Will I have a much harder time if I don’t use ATO?

[Zionas]

Just now I was discussing with my LFS’s owner about getting an ATO System for controlling the salinity of my tank. However, being in a second world country, my LFS owner told me that currently in China there is no good ATO system that can be sourced and he does not recommend an ATO until a decent system can be sourced from within China, whether domestically or foreign produced. I am so envious of you guys in the States and in Europe that have access while my part of the world is struggling to keep up with Western advances in the hobby.

If I don’t have an ATO, will my life as a reef keeper be much harder? Any alternative solutions?

I feel there will be a long time before Asian reefers and the hobby in Asia can be up to par with Western standards. For example, in China the hobby was barely a thing 15 years ago, while you guys in the West have been at it for several decades. xD From all the notes I have taken and all the videos I have watched, my understanding of some equipment and other stuff is already significantly above the average of other reefers in my place. Stuff like ATO included.

Maybe I’m being called on to advance the hobby in Asia...... someday, perhaps.

 

[Dvanlier05]

It can be done but will limit the corlas you can keep.
Gravity fed ATO work fine and dont get simpler than a float

 

[Han]

I really don’t think ATOs are nearly as necessary as people make them out to be. I’ve been running my most successful tank without one for years, I just top off manually in the morning and again at night. My other tanks use simple gravity ATOs with a float valve and they work fine too.

 

[ahiggins]

I’ve never used an ato on my tanks but I’ve never successfully kept sps either. Maybe there’s a correlation there lol

 

[Zionas]

I see. So basically even without an ATO I can still keep pretty much all softies and LPS corals? That it’s just the SPS I’ll be having trouble with? What about the easy SPS like Bird’s Nest, Cat’s Paw, Pocillopora and Montipora Digitata?


@Han Nice tank btw! I see you have some branching SPS. What species are they? and how deep is your sand bed on average?

 

[sp1187]

whatever did we do without ATO's before there was such a thing? (sarcasm)
No, you don't need one.
Yes, you will be successful without one.
Do you have a sump?

 

[GlassMunky]

I see. So basically even without an ATO I can still keep pretty much all softies and LPS corals? That it’s just the SPS I’ll be having trouble with? What about the easy SPS like Bird’s Nest, Cat’s Paw, Pocillopora and Montipora Digitata?


@Han Nice tank btw! I see you have some branching SPS. What species are they? and how deep is your sand bed on average?

There are plenty of tanks that are successful that don’t have ATO.
It’s not that having an ATO or not will make any real difference to the tank itself; it just means YOU have to do more work on the tank, at least 1 or 2 times a day adding fresh water.

 

[GlassMunky]

But like others mentioned, if you really want one, get a simple float valve and hook a 5Gallon bucket up to it and you have an ATO ready to go for under $15

 

[Han]

I see. So basically even without an ATO I can still keep pretty much all softies and LPS corals? That it’s just the SPS I’ll be having trouble with? What about the easy SPS like Bird’s Nest, Cat’s Paw, Pocillopora and Montipora Digitata?


@Han Nice tank btw! I see you have some branching SPS. What species are they? and how deep is your sand bed on average?

I have some green birds nest, a few species of montipora digitata, montipora setosa, monti caps, and hydnophora. My sand bed is about an inch or less on average. You can probably keep harder sps without an ATO than I do, I don’t attribute my failures at keeping them to not having an ato.

 

[Zionas]

Yeah I do have a sump. By refilling with fresh RO / DI (I assume) water, how much do I refill a day?

@Han Do you keep any bottom dwelling fish like Goby / Shrimp pairs or Hawkfish or stuff like that? Do they need a deep sand bed?

 

[Han]

Yeah I do have a sump. By refilling with fresh RO / DI (I assume) water, how much do I refill a day?

@Han Do you keep any bottom dwelling fish like Goby / Shrimp pairs or Hawkfish or stuff like that? Do they need a deep sand bed?

I have a long nosed hawkfish and mandarin dragonet, but neither of them require a sand bed.

I do run a dsb in another tank for a jawfish.

 

[GlassMunky]

Yeah I do have a sump. By refilling with fresh RO / DI (I assume) water, how much do I refill a day?

@Han Do you keep any bottom dwelling fish like Goby / Shrimp pairs or Hawkfish or stuff like that? Do they need a deep sand bed?

The amount of fresh water you add depends on the amount of evaporation your tank is doing.
moat people just make a small line on their sump and add water to keep it at that level

 

[Zionas]

I see. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[Bosreef]

Remember your water will only evoraprate from your return pump section

 

[piranhaman00]

You dont need one no, but there is little you actually need besides the salt water. You will be more successful with one of course!

 

[SMSREEF]

The other thing you could do is manually dose for a while. Figure out how much water on average evaporates.

Then set up a dosing pump to replace a small amount of RODI water every 4 hours.

this is what I do on my nano and it’s usually very very close. I only top off the tank when needed, which is once or twice a week. This gives a lot more stability.

 

[Kris 2020]

Can't you order one from the us/Europe and get a converter plug? Or is China's electrical too different?

 

[dieselkeeper]

You can go without an ATO. You just have to keep on top of it. Top off daily. Keeping a reef tank parameters stable is key.

 

[Zionas]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Actually I’ll see if I can have one shipped from the US or Europe to China. Converter plugs are available to me. Any brands you suggest? Tank will be 6 foot 183 gallons, Width 2.3 foot and height 1.8 foot. Not sure though since many don’t ship to China.

 

[Marlon C]

That's weird seeing how most ato are made in china? Float valve and bucket works great