How to stop ato siphon.. Will this work?

[NinnJinn]

Since my tank took somewhat of a partial crash I have opened up my Sump area by removing the lids that I had to help with gas exchange.

But now I am realizing that I am losing roughly 5 gallons of water every two days due to evaporation.

For the last year I have just had a five gallon bucket that I changed out about once a week. now that the sump is open and has no lids I'm having to change that five gallon bucket every other day.

So I purchased a 40 gallon food grade barrel and fill it up every other week however once the ATO turns off it still has a siphon and will drain my Barrel until I have roughly 10 gallons of water left in it therefore flooding my tank and sump.



My question is, would I be able to buy enough tubing for the ATO and have it roughly 3 feet above the barrel then going into the sump would be roughly 5 feet down ward. would that be enough to stop the siphon?

Right now I am turning the ATO on to fill it up to the proper level and then turning the ATO off when I get home from work my pump is sucking air it's like a never-ending cycle


Any and all suggestions would be appreciated!!

 

[Crabs McJones]

A really good way to ensure your siphon breaks is to drill a small hole in your tubing right before it leaves your reservoir, that way when the pump shuts off the air stops any siphoning:) yeah a little water pumps back into your reservoir but it beats a tank crash from salinity drop ;)

 

[clm65]

Crabs' suggestion is a good one. The only way to stop the siphon is to allow air into the tubing. It doesn't matter if the tubing is routed 3 or 5 or 20 feet above the barrel - it will keep siphoning until the water level in the barrel is equal to the water level in the sump. The extra length of tubing will only add resistance and slow the flow somewhat, which only means it will take longer to reach equilibrium. With the hole at the discharge of the pump (above the water and below the top of the barrel), it will recirculate some water while the pump is running and break the vacuum when the pump is shut off, stopping the siphon.

 

[George Lopez]

Yea length of tube won't help you as long as the sump is lower than your bucket. So yea I'd make a small hole just above the high water line inside the container so when your pump turns on it will just shoot back into the container and when it shuts off it will break your siphon.

 

[Billldg]

Don't know if this will help or not, but I also had the same issues, so I put a 4 in loop in the tubing right before it entered my sump and this seemed to stop my siphon issues.

 

[Rover]

EDIT-double post

 

[Rover]

What I have done was route my tubing along the inside top of the stand, above the sump. Then I aimed it down a straight length of 1" PVC pipe, and stuck the PVC pipe into the sump. This way when the pump started it flowed water down the PVC pipe, but when it stopped the hosing was higher up then the water level in the barrel, and the siphon stopped.

 

[KStatefan]

Have the outlet of the tube above the level of the supply tank

 

[Art2249]

What I have done was route my tubing along the inside top of the stand, above the sump. Then I aimed it down a straight length of 1" PVC pipe, and stuck the PVC pipe into the sump. This way when the pump started it flowed water down the PVC pipe, but when it stopped the hosing was higher up then the water level in the barrel, and the siphon stopped.

What he said.

 

[Mical]

Have the outlet of your ATO go to the top of the tank.

 

[pirate2876]

Why not have the top off feed into the tank instead of sump? It'll level itself out and shouldn't siphon out at that height.

 

[redfishbluefish]

The height of the tubing won't break a siphon. You need to use a siphon break OR have the end of the tubing above the waterline of the reservoir. This is easily accomplished by using a larger tube (say 1/2 inch CPVC) with one end terminating at your sump, and the other end higher than the water level in the ATO reservoir. The tubing now goes into the end of the CPVC pipe, making sure it stays above the water level of the reservoir. The water will get pumped though the tubing, entering the CPVC, where it will run down into the sump. No siphon can start. Hope I made this clear. That CPVC can be hidden behind the stand.

 

[clm65]

Why not have the top off feed into the tank instead of sump? It'll level itself out and shouldn't siphon out at that height.

This will work as long as the tubing terminates above the waterline in the tank. If not, flow will reverse and you will siphon water from tank to your barrel until the tank end of the tubing gets exposed. A check valve may help, but IMO all check valves eventually leak....

The other suggestions about terminating the tubing above the sump and above the highest water level in the barrel are also good ideas. More than one way to skin this catfish ;).

 

[mtfish]

My setup is like redfishbluefish. No way to get in trouble using this method.

 

[Greybeard]

Siphoning happens when the hose exits lower than the source container water level. Raise the outlet ABOVE the source container water level, no more siphon.

Careful that you don't reverse the problem... the hose outlet needs to end ABOVE the water level in the target vessel.

So... return to your display tank, exiting above water level... no more problem.

Or... get a lower ATO reservoir.

 

[pelphrey]

The red square is where my ATO line it, I have it fed into 1/2" soft tubing to break the siphon.

 

[schaNYC]

I was able to sort out my siphon issue with a small hole in the tubing just before leaving the reservoir. However I have encountered a new issue. When my reservoir water level is low (1/8th full) my pump (sicce 1.0) has a tough time pushing water out of the reservoir just past that hole. When the reservoir is more full, no issues pumping water to the sump.

Currently using 1/2 inch tubing, will sizing down the tubing help?

 

[K7BMG]

Just make the hole as small as possible.
A pin hole will work.

 

[gabrieltackitt]

Not sure about changing tubing size but my ATO kit came with one of these, I only really see water come out if it after the pump shuts off.

Aqua Auto Smart ATO Replacement Siphon Breaker Amazon product

 

[ThePlummer]

Since my tank took somewhat of a partial crash I have opened up my Sump area by removing the lids that I had to help with gas exchange.

But now I am realizing that I am losing roughly 5 gallons of water every two days due to evaporation.

For the last year I have just had a five gallon bucket that I changed out about once a week. now that the sump is open and has no lids I'm having to change that five gallon bucket every other day.

So I purchased a 40 gallon food grade barrel and fill it up every other week however once the ATO turns off it still has a siphon and will drain my Barrel until I have roughly 10 gallons of water left in it therefore flooding my tank and sump.



My question is, would I be able to buy enough tubing for the ATO and have it roughly 3 feet above the barrel then going into the sump would be roughly 5 feet down ward. would that be enough to stop the siphon?

Right now I am turning the ATO on to fill it up to the proper level and then turning the ATO off when I get home from work my pump is sucking air it's like a never-ending cycle


Any and all suggestions would be appreciated!!

Is there any way you could possibly route a tube from your RO unit to your display? If so, you could easily do what I'm doing.

1. install a ball valve for redundant safety.

2. Then install a Flood Guardian.

3. Finally install a mechanical float switch for three levels of safety.

4. If you really want to get crazy safe, add one of these. And set the timer for about 15 minutes on time per day, around the time that you are most likely to be home (and awake).

And just to be clear, you'd be using your prior ATO system, this is just a way to fill your current ATO. Kind of a set it and forget it thing. Never have to transport any buckets of water again. And you don't need more than 2.5 gallons a day anyway, so your 5 gallon ATO sump would work fine.