Surge tank and ATO coexisting?

[ReeferBob]

I REALLY want a surge tank for my 120g. I am looking at building a dump type to better simulate tidal action. I don't see a design where I could use an ATO with a surge tank. I am planning on a 5 gallon surge reservoir timed to maybe 10 minute surges during the day. It will be on a timer so it does not go on at night. I know I could do a simple day/night timer and put the surge on in the day and the ATO on at night. My 40B loses about a gallon a day. I think the 120 will lose close to 3. I'd rather the ATO be on all the time so it doesn't dump 3 gallons of RO/DI all at once. Has someone come up with a design to have both the ATO and a surge running at the same time?

 

[mc-cro]

anything is possible with even a low cost controller. you could get an RKL and make it happen.

 

[ReeferAl]

I'd rather the ATO be on all the time so it doesn't dump 3 gallons of RO/DI all at once. Has someone come up with a design to have both the ATO and a surge running at the same time?

I did that for about 2 years with no problems. The ATO will turn on alternately with the surge. When the level drops the ATO goes on and when it rises with the surge the ATO goes off. I used a top-off with a peristaltic pump. A power head wouldn't tolerate all the on-and-off cycles. The ATO would never dump "3 gallons all at once" unless the dosing pump doses too fast. The "on" cycle might be 1/3 of the time during the day so the dosing pump would have to be capable of dosing at least 3X the rate without the surge. For example, if you expect to lose 3 gal per day, which would be about 7.5 cc per minute then you would want a pump capable of at least say 25 cc per minute (7.5 X 3= 22.5). You could probably go up to 100 but you don't want anything too fast. HTH

Allen