ATO Setup Help

[moneymm22]

so I pour about a gallon a day into sump, and in a couple weeks im going away for a week, so i really need to come up with something soon to cover me.

i dont want to spend much, is there a cheap and simple complete kit available. i have a berlin lifereef sump and a 75 gallon DT.

i was thinking 5 gallons should be okay , my sump is in acloset with not much room, i have room under the DT, but i have no idea how to plump this whole setup. what are my options? setup something abovethe sump and let gravity do its trick with a simple float value? or do something on the same floor level as the sump and put in a pump?

 

[shakacuz]

are you looking to buy an ATO pump?

 

[moneymm22]

are you looking to buy an ATO pump?

sure if i need to , ill spend 100-150 bucks to get a complete setup, whatever that entails.

 

[shakacuz]

sure if i need to , ill spend 100-150 bucks to get a complete setup, whatever that entails.

i recommend the xpaqua duetto ato. it's what i use. never had an issue with it.

you'll need a container to hold water. my suggestion to cut on costs is to just use the water jug the water you get from LFS or a bucket

 

[Mikedawg]

sure if i need to , ill spend 100-150 bucks to get a complete setup, whatever that entails.

Might consider the Tunze Osomolator and a food grade plastic bucket as your rodi reservoir

 

[workhz]

This is what I use and it hasn’t failed yet. Just make sure the tube doesn’t contact the water in the sump so no possible way to siphon. This plus a 5 gallon headpak should do the trick. Not sure it’ll last a week but maybe add a top or partial to to the tank and sump to cut evap a little while away?

AutoAqua Smart ATO Lite SATO-260P Automatic Top Off System Water Filler Refiller Water Level Controller w/ Pump (SATO-260P)

It’ll be under $100 for the ato and reservoir.

 

[moneymm22]

This is what I use and it hasn’t failed yet. Just make sure the tube doesn’t contact the water in the sump so no possible way to siphon. This plus a 5 gallon headpak should do the trick. Not sure it’ll last a week but maybe add a top or partial to to the tank and sump to cut evap a little while away?

AutoAqua Smart ATO Lite SATO-260P Automatic Top Off System Water Filler Refiller Water Level Controller w/ Pump (SATO-260P)

It’ll be under $100 for the ato and reservoir.

do i need to buy anything else for the plumbing, or just that and the headpak?

 

[workhz]

do i need to buy anything else for the plumbing, or just that and the headpak?

Trying to remember if it had tubing or whether I needed to buy any. I think it came with everything. One thing I did was just thread the tube through a piece of pvc just to keep it rigid when i dropped the pump and tubing into the headpak to make sure the pump was at the very bottom.

 

[FrontRangeReefer]

Since cost is a focus, I would recommend a simple ATO setup like the XP Aqua Duetto or the Hygger dual-sensor ATO. Both are reasonably priced and I have been using the Duetto for almost a year without issue. I use a 5G Synergy Reef ATO reservoir on my Marine X 60.2, and while this volume lasts around a week on my setup, I would recommend something slightly larger for yours depending on your evap rate. No need to get an expensive ATO-specific reservoir, though…you could even use a cheap 10G breeder tank as a reservoir. As Workhz mentioned previously, be sure that the hose is above water level in your sump so that siphon doesn’t become an issue, and also place the sensor in your sump where bubbles won’t cause it to malfunction.

 

[workhz]

Ignore the 2nd tube going in. I have 2nd headpak with a pump and camera that I can remotely turn on to give me 10 gallons of water but in two containers. In case of a mishap I don’t dump 10 gallons into the tank.