What to use for an ato container?

thoeffe

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I need suggestions on what to use as an ato container. I have a 55 gallon and a 20 gallon next to each other. Each has its own ato and hope to put the ato container under the 20 gallon tank stand, its a tall stand and a trash can would fit perfectly under it. Are they safe to use with my tank or will they leach stuff into water? I prefer not to have a big brute container sitting in the living room any other suggestions would be awesome. This is the one I thought about using.




Screenshot (22).png
 

Daniel Waters

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Buy a cheap 10 gallon aquarium from Petco that has a glass top. Clip a small piece on the plastic hinge thing on the back of the top to run your cords and tubing through. If you ever need to set up a short term separate tank, the 10 gallon tank can be used (and swap a bucket or something for the ATO while in use)
 
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Mikedawg

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I use a 5 gal FOOD GRADE bucket ordered from Lowe's
 

AZMSGT

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As a suggestion pick something round. The reason is the water will put equal pressure all around the sides. Square or rectangular starts to bulge at the sides if your storing large quantities.
I had a 15g tank stored inside a cabinet. It looked nice and being in a dark area it never got algae. Also keeping it inside of something would keep dust out of it too.
Be creative, you can use nearly anything as long as it can hold water.
 

Devaji

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I like to use petco 1 per gallon sale tanks. for my little 18.5 nano I have a 10 gal ATO..haha only fill it 70% of the way tho. cheap 10 bucks and for a lid went to a glass shop and had a piece of 1/4 plate glass cut to fit with a corner clip pff for wire and hose I think that was 5 bucks. + in a piench you have a QT tank.

maybe a 15 tall would fit under your stand and give you engough H2o for both tanks?
I also use 40br for larger tanks I evap so much here I need a pretty big ATO res.

OR
get a bunch of fail safes like float switches electronic and mechanical, flood detectors etc. get like 5 redundancy then hook up your RODI right you your smaller ATO res.
yes there is risk in doing this but if you think about it you already have unlimited water source to many places in the home every sink, toilet, tub ect. has it. if you do this redundancy is the key here
 

dopey

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Anyone ever use the leftover container from a bucket of salt?

Been using a small reptile acrylic box when I had my nano, it was inside the stand. With the new tank the sump is in the stand so the small box has been outside. My cat has decided this object is of the upmost interest. He has successfully dumped it over twice. My partner is not as amused as he is :)

Was thinking about using a leftover salt bucket interim (Red Sea Coral Pro bucket) until I can make a custom ATO tank to fit in the stand?
 

mfinn

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I use a dog food container called Vittles Vault. It's worked great for 9-10 years.
Pet food storage containers come in a wide range of sizes, colors and shapes.
Check em out at your local Petco/Petsmart stores.
 
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don_chuwish

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One of mine is a dog food container found cheap at Ross. Flip up hinged lid is easy to fill through but keeps the dust out when closed. I just cut a small notch in one spot to allow for pump cord & tubing. Be careful how tall your container is - you don't want the water level higher than the outlet of the tubing or it'll siphon.
 
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