Annoying tunze alarm

Be102 · Jan 10, 2019

So I have a tunze ato and just hooked it up to my P4 to have it be controlled to go on for 60s 4x a day to top my tank off. It’s working well but the only annoyance is the annoying beep beep beep that comes on everytime the ato turns on. I currently have it set to off at all times and then the controller turns it on and then it begins to fill the tank then shuts off. Any way I can shut the noise off alltogether? I know I can modify when it makes noise but now it does it as soon as it turns on

shred5 · Jan 10, 2019

Might get a better response in the tunze forum from Roger.

I know it can be shut off, I just can not remember how.. Might be a jumper.

JBKReef · Jan 10, 2019

It runs a self diagnostic test every time the power is cycled to ensure its functioning properly. The way you're utilizing it is out of the norm... I would agree with @shred5 and check out if Roger has a response.

Hemmdog · Jan 10, 2019

Be102 said:
So I have a tunze ato and just hooked it up to my P4 to have it be controlled to go on for 60s 4x a day to top my tank off. It’s working well but the only annoyance is the annoying beep beep beep that comes on everytime the ato turns on. I currently have it set to off at all times and then the controller turns it on and then it begins to fill the tank then shuts off. Any way I can shut the noise off alltogether? I know I can modify when it makes noise but now it does it as soon as it turns on

Why do you keep turning it off? It doesent work that way it fills every time you turn it on and beeps. Leave it plugged in and let the sensor fill it for you. It shouldn’t be 4x a day or anything like that because that’s variable depending on humidity and time of year where you live? I’m beyond confused.

Be102 · Jan 10, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Why do you keep turning it off? It doesent work that way it fills every time you turn it on and beeps. Leave it plugged in and let the sensor fill it for you. It shouldn’t be 4x a day or anything like that because that’s variable depending on humidity and time of year where you live? I’m beyond confused.

I don’t trust it when it stays in my return. I’ve caught it numerous times overflowing and continuing to run. Plus it seems to “top off” multiple times an hour and I do not trust it. That’s why now I have it set so it’s always off, the sensor is higher than what I need but not high enough to flood so if it did come on and the water level was there it would shut off on its own regardless if the outlet is on or not for the time.

I started this last night and it’s taking exactly the amount of water I want it to and it’s not running too much. I assume I top off 3 gallons every few days and then with this it will help it keep it better in sync

Hemmdog · Jan 10, 2019

Be102 said:
I don’t trust it when it stays in my return. I’ve caught it numerous times overflowing and continuing to run. Plus it seems to “top off” multiple times an hour and I do not trust it. That’s why now I have it set so it’s always off, the sensor is higher than what I need but not high enough to flood so if it did come on and the water level was there it would shut off on its own regardless if the outlet is on or not for the time.

I started this last night and it’s taking exactly the amount of water I want it to and it’s not running too much. I assume I top off 3 gallons every few days and then with this it will help it keep it better in sync

Lower it an inch I had the same problem when I first installed it

wiselyy73 · Jan 10, 2019

Bad design over all. Why does it needs to pump every time when power back on?! I used to shut it off when I do my tank maintenance. But when I plug back in it fills my sump even water level are not low.

Be102 · Jan 10, 2019

wiselyy73 said:
Bad design over all. Why does it needs to pump every time when power back on?! I used to shut it off when I do my tank maintenance. But when I plug back in it fills my sump even water level are not low.

I’m not sure if you’re saying my plan is the bad design or the plan of the ato? All I’m saying is when I put the two sensors in the return section they seem to fill up with more water than I would like. I also create a siphon from my overflow to my sump so it stays silent. Along with adding too much water it would hen starts to cause my tank to have too much in the display causing me to have to pause the pump.

I’d like the safety of knowing that it could never pump too much water into my tank cause I only have it set for 60 seconds at a time for the outlet to be triggered on.

Sailingeric · Jan 10, 2019

If it is going higher than your sensor then you might want to contact Tunze to get it replaced. Mine has been running for a year with no problems.

Be102 · Jan 10, 2019

Sailingeric said:
If it is going higher than your sensor then you might want to contact Tunze to get it replaced. Mine has been running for a year with no problems.

I think I have a combination of a few problems going on. 1 being that it is that whenever the ato turns on, it starts to pump for 15 seconds apparently as a diagnostic for the pump. So if the water level is correct, then the pump turns on and pumps for 15 seconds it is causing it to go above the sensor. It then seems to be continuing to flow until I hit the high float valve.

Along with that I believe there is a siphon being created from the ato container to the where the hose is in the sump

Ideally I’d just keep it the way I just set it up currently and have my controller just turn it on every so often to add water. I know this might not be the ideal situation and people might think I’m wrong but I feel it works the best for me and the tank not receiving too much water and the siphon then being filled even more.

Be102 · Jan 10, 2019

Maybe @rvitko can chime in and see if there’s just a way to turn the whole device silent regardless of the sensor levels.

Hemmdog · Jan 10, 2019

If your controller does that and the water isn’t evaporating it is going to overflow your tank to. That’s just a timed top off not an ato. There shouldn’t be any siphon your ato hose should be far above your sump water line. The first 15 seconds just fill up a cup that’s what I do, then it’s good to go without extra water in the system.

pelphrey · Jan 10, 2019

Siphon break highlighted, I have the tunze hose going into a bigger hose to create the siphon break. If you are running this through a controller I would leave the ATO on and setup some float switches to shut the power to the ATO off if needed.

Hemmdog · Jan 10, 2019

Ato hose here in the middle of the pic

Sensor here a little below the water line in the return so it doesent fill to often if there is a minor water level change.

jda · Jan 10, 2019

So you are using a controller to control a ATO? This is not a good idea. It is not made to do this. The ATO is capably by it's self and you should not be using a controller with it. How do you have any idea if 60 seconds 4 times a day is enough, or too much? Just hook the Tunze up, plug it into the wall and let it work.

Sailingeric · Jan 10, 2019

If you are getting a siphon, you need to get the hose higher, or fresh lower or do a siphon break. Mine would still pour a little into my sump so I moved the hose up and that fixed my problem. And if the water still pumps once reaching the sensor then it sounds like you have a bad sensor or growth on it and needs to be cleaned.

Be102 · Jan 10, 2019

I understand where everyone is coming from but other than how I described I don’t think I have any other use for the ato. It honestly doesn’t do a thing for me that I want. I have it so the return pump section gets raised and shuts off the ato pump and I have just timed it for literally 8 mins and my return pump section is not raising at all but the water level in my tank is now not only filled with 8 mins of ato water it shouldn’t have been, but now I got to shut the ato off and open the gate valves behind my tank to compensate for the addition of the water so one my siphon doesn’t overflow ( siphon between tank and return). It’s still going and my return section isn’t shifting one bit. I don’t know where the water is going but clearly isn’t going anywhere near a sensor. Literally just pouring ro water into my tank for 9 mins so far and return hasn’t changed one bit.

Literally the whole reason I never set the ato up. It doesn’t do anything I want it to do. Atleast with the scheduled top off it is somewhat consistent. This is just all wrong. I’ve just added 10 mins of ro water to my tank and not one centimeter in my return was changed.

Unless I have a broken ato these things just don’t work for me.

Hemmdog · Jan 10, 2019

Be102 said:
I understand where everyone is coming from but other than how I described I don’t think I have any other use for the ato. It honestly doesn’t do a thing for me that I want. I have it so the return pump section gets raised and shuts off the ato pump and I have just timed it for literally 8 mins and my return pump section is not raising at all but the water level in my tank is now not only filled with 8 mins of ato water it shouldn’t have been, but now I got to shut the ato off and open the gate valves behind my tank to compensate for the addition of the water so one my siphon doesn’t overflow ( siphon between tank and return). It’s still going and my return section isn’t shifting one bit. I don’t know where the water is going but clearly isn’t going anywhere near a sensor. Literally just pouring ro water into my tank for 9 mins so far and return hasn’t changed one bit.

Literally the whole reason I never set the ato up. It doesn’t do anything I want it to do. Atleast with the scheduled top off it is somewhat consistent. This is just all wrong. I’ve just added 10 mins of ro water to my tank and not one centimeter in my return was changed.

Unless I have a broken ato these things just don’t work for me.

Oh your sponge is the problem, same thing happened to me. Gotta pull it out. Takes to long for the additional water to register with the sensor if it’s going through a sponge.

Be102 · Jan 10, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Oh your sponge is the problem, same thing happened to me. Gotta pull it out. Takes to long for the additional water to register with the sensor if it’s going through a sponge.

which sponge? I’m confused? Lol I got a sponge in above my socks, which is actually poly Fil in some filter cups. Then I have my lifereef overflow in the back. I have to fine tune gate valves that split from my filter socks to my Fuge to allow me to silence my overflow. I then have to build the water level above the overflow so it silent. This is where I have the input of the ato hose. If I have it in my sump where I did it creates a siphon and will not stop running.

Is that my problem because the water isn’t going right into the return causing it to not raise the level?

Hemmdog · Jan 10, 2019

Be102 said:
which sponge? I’m confused? Lol I got a sponge in above my socks, which is actually poly Fil in some filter cups. Then I have my lifereef overflow in the back. I have to fine tune gate valves that split from my filter socks to my Fuge to allow me to silence my overflow. I then have to build the water level above the overflow so it silent. This is where I have the input of the ato hose. If I have it in my sump where I did it creates a siphon and will not stop running.

Is that my problem because the water isn’t going right into the return causing it to not raise the level?

Correct