I hate ATOs, please tell me which ones you like and why -

[Harold999]

Gravity fed, paired with a float valve.

Dosing pump ftw.

Especially in smaller tanks the waterlevel gets lower for other reasons than just evaporation.
I dose rodi every hour and on another head i dose (a little) saltwater, this keeps salinity rock stable. Need to make adjustments now and then (when seasons change) but no biggy.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Dosing pump ftw.

Especially in smaller tanks the waterlevel gets lower for other reasons than just evaporation.
I dose rodi every hour and on another head i dose (a little) saltwater, this keeps salinity rock stable. Need to make adjustments now and then (when seasons change) but no biggy.

You can combine dosing pump with floats/optical for an even better ATO.

Why are you dosing saltwater? Unless you have some serious leaks, your salinity should never drop. I have to remove water in mine on occasion and replace with RODI because I dose 2 part, which very slowly adds NaCl.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

You can combine dosing pump with floats/optical for an even better ATO.

Why are you dosing saltwater? Unless you have some serious leaks, your salinity should never drop. I have to remove water in mine on occasion and replace with RODI because I dose 2 part, which very slowly adds NaCl.

Skimmer probably set to wet skim so you’ll need to replace the seawater a tad

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I can't seem to find a "trust worthy" ATO. I'm currently running a reefbreeders that's not the prism, it's the magnet with the eye piece, and it's constantly missing the mark. My system is big enough that I usually catch it pretty quick. I'm running an apex but their ATO seems like waaaay too many pieces. I want something simple. I also have an old Tunze ozmolater laying around, but I think it's the nano version, it's also caked in kalkwasser (don't ask). So I guess I'm in the market for a new ATO. I've never found one that makes me warm and fuzzy.

I have used the nano tunze (3152) on my 90 gallon reef for 7 years. Replaced the pump once, and check the float switch once a month to make sure no snails or brittle stars are camping out there. Otherwise it's flawless.

 

[jhuntstl]

44g brute, Avast pressure sensor, solenoid, and float valve as fail safe.

 

[Harold999]

You can combine dosing pump with floats/optical for an even better ATO.

Why are you dosing saltwater? Unless you have some serious leaks, your salinity should never drop. I have to remove water in mine on occasion and replace with RODI because I dose 2 part, which very slowly adds NaCl.

I dose saltwater because you'll lose something by the skimmer, by doing watertests, when you change your filterfloss, but even during normal evaporation some salt is lost (you can notice salt creep on all kind of places above the waterline).

 

[Big Smelly fish]

I dose saltwater because you'll lose something by the skimmer, by doing watertests, when you change your filterfloss, but even during normal evaporation some salt is lost (you can notice salt creep on all kind of places above the waterline

I can’t see dosing saltwater , you have to have something going on like a leak if you are losing that kind of salinity. What you mentioned as reason wouldn’t be enough to cause that kink of salinity loss.

 

[Harold999]

I can’t see dosing saltwater , you have to have something going on like a leak if you are losing that kind of salinity. What you mentioned as reason wouldn’t be enough to cause that kink of salinity loss.

If you're doing watertests, change your filterfloss or have a skimmer, these actions take salt water from your tank. If you don't replace that loss with salt water, your ATO will do it for you which will lower salinity.

Also, you don't have salt creep on top of your tank/on the netcover? This also lowers salinity.

 

[MIke Wood]

i have the hydor ATO. it uses temp probes. so no moving parts. has been running for me over 4 years now without a hiccup. the only problem is you have to use a slow pump. if the pump is too fast it will fill the water quicker than the temp probe will read it. i use a toms aqua lifter for the pump. but dont know what my plan is when that dies because those are no longer available.

 

[rtparty]

Absolutely hated the tunze. The Tunze ATO pump has to be the lowest quality pump in the entirety of the reef industry. Its loud and unreliable (seriously, its an off the shelf 12v marine bilge pump/baitwell pump).I ended up replacing the pump with a spare AutoAqua pump I had and that was fine, but way too much money given the low quality of the included parts.

Have the AutoAqua ATO on two tanks - both have been going for 3 years or so, and not a single problem. Have a Hydros one on the 3rd tank, pretty sure its the same pump and sensor as the autoaqua (with a little more configurability/reporting/etc) and its been fine.

Someone should tell my 7 year old Tunze pump it should have died by now...and the thousands of others that are still running just fine

 

[92Miata]

Someone should tell my 7 year old Tunze pump it should have died by now...and the thousands of others that are still running just fine

Yes, because clearly your experience is the only possible one.

 

[Midrats]

Yepper, love mine. Too bad they "improved" it from the origin

The warranty isn't as good anymore either. I still have one lying around with dials, still works!

 

[LeftyReefer]

I recently "upgraded" my ATO from a hydor ATO to the AutoAqua Smart ATO LITE and have had nothing but issues with it. turned out, it wasn't much of an upgrade.

When it works, it works great. keeps levels very steady.... but I often wake up in the morning to find my tank over-filled past the over-fill limit sensor. I don't know why. The red light is flashing, so I unplug it, let evaporation lower the water level back down over a day or two, plug it back in and it will run fine for a a few days, but then eventually it over-fills at night again. rinse, repeat.

it only happens at night, so I'm thinking it may have something to do with nocturnal snails or something.. but it seems to happen a lot, about once a week give or take.

I have a rimmed tank and no sump, so not many ATO's will work for me unfortunately... still haven't found one that works reliably.

My tank is in my basement, where the temp stays pretty consistent year round. So evaporation is pretty steady. I think i may just go to a dosing pump on a smart plug instead of any ato sensor.

 

[rtparty]

Yes, because clearly your experience is the only possible one.

There are thousands upon thousands of experiences like mine with the Tunze ATO. There isn't another item in the industry that has been more universally reliable and solid.

 

[Midrats]

Yes, because clearly your experience is the only possible one.

In defense of the Tunze, my experience with them more reflects rtparty than yours, and I have probably used and installed 100 of them over the years. The pumps last a long, long time, even the ones used in kalkwasser. Yes, the pump is a little noisy, but I don't think there's a more reliable ATO out there, or better customer service. It's unfortunate you had a bad experience.

 

[jp_75]

Any idea new Tunze is coming out?

 

[Sean Clark]

Any idea new Tunze is coming out?

Edit: ^^^oops apparently I read that wrong...

On top with the rest of the Tunze lineup, just under gravity.

 

[Big Smelly fish]

Any idea new Tunze is coming out?

No idea, they been saying it’s coming since last year when I was looking for one.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Ok I’m a Tunze 3155 fanboy for many years. That said, whatever you run, if it’s exposed to light you’re going to have problems with algae. If you can’t keep it clean, you’ll have problems. I would venture to say that most everyone’s ato issue was due to a dirty float or optical sensor and a small amount of pump problems. Also if you have snails that can get to the sensor, you’ll eventually have a problem. If you have a float sensor too close to a power head magnet, you’ll have a problem. If you use Kalk in your top off, eventually you’ll have a pump problem. If your ato tank is higher than your sump/tank, you can eventually have a siphon overfill. If you get calcification of an optical sensor and scratch it by scrubbing it clean, it won’t work properly. If you have a lot of micro air bubbles next to your optical sensor it might have issues. Blah, blah, blah. What I’m trying to say is that most all work well in perfect conditions and when maintained.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

In my opinion, the best float switch is the Omega engineering LV-1201 made of 316 stainless and norylplastic.

You can run 15 amps though it to power any pump, and it has a big float giving tight control on the water level.

I used two of them for 20 years without issue. One triggered the ato, and the second was lower down to stop return pumps in emergency or higher up to stop the ato (I moved it at least once since it was not triggered often in either setting).

Side Mount Non-Magnetic Liquid Level Switches | Omega

The LV-1100-1200 level switches feature a nonmagnetic design suitable for applications where magnetic particles (i.e., rust) are present. Learn more

www.omega.com