redfishbluefish
Stay Positive, Stay Productive
Staff member
Super Moderator
Reef Squad
Partner Member 2024
Excellence Award
Article Contributor
NJRC Member
Hospitality Award
My Tank Thread
After switching out my ATO from an AquaHub to a JBJ, the reed switch on this float switch has a hair trigger. That is, it runs about every ten minutes for maybe 10 to 15 seconds. It was too frequently and running for too short a time. I thought of how to trick the ATO by slowing the addition of water, allowing more water to enter the tank before the ATO shut off. The first thing I tried was a piece of tubing about five and a half feet long, wrapped around a pipe.
The thought was that the water would enter the top of this spiral and take additional time to go through the tubing, allowing more water to be added to the tank. Well the water ripped through that tubing in a second, adding very little additional water....a pinch.
The second thought was a toilet bowl idea.....siphon when the water level raises above the outlet tube. I took a large medicine bottle, drilled a hole at what I thought would be about a cup (because that seem like a good start), and then put a piece of tubing in that hole, to the bottom of the bottle.
Two slots were made in the bottom of this tubing so that it would still allow water to enter the tubing even if it was pushed up against the wall of the bottle.
What's critical for the siphon to start is that the exit point of the tubing needs to be below the bottom of the bottle. Now when the ATO calls for more water to be added to the tank, this bottle first fills up to the level of the high point of the tubing, the siphon then starts, and shortly after the water starts to flow out of the bottle, the ATO shuts off, while the siphon continues to empty the bottle. Works like a charm! Very simple DIY.
The thought was that the water would enter the top of this spiral and take additional time to go through the tubing, allowing more water to be added to the tank. Well the water ripped through that tubing in a second, adding very little additional water....a pinch.
The second thought was a toilet bowl idea.....siphon when the water level raises above the outlet tube. I took a large medicine bottle, drilled a hole at what I thought would be about a cup (because that seem like a good start), and then put a piece of tubing in that hole, to the bottom of the bottle.
Two slots were made in the bottom of this tubing so that it would still allow water to enter the tubing even if it was pushed up against the wall of the bottle.
What's critical for the siphon to start is that the exit point of the tubing needs to be below the bottom of the bottle. Now when the ATO calls for more water to be added to the tank, this bottle first fills up to the level of the high point of the tubing, the siphon then starts, and shortly after the water starts to flow out of the bottle, the ATO shuts off, while the siphon continues to empty the bottle. Works like a charm! Very simple DIY.
