Auto top off suggestions

[Zeither18]

I'm looking into buying an ato. I have a couple hundred bucks laying around but I don't have to spend it all on this. It will be going into my sump, and just curiouser what everyone thing would be the best bang for the buck and or past good or bad experiences with whichever. Thanks

 

[TD2K]

I plan to order one from autotopoff.com They are very reasonable and have good reviews from others.

then you can use any type of container for the fresh RO/DI water, even a 5 gal jug like you use to transport water.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

From what I have used, I really like the Tunze Osmolater the best.

 

[beaslbob]

With a sump one thing to consider is that when water level is low on sump the ato will kick in regardless of whether or not the low level is from evaporation (add water) or from a blocked drain(don't add water LOL).

It would seem to me that some kind of drip system could be adjusted so that it replaced evaporation and only needed "adjustments" every week or so. In that case a blocked drain would not kick in the ato causing a display flood.


my .02

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Just a note that my auto top off water container only stores 5g of water. So if something were to malfunction I would only get that extra 5g max of fresh water in the tank. That would not harm my reef long term.

 

[feh]

I wouldn't take anything for my Elos Digital Osmolator.

 

[TD2K]

I designed my sump so that there is plenty of room in case that happens. My freshwater reservior is 15 gal, my sump has room for 30 gal of "overflow"

 

[Zeither18]

I have 4 1.5" drains on the display 2 that work all the time and 2 for a backup. And also on my sump I drilled a bulkhead in the back and put a drain going into my basement sump pipe just invade that was an issue also. But great suggestion

 

[beaslbob]

Just a note that my auto top off water container only stores 5g of water. So if something were to malfunction I would only get that extra 5g max of fresh water in the tank. That would not harm my reef long term.

Agree

And that was not my concern. Not a salinity thing.

But if you go on vacation and say a snail gets stuck in the drain or siphon breaks (hob) the water in the top container (display?) rises as the sump lowers. So the atokicks in and dumps in the entire 5 gallons in the ato. So instead of the pump running out of water before the display floods, the 5 added gallons are pumped to the top container. Which in my system would have dumped 3-4 gallons over the sides and onto the floor.

Then when we returned from vacation and the wife saw it I would be in really really big trouble.

But meanwhile the tank would probably be fine.:wink:

Just not me, the carpet, and floor.


my .02

 

[Zeither18]

I looked at the elos osmolater also like the fact if no moving parts and comes with a pump for 200$ I have been fighting this for about three months now but I'm just finally getting sick and tired of filling 3 gal of top off manually each day

 

[Zeither18]

I could only imagine my wife's face. She prob would have grabbed the at to shoot the tank to finish everything off and call the insurance company and I would never have a tank again. Lol. She is a vicious red head!!

 

[btkrausen]

I LOVE my Tunze Osmolator. The Osmolater has a fail safe (a float switch) built in to shut off the pump if it gets too high.

I have mine plugged into my APEX, and have another float switch in the sump. If it gets too high, it actually kills power to the Osmolator as a whole.

 

[Zeither18]

That's cool u can run it on a apex. I don't have one yet but I will in a year or so. U can run it without correct?

 

[btkrausen]

That's cool u can run it on a apex. I don't have one yet but I will in a year or so. U can run it without correct?

Absolutely. I just run it like that to kill the Osmolator if my sump is too high - don't need anymore water pumped in there

I also kill the power if my topoff tank is too low so the pump doesn't run dry. Both of these events send me an email and text to alert me.

 

[swannyson7]

From the reviews I've read, I'd say that the two ATOs that stand out with the most consistent positive reviews are the Tunze osmolator and the ATO from Avast.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Spectrapure UPLC-II. Head and shoulders above the rest and it uses their famous LiterMeter pump which is included along with simple two button push programming, adjustable levels between 1/10" and 4" and several fail safe measures built in.
Untitled Document
ULTRA PRECISE LEVEL CONTROLLER
http://www.spectrapure.com/manuals/PRINTER_FRIENDLY/UPLC-II-MANUAL.pdf

I have been using it for over 4 years now and its bulletproof.

 

[BarbH]

Will be tagging along with this, looking for options on eventually setting up an ato in the future.

 

[Zeither18]

I Have heard of spectra pure before. I actually used there home filtration system to fill my tank. I didn't have my ro system yet and it would take forever to fill 270 gal. Tested zero phosphates nitrates and everything in between right out the faucet. But in regards to the ato suction cups kinda scare me. The only thing I have suction cups on is the heater in my quarantine tank and it's always floating around. But I do like the 5 yrr warranty. It also looks like they took a dosing pump and made an ato out of it. That's kinda cool.

 

[NanoNathan]

i use ehhops float valve i bought from foster and smith. 20 ish $$ connect the hose to a container with ro/di water , easy pretty much fail proof. check it out im so glad i didnt waste money on those

 

[Zeither18]

I have a corallife float valve that came With my sump ( I bought it used) when I was leak testing the sump and water got above the valve it started to leak out of the valve and it would kinda stick on the sides of the mount for just a sec. I would really worry to much with it as I would rather have 10-15 gal of water dumped in if I am gone for a bit and something failed instead of no security and ro/do doesn't stop making water unless u shut it down. That could be an insane amount if water leaking in