Large Scale ATO System

[Kemp David]

So here's my question, we can all agree that setting up an ATO for an aquarium is pretty easy and straightforward. However here is my situation.

Inside building 1 I have 1 75 gallon and 1 100 gallon (both tanks include sump water volume).
Inside building 2 I have 1 65 gallon, 1 75 gallon, and 1 20 gallon. Also inside building 2, I have a 75 gallon salt and fresh water reservoir. The fresh water reservoir is fed by a 4 stage RO/DI system. Both reservoirs are attached via plumbing to each other with internal pumps and ball valves to prevent the salt water back flowing into the fresh water.

The two buildings are separated by a distance of about 50'.

As you can imagine, topping off all aquariums is no doubt a task.

What I'd like to do is design an ATO which can be fed by the fresh water reservoir and top off each system independently from each other as needed.

Looking for ideas to accomplish this. Thanks.

 

[CC13]

So here's my question, we can all agree that setting up an ATO for an aquarium is pretty easy and straightforward. However here is my situation.

Inside building 1 I have 1 75 gallon and 1 100 gallon (both tanks include sump water volume).
Inside building 2 I have 1 65 gallon, 1 75 gallon, and 1 20 gallon. Also inside building 2, I have a 75 gallon salt and fresh water reservoir. The fresh water reservoir is fed by a 4 stage RO/DI system. Both reservoirs are attached via plumbing to each other with internal pumps and ball valves to prevent the salt water back flowing into the fresh water.

The two buildings are separated by a distance of about 50'.

As you can imagine, topping off all aquariums is no doubt a task.

What I'd like to do is design an ATO which can be fed by the fresh water reservoir and top off each system independently from each other as needed.

Looking for ideas to accomplish this. Thanks.

Do you use or have a controller (APEX or GHL)?

 

[DLHDesign]

First; welcome to R2R! Glad to have you here.

Is there a water supply in building 1? If so, it may be easier to have a second RO/DI unit + holding container in that building and then top off those two tanks from that. If there is no water supply (or one not available for some reason), then you would want to have a holding container of some type. This container would either need to be filled manually, or you could run a feed line from the other building. If you do that and live in a cold area, be sure to bury the line deep enough to avoid freezing (and in some kind of conduit to protect it). If you use the feed line, you would want to use an ATO setup on that reservoir to keep it full.
Once you have that reservoir, it's just a matter of setting up ATO lines to each of the tanks. What you use for that will depend upon the answer to @CC13's question above. With as many tanks as you have, some kind of controller will be helpful to have. If you don't have a controller (or even if you do, really), then you could use an all-in-one ATO for each tank. If you do have a controller, you could use it to set up something more complicated that uses a single pump for each building.

 

[laverda]

Just run a ro/di line from your reservoir to a prestalic pump then furthest tank with a T to each tank along the way. On the end of each T'ed line put a mechanical float valve. I would add a electrical float valve controlling a solonid valve for each tank as well. Then I would set the pump to run for 10 mins 2 or 3 times a day. The closest tank will probably top off first. Then the next until they are all done. You can adjust the time as needed and test carefully. You could probably shut the pump off when all electrical floats are closed, although I would not rely on that alone. If one float stuck the pump would keep running.

 

[Kemp David]

Do you use or have a controller (APEX or GHL)?

Yes both buildings have an Apex controller.

 

[Kemp David]

First; welcome to R2R! Glad to have you here.

Is there a water supply in building 1? If so, it may be easier to have a second RO/DI unit + holding container in that building and then top off those two tanks from that. If there is no water supply (or one not available for some reason), then you would want to have a holding container of some type. This container would either need to be filled manually, or you could run a feed line from the other building. If you do that and live in a cold area, be sure to bury the line deep enough to avoid freezing (and in some kind of conduit to protect it). If you use the feed line, you would want to use an ATO setup on that reservoir to keep it full.
Once you have that reservoir, it's just a matter of setting up ATO lines to each of the tanks. What you use for that will depend upon the answer to @CC13's question above. With as many tanks as you have, some kind of controller will be helpful to have. If you don't have a controller (or even if you do, really), then you could use an all-in-one ATO for each tank. If you do have a controller, you could use it to set up something more complicated that uses a single pump for each building.

No there isn't a stand alone water supply for building 1, however it wouldn't be difficult to add one. I was trying not to have a secondary water reservoir and RO/DI system for a couple of reasons (first would be limited space and second would be that this is an office area connected to my house). Building 2 has more working space and besides it was constructed for the sole purpose of housing multiple tanks. I could set up multiple pumps and float valves (float valves already a must for each tank) for each system, however I was wondering if there would be first a way to do it all using only 1 pump and if so, how big of a pump would be needed to push 50' horizontal and about 5' vertical. Whether it's just one pump or multiple pumps, the same criteria would apply for distance. How do fish stores do it?

 

[laverda]

The method I sugested would only take one peristaltic pump. I have one I no longer use if your interested.

 

[CC13]

The method I sugested would only take one peristaltic pump. I have one I no longer use if your interested.

Peristaltic pumps aren't recommended for very long runs from what I understand. I could be wrong here but I'm pretty sure I read that in a similar thread.


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/higher-volume-peristaltic-dosing-pump-for-ato.256148/

 

[TheHarold]

Easy unlimited top off system:

Float valve in every tank, chained together. RODI connected to that. If you wanted you could get a solenoid to only work for X amount of time per hour.

Somewhat Risky, but it’ll work ;)

 

[laverda]

Peristaltic pumps aren't recommended for very long runs from what I understand. I could be wrong here but I'm pretty sure I read that in a similar thread.


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/higher-volume-peristaltic-dosing-pump-for-ato.256148/

This is what I meant https://www.marinedepot.com/Spectra..._Systems-SpectraPure-SP60120-FIRORABP-vi.html
I guess they are called booster pumps. My mistake.

 

[CC13]

This is what I meant https://www.marinedepot.com/Spectra..._Systems-SpectraPure-SP60120-FIRORABP-vi.html
I guess they are called booster pumps. My mistake.

That's actually not a bad idea and especially for that price. Are there any tanks that use booster pumps to feed the ATO?

 

[Joe's Coral Reef]

I used a Tunze 5017, instead of using the pump I connected it to a Masterflex parasitic pump. Masterflex has certain pumps with an electrical connection on the back, acts sort of like a on/off switch. Works great.

 

[laverda]

That's actually not a bad idea and especially for that price. Are there any tanks that use booster pumps to feed the ATO?

That I can not tell you. Many people run them on their RO/Di units which then feed their tanks directly. I don't like the idea of feeding directly, as I have had my ATO stick on twice before. Since by ATO is 10 gallons it is not a big deal if my ATO sticks on and doses all 10 gallons at once. It only drops the salinity from 1.035 to 1.034 or so.

 

[DLHDesign]

How do fish stores do it?

They generally have groups of their tanks tied into a common sump, which they keep topped off as a single system. And usually all their tanks are in the same room (often with the mixing station and RO/DI reservoir), making it all easier.

If you wanted to use a single pump, I would use manual float switches (with moisture sensors as backups) on each tank and then use a pressure switch to turn the pump on/off. The pump would need to be located below the reservoir (it would "boost" the gravity pressure, basically) and you would need a bunch of push-connect T's to run all the lines. You could fancy it up by adding optical sensors that could be used to turn on/off the pump (leaving the pressure switch as the backup), and/or as a backup to the manual float switches.

 

[CC13]

That I can not tell you. Many people run them on their RO/Di units which then feed their tanks directly. I don't like the idea of feeding directly, as I have had my ATO stick on twice before. Since by ATO is 10 gallons it is not a big deal if my ATO sticks on and doses all 10 gallons at once. It only drops the salinity from 1.035 to 1.034 or so.

Your running your tank at 1.035 salinity????

 

[bill120reef]

2 float switches controlled by your apex per tank, 2 pumps controlled by the apex each tank would have 1 float valve to add and 1 to prevent over filling
is the simplest and safest way I can think of.

 

[Saveafish]

Run your RO/DI to both places. I run mine from the machine over to my tanks. That's about 75'

 

[laverda]

Your running your tank at 1.035 salinity????

No I mistyped. 1.025

 

[CC13]

Run your RO/DI to both places. I run mine from the machine over to my tanks. That's about 75'

You rip through WAY more DI resin if you do this because the unit kicks on and off tons of time throughout the day and only produces small amounts of water.

 

[KenO]

This is what I meant https://www.marinedepot.com/Spectra..._Systems-SpectraPure-SP60120-FIRORABP-vi.html
I guess they are called booster pumps. My mistake.

The booster pump is for pressuring your RO/DI system.
For an ATO system you would want this. I use 2 of them from one 105 gallon RO/DI holding tank to feed 2 different tanks. They can pull and pump over long distances.
https://spectrapure.com/DOSING-TOP-...uto-Top-Off-System-with-Magnetic-Probe-Holder