Ato setup

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Luis1662

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 24, 2012
Messages
64
Hey all, just wanted few ideas. Give me the good and bad or what I should do differently. I am setting up a 40 gal reef from cadlights aquarium with fuge. My main question is about the ato. I was gonna run water to the rodi, than to a separate compartment with a float. At the bottom would be a pump to pump water to the sump which would also have a float. So the idea is sump evaporates kick on water from container and rodi float goes down filling it back up. Is this good or bad? What about tds creep. Thanks
 
I think it's a good idea, but you have a lot more room for error then just a reservoir top off. I'm just working on mine now. Still waiting for my pump.
 
Let me know how yours goes. I making the stand for my tank but prepping the ato so it's ready when the tank is.
 
Ok.im just using a 7 gallon reservoir filled with kalkwasser, with a jbj ato, and a 50ml/min dosing pump. In combination with a timer incase of a malfunction, that makes sure the pump doesn't get stuck on and overload the tank. This is what was recommended to me from others on this site, like two weeks ago actually
 
Yea I seen those jbj ato they look nice. Was thinking about getting one of those. Well thanks for your input, good idea about the timer. good luck with your tank
 
Unfortunately, I can't run my RO line to my top off reservoir or sump becasue of their relative locations. (I don't think my wife would like seeing a 1/4" white line running down the hallway to through the living room to the tank.) I do have a plastic bin that holds about 3 gallons sitting in the stand beside my sump. I add my RODI water to this. I then use a Tom's Aqualifter pump controlled by a DIY auto top off set up to transfer the water to the sump as needed. If I had to do it over, I would havce gotten the auto top off from autotopoff.com. It looks a lot nicer and is not much more than the DIY kit I got, plus you don't have to sacrifice an extension cord. Get the one wit two float switches. The lower one turns the pump on when the water level drops and the upper one is a safety to turn the pump off in case the lower float switch fails. I think the DIY kit was about $40 and the autotopff.com switch was $50. The aqualifter pump you can get for about $16.

I know you can use a mechanical float switch to run your RODI water directly to your sump, but I'd be afraid of the float gettgin stuck and creating a flood. I seem to think someone makes a controller that gives you another level of security if you go this route, but I can't twll you where I've seen it.
 
Yea going straight to the sump is asking for problems I think. Those ato system that u can buy are nice thinking about getting one of those. My main issue was I didn't want my ro water tank to becoming on and off all the time. As u know that causes tds creep.
 
I have heard of more than one person whose ATO stuck on and they were hooked up directly to the ro unit. Needless to say it didn't end well. I have a one gallon container I use for my ATO water so I don't risk having that happen. Changing out the container is easy and gives me peace of mind.

I have the JBJ ATO and it does do a nice job. I also have the autotopoff one as well which also does an excellent job.
 
I really can't believe I lived for months without an ATO. :) LOL I use a 10g tank for the reservoir on my 125g and only need to fill it like once a week so no biggie on this end. I don't think i would feel secure with the ro/di water going straight to my sump even though it's only about 8 feet away, too many variables that can cause a mess.
 
If I was to buy an ato setup. Is there one better than others that u all would recommend.
 
If I had to do it over, I'd go with the autotopoff.com two switch system ($51) and a Tom's aqualifter pump ($16). The JBJ has some nice features (lights, modular float switches and a buzzer), but I don't think it justifies the price tag ($100). The aqualifter can be used as an air pump or water pump, so it won't burn out if the water level in the reservoir gets low (although it is loud when that happens). If you don't have a source for the aqualifter, autotopoff sells some cheap pumps that should do fine for a transfer pump. You have to get a transfer pump for the JBJ anyway. Both use very similar float sensors.
 
If I had to do it over, I'd go with the autotopoff.com two switch system ($51) and a Tom's aqualifter pump ($16).
That's pretty much my setup... only I have the in-tank switches which have the snail guards, since I bought it used. Took some eggcrate to lower the bracket since mine is in sump.

img_1763151_0_5fa98d7aec57cdd255f6e179346b1df5.jpg
 
I'm losing a half a gallon daily or more, I don't know why I haven't purchase an ATO yet. I like the looks of the autotopoff.com.
 
Yep def worth the money. Beats walking to your tank with buckets all the time.
 
Back
Top Bottom