem. Here in FL in the summer, my mixing station water gets about 2 million degrees.

In all seriousness, I love it here in FL, and the water is warm enough in the summer to not have to worry about heating it prior to water changes.

 

[Impunitus]

I’d love to have RO in the garage but it would freeze during the winter in NY! Garage is detached, so it gets COLD in there during peak winter months

I have the opposite problem. Here in FL in the summer, my mixing station water gets about 2 million degrees.

In all seriousness, I love it here in FL, and the water is warm enough in the summer to not have to worry about heating it prior to water changes.

Nice problem to have in not having to warm it up for water changes! I sometimes complain about the cold here but I don’t jive with the heat of Florida summer!

 

[Blitheran]

With water

 

[XSidsReef]

Just graduated from a bottle hanging on the rim to setting up my first sensor/pump driven ATO here, so using the bucket system for now

 

[commod0re]

I have a 5 gallon jug that I fill and carry to the ATO reservoir which is also 5 gallons

 

[petcellar]

My mixing station has a brute for rodi and one for salt. I use the rodi brute as an ato source also. The rodi is hooked up to a Neptune solenoid so when it gets low it kicks on and fills back up. I also have a physical plastic float valve as backup.

I use a dos as an ato pump…. Maybe overkill but pumps the water up through the attic and back down to the tank without struggling.


So no buckets at all…. Ever!

 

[RobertK]

I use a dos as an ato pump…. Maybe overkill but pumps the water up through the attic and back down to the tank without struggling.

I might do something similar. When I remodeled to prepare for the new tank I installed a conduit in the wall behind the tank to allow for future upgrades. I could run a long RO tube from the Brute with RODI in the garage up through the attic and down through the conduit to the ATO. How do you control the dos for ATO refill?

Meanwhile I use two 2.5 gallon bottles to fill the ATO manually. It holds 14 gallons so I only have to do it every few weeks and its really not bad.

 

[jonelder68]

I open a ball valve. Piped from Rodi bin/mixing station.

RODI top bin, mixed sw bottom, and little can is ATO reservoir.

 

[slingfox]

I fill my 20g ATO reservoir with a long Python hose. If I needed to fill a tank even further away I would fill a 25g Brute container on wheels, then move it by the tank and use a pump to get the water into the ATO.

I am very physically fit (exercise or go to the gym 6-7 days a week) but I try to limit lifting buckets of water since that puts unnecessary strain on your back since it’s more challenging to life buckets either good form vs. weights at the gym.