Sump using too much RO from ATO

Trooper182

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I have a 75g tank with a 20g long sump. I set the sump up last weekend but tank has been running for 5 months now. Issue I'm having is I'm burning through RO water. I have a 10g ato tank and before the sump that would last me almost 2 weeks. The sump started running on Monday and by today I'm down to about 4 gal left in the RO tank. I have checked my sensors for the ato and they are working properly. Also have adjusted the gate valve and the return pump controller but it's like I can't find that balance. The water level in the return chamber keeps fluctuating causing the ato to keep cycling in fresh water. The constant cycling is causing the water level to rise in the MD where it is almost covering the baffle inlets for the overflow box. Other reason I think it's adding way too much RO is because my salinity is dropping. My setup is a eshopps pf-1200 using the herbie method. One drain to sump with a gate valve. The return pump is a 800gph DC controllable pump.

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Lavey29

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Are you using a Tunze 3155? If not, I highly recommend it for the optical sensor and ease of use. Although, it sounds more like your return pump needs to be adjusted to balance with your sump and tank to stop the fluctuations. 5x to 10x turnover is fine for the sump and tank.
 
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Trooper182

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Are you using a Tunze 3155? If not, I highly recommend it for the optical sensor and ease of use. Although, it sounds more like your return pump needs to be adjusted to balance with your sump and tank to stop the fluctuations. 5x to 10x turnover is fine for the sump and tank.
I'm using a XPAqua optical sensor ATO. Each time I adjust the return pump the level balances out and seems stable for a while. I monitored it yesterday for a few hrs and it stayed level then overnight it just dropped and the DT was filled with too much water again.
 
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Trooper182

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What humidity are you running in the area of the system? That does seem excessive.
Not sure of the humidity level. House is kept at 70F during the day and at night I bring it down to 69-68F. System is in the kitchen area but not near any windows.
 

Lavey29

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I'm using a XPAqua optical sensor ATO. Each time I adjust the return pump the level balances out and seems stable for a while. I monitored it yesterday for a few hrs and it stayed level then overnight it just dropped and the DT was filled with too much water again.
What turnover are you trying to get for the tank? Is it open top rimless style? Do you have excessive surface agitation?

My 10g ATO on my 80g system typically uses about 8 to 9 gallons per week or so.
 

workhz

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Are you saying you think you are adding more RO water than is actually evaporating?

What pump are you using? I'd almost be tempted to slow down the pump or find a way to drain faster.

On a new sump or when you turn off the pump, the water level does drop once you turn it on so the high 1st week usage could be that too.
 

Potatohead

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Are you sure you're not getting a siphon from your reservoir to the sump after the ATO pump shuts off? Make sure the outlet to the sump is above the water level of the reservoir.
 
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Trooper182

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Are you saying you think you are adding more RO water than is actually evaporating?

What pump are you using? I'd almost be tempted to slow down the pump or find a way to drain faster.

On a new sump or when you turn off the pump, the water level does drop once you turn it on so the high 1st week usage could be that too.
Yes exactly. The pump I'm using is a hygger 800GPH adjustable pump. It's adjustable from 30%-100%. I'm running it at 50%.
 
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Trooper182

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Are you sure you're not getting a siphon from your reservoir to the sump after the ATO pump shuts off? Make sure the outlet to the sump is above the water level of the reservoir.
Yes I checked that. The outlet sits at the top of the sump. The sump would have to overflow to reach it. There is also a siphon break inside the ato tank.
 
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