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furrymurray

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 12, 2011
Messages
277
I recently upgraded to a 210 gallon tank and it has a lot more evaporation than I am accustomed to so I am thinking of getting an auto top off system just to make life easier on myself :).

I don't have any experience with ATO so please keep that in mind :)

I can do one of two things. Either attach my ro di unit to my sump with a float valve or buy a separate ATO pump with about a 10 gallon holding tank. I am nervous about hooking my ro di directly to the tank because "what if" something goes wrong and floods my tank with unsalted water and my salinity drops. Or i dont notice my TDS arent running zero and get impurities in the water. So thoughts, suggestions, ideas, and opinions are welcome :)
 
which ever system you look at, you MUST have a high and a low float, I have my low in my sump and my high in the DT. so if the high is on the ato can not turn on, I use Reef fanatic
 
What happens if you hook it up to your DIRO and block the flow from the line with the good water , won't the waste water still continue to flow with the DIRO line blocked?
 
Mine has an auto shut off valve so it doesnt continue to run waste water
 
Nice. Mine does not have that feature. I just assume in a case like mine it would still flow waste water.
 
You can get an ato with an air pressure sensor. No mechanical involved. The sensor is a glass tube the size of API test kit vial. An electronic control to turn on and off a lifting pump using an an airline tube in a 5 gal container which fills up the sump. You can just refill the container daily.
 
jeffaquarius said:
You can get an ato with an air pressure sensor. No mechanical involved. The sensor is a glass tube the size of API test kit vial. An electronic control to turn on and off a lifting pump using an an airline tube in a 5 gal container which fills up the sump. You can just refill the container daily.
Click to expand...

Do you have a brand name that makes these or a store that sells them? This sounds like something that I would like :)
 
my personal opinion, is keep it simple, but thats just works for me, the more compacted, the more issues, my floats have been up for 5 years with no problems, but your milage may very
 
Holygral said:
my personal opinion, is keep it simple, but thats just works for me, the more compacted, the more issues, my floats have been up for 5 years with no problems, but your milage may very
Click to expand...

Can you explain your set up a little more. My display doesnt go up or down because of my over flows. Its in my sump that the levels change. Please forgive me for sounding ignorant but this is my first tank with a sump and I know very little about ATO. I am trying to understand the high level valve in the display.
 
furrymurray said:
Can you explain your set up a little more. My display doesnt go up or down because of my over flows. Its in my sump that the levels change. Please forgive me for sounding ignorant but this is my first tank with a sump and I know very little about ATO. I am trying to understand the high level valve in the display.
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If you have a sump that's where your top off should be since DT is always at same level.
 
jeffaquarius said:
If you have a sump that's where your top off should be since DT is always at same level.
Click to expand...

Right but I was trying to understand how Holygral has theirs set up. He or she said that they have two float valves. A low valve in the sump and a high valve in the display. Just trying to understand the different set ups
 
furrymurray said:
Right but I was trying to understand how Holygral has theirs set up. He or she said that they have two float valves. A low valve in the sump and a high valve in the display. Just trying to understand the different set ups
Click to expand...

They may not have a reef ready tank so they use the one in the DT as a safety in case the over flow box stop working. I could be wrong that's what I get from it.
 
furrymurray said:
I have been looking this over. So do you really like it? Any negatives? The reviews look pretty good :)
Click to expand...

Just got the same ATO and I love it!!! Highly recommend it. I used one magnet instead of two. I would suggest using the two magnets (if you have room in your sump) -it took me forever to fine tune it without the alarm going off constantly. Hence, the recommendation to use the two magnets. Alarm is loud enough to hear in an other room. It's a good thing in case of an overflow. The likelihood of an overflow seems minimal with the sensors.

It's been a few days without top offs and I'm really happy with it. It was a great investment. When you first put it together its a maze but once it starts its a great addition to the tank... Beats topping off water every day!!! :) it gets old quick !!
 
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