Rodi direct to ATO

[broberts]

Hi everyone. Just have a question regarding ato's. So. I currently have e a neptune ato that feeds fresh water from a 5 gallon bucket under my stand. The 5 gallon bucket under my stand is feed directly from my ato and I just have a float valve in the bucket. What I would like to do is feed my ato directly from my rodi. Does anyone do it this way? If so what equipment are you using and is this safe? I also have the option of feeding the ato directly from 40 gallon brute Rubbermaid trash can that holds my surplus rodi water that I use for water changes and such. The goal is really to simplify if possible and remove the 5 gallon bucket from under my stand and increase the usable space under my tank. Thanks in advance.

 

[DanTheReefer]

A lot of folks do it but I consider it a recipe for disaster. When it sticks on your salinity goes to zero and your house floods

 

[theMeat]

Wouldn’t rely on a float switch alone. If the brute can is higher than the sump the valve will shut the pump but the siphon will continue.

 

[theMeat]

Another thing about having the rodi feeding directly is when it first comes on, for the first few minutes, it’s putting out tds. If it’s only on for a few minutes each time before the float switch is satisfied, you will only get product water with higher tds than you want.

 

[outhouse]

So I run a float in my 10g bucket ftom my ro/di which is also on a pressure switch so if pressure is built from float it shuts off wzter main attached to ro/di. My ato has 2 electronic floats in sump, attached to a aqualifter on top of 10g bucket, which deeds my kalk rector which gravity feeds sump.

 

[Tamberav]

I knew of one person who did their ATO directly from the RODI unit..... it did eventually fail and it destroyed their tank. They got out of the hobby.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Two issues.

As already stated, the float switch will eventually fail....that's a given....and it will happen when you're on vacation, so you come home to a dead tank from diluted saline and a flooded house.

The second issue with having your ATO on demand (comes on every time the float valve calls for water), is breakthrough TDS. Every time your membrane sits (when it's off), TDS creeps through the membrane and when it turns on again, this bolus of TDS comes out and is now removed by your DI. My TDS breakthrough jumps to 50-60 TDS on startup. You'll notice you're going through DI resin from all this TDS being removed by the resin.

 

[C_AWOL]

An essentially infinite water source for an ato even indirectly is going to eventually lead to disaster. Float valves eventually fail and solenoids too/will cause the ro tubing to break due to heat from the solenoid making the plastic brittle.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I do this, it's not without risk. Everyone's risk tolerance is different. I recommend at least three layers of redundancy to get into the realm of not worth talking about.

 

[outhouse]

As already stated, the float switch will eventually fail....that's a given....and it will happen when you're on vacation, so you come home to a dead tank from diluted saline and a flooded house.

You have to be smarter than the process. If my rodi 10g bucket float fails it leaks water on a concrete floor, no where near my tank or sump. It did once in 10 years, I adjusted the float and stopped the leak, the pressure switch should have stopped it , but the leak kept pressure down. I have mine set up in a basement with a concrete floor where leaks are no issue. Would I run this in the house on carpet? yes but would add more failsafe electronic switches.

My ATO has 2 floats in sump, which is 20 years old and has never failed, when one float fails it shuts pump off, never on.
So my tank is always protected.

NOW to address back up, lets say there is a magical failure fairy that has it out for me, and magically the aqualifter remains on. Well it dumps 10g into a 300g system and then runs out of water. No harm no foul. Trick is my rodi is on a timer and can only produce water for an hour tops in 24 hours. So lets say this error goes on for a week without my attention. We are talking about a slight daily dilution, once i view a hint of my coral not looking right, im able to correct the problem before failure.

My tank is 100% automated with no computers to rely on, 100g water changes take me literally 10 minutes tops.

 

[Deignan14]

I have been running this indirectly for a year and I am considering eliminating my ATO res to free up space too. I have 2 optical sensors in my sump with a mechanical float valve that have not failed yet. I have a mechanical float in my ato res that I think has failed once in 15 years of reefing. I supply my ATO res with a solenoid that operates on the mechanical float. Both that solenoid and my ATO pump could be programmed to only run for x amount of time or to alarm if they run more than x amount of time as a failsafe. It sounds like Im prob getting hi TDS or low resin efficiency by doing it this way but I travel a lot.

Wouldnt programatically limiting run time on the fill pump and the ATO fill solenoid and having multiple sensors and a mechancical float in the sump be a pretty safe system? I guess I could add a salinity probe to my apex to have even more backup but that feels like overkill.

 

[teaktoc]

You have to be smarter than the process. If my rodi 10g bucket float fails it leaks water on a concrete floor, no where near my tank or sump. It did once in 10 years, I adjusted the float and stopped the leak, the pressure switch should have stopped it , but the leak kept pressure down. I have mine set up in a basement with a concrete floor where leaks are no issue. Would I run this in the house on carpet? yes but would add more failsafe electronic switches.

My ATO has 2 floats in sump, which is 20 years old and has never failed, when one float fails it shuts pump off, never on.
So my tank is always protected.

NOW to address back up, lets say there is a magical failure fairy that has it out for me, and magically the aqualifter remains on. Well it dumps 10g into a 300g system and then runs out of water. No harm no foul. Trick is my rodi is on a timer and can only produce water for an hour tops in 24 hours. So lets say this error goes on for a week without my attention. We are talking about a slight daily dilution, once i view a hint of my coral not looking right, im able to correct the problem before failure.

My tank is 100% automated with no computers to rely on, 100g water changes take me literally 10 minutes tops.

Very sex solution. What is your water change automation setup?

 

[tekknow]

You have to be smarter than the process. If my rodi 10g bucket float fails it leaks water on a concrete floor, no where near my tank or sump. It did once in 10 years, I adjusted the float and stopped the leak, the pressure switch should have stopped it , but the leak kept pressure down. I have mine set up in a basement with a concrete floor where leaks are no issue. Would I run this in the house on carpet? yes but would add more failsafe electronic switches.

My ATO has 2 floats in sump, which is 20 years old and has never failed, when one float fails it shuts pump off, never on.
So my tank is always protected.

NOW to address back up, lets say there is a magical failure fairy that has it out for me, and magically the aqualifter remains on. Well it dumps 10g into a 300g system and then runs out of water. No harm no foul. Trick is my rodi is on a timer and can only produce water for an hour tops in 24 hours. So lets say this error goes on for a week without my attention. We are talking about a slight daily dilution, once i view a hint of my coral not looking right, im able to correct the problem before failure.

My tank is 100% automated with no computers to rely on, 100g water changes take me literally 10 minutes tops.

I'm new to saltwater and love the idea of maintenance free! However, I don't fully understand the description. I did a test of my rodi unit where I covered the output with my thumb. Water continued to come out of the waste line. What plumbing tricks are needed to prevent that? Can you post a flow diagram?

 

[DanTheReefer]

I'm new to saltwater and love the idea of maintenance free! However, I don't fully understand the description. I did a test of my rodi unit where I covered the output with my thumb. Water continued to come out of the waste line. What plumbing tricks are needed to prevent that? Can you post a flow diagram?

Use an RO shut off kit

Auto Shut Off Kit for Reverse Osmosis Systems

All Bulk Reef Supply RODI units come pre-installed with an Auto Shut Off Valve and check elbow. If you wish to add a float valve to your BRS RODI system, just purchase a float valve separately and connect it to your product water line. Standard Float Valve Adjustable Float Valve Auto shut off...

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