DIY ATO - proof of concept

[billberet]

well i needed a good ATO but didn't want to rely on power, so gravity is my only alternative. I needed a proof of concept before i bought a larger water container and made it look more 'professional'
but for now i just want to make sure it works.

this took me 30 seconds to make and has been running all week, keeping the water level constant.
what i did was grab any container to hold water, stuck in a piece of 1/2" ID tubing. any tubing will do that can allow bubbles to travel up the tube while water travels down. depending on where you want the water level, that's where you drill a hole in your tube. when water evaporates, fresh RODI water gets put into the sump. all i have to do now is buy a bigger water container, then run the tubing into my sump. the yellow tube was just to keep the water tube straight but the zip ties are doing a great job. after it empties, i just unscrew the container and fill up with RODI water.

here it is stuck on my sump.
i made the hole in the tube a bit high so it's keeping my water level just above the line.

 

[billberet]

this works great, my only issue is that i only get 2 days of water out of it.
then i have to refill. time to get a bigger container.