ATO through Controller

[Giancarlo]

So i'm deciding on an ato/controller setup, very new to the controller side of this hobby but so far i am thinking of an APEX controller. To my understanding i could have the salinity monitored. And i was thinking rather than buying some sort of ATO unit i could just have the salinity monitored and have a pump turn off and on as the salinity fluctuates. First of all, is this possible? Second how accurate would this be for the salinity levels? Would this be a smart way of an ATO setup or should i just bite the bullet and buy an ato as well. Also if anyone has any experience on what ATO would work well with the an APEX controller?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Sort of. I suppose it would be possible to program the controller to add water when the salinity rises, and shut off when it lowers... but it would be better to have a float switch and use that as a fail safe. You can see how one person set theirs up here -

You got it Craig - Salinity is measured via conductivity (at least that how the Apex does it.) I use a Osmolator with fail-safe handled via the Apex as follows...

Set ON
Fallback ON
If Cond < 34.6 Then OFF
If pH > 08.75 Then OFF
Min Time 060:00 Then OFF
If FeedC 060 Then OFF
If FeedD 030 Then OFF

This turns off the ATO if...

• Salinity drops below 34.6 PPM
• pH increases above 8.75 (I use Kalk saturated RO/DO for my top-off.)

Both events also trigger an alarm and send me a text and email.

The Set On command provides the starting point for the outlet
The Fallback command tells the outlet what to do if it loses connection to the Apex.
The feed times represent maintenance cycles such as a water change where I want the ATO turned off for a set period of time.
The Min time statement guarantees that if the outlet is turned off - it will remain off for at least 60 minutes (to prevent cycling in the event of a probe failure)

I also have an alarm,text and email set should the salinity increase to more than 35.4 PPM as this would indicate that either the ATO pump has failed, or the ATO container is empty.

I have a hard time reading 1/10th of a PPM on a refractometer, the Apex makes it very easy to be precise.

 

[CJO]

A couple of float switches and a breakout box would be easier, better (for this) and cheaper than a conductivity meter.

CJ