AutoAqua Smart ATO Review

Titus · Dec 2, 2013

I received my AutoAqua Smart ATO today and thought I would write a review for it.

First things first, I opened it up to take a look at it (Quarter added for size reference).

It took me about 30 seconds to test assemble it without ever looking at the included instruction book (once again, Quarter added for size reference).

About 60 seconds after that, I had it the pump dropped in to a 5 gallon water jug, the fill line clamped to the edge of the tank, sensor in place, and plugged it all in. I was quickly greeted by flashing lights and load continues beeps. After about 10 minutes of messing with it and reading the directions, I realized the sensor needs to go through clear glass and the back of my JBJ RL30 has black vinyl applied to it. DOH! I cut a section of the vinyl away and it started working perfectly.

What I like:

Super simple to set up. Would have gone from box to running in under 2 minutes if I hadn't have forgotten about cutting out the vinyl on the back of the tank.
Pump size- The little pump fits easily in the neck of a water jug.
No wires running into the tank.
Everything needed is included.

What I don't like:

During initialization, the sensor needs to be above the water line. This means that it will fail to initialize on restart, and will beep until evaporation drops the water level low enough for the initialization to complete. Not a big deal, but it means I will be woken by its error beeping if the power pops off and back on in the middle of the night.
Water pump rate- it pumps water faster than my Tunze ATO, and a lot faster that the aqua-lifter I have used on another tank. The high pump rate would concern me a little on a really small tank where this system otherwise has the opportunity to really shine.

Final Thought- So far I love it... I will try and come back with follow-up opinions after it has been in use for a while.

mr9iron · Dec 2, 2013

Thanks for the review. I am considering this ATO for my new build as well.

Titus · Dec 3, 2013

UPDATE: I had initially stated that it will need manual intervention after a power outage, but now realize I was wrong so I edited the original post. During initialization, the sensor needs to be above the water line. This means that it will fail to initialize on restart. I thought this meant you would need to manually intervene, but in a test this evening I learned that it will eventually initialize and stop beeping once evaporation drops the water level low enough for the initialization to complete. Not a big deal, but it means I will be woken by its error beeping if the power pops off and back on in the middle of the night.

Titus · Dec 8, 2013

I accidentally triggered one of the system's fail safe errors today. My jug of RODI water was getting low, so I removed the pump from the jug and took the jug into the other room to refill. When I got back, the alarm was sounding. It appears that the AutoAqua tried to top off my tank in the 5 minutes I was out of the room. It recognized that it was taking too long to top off, so it turned off the pump and sounded the alarm. Based on the long fill time, the AutoAqua knew that one of several things happened: 1) I was out of water, 2) the pump had failed, or 3) the sensor was not recognizing that the water level had risen. It doesn't know which specific condition happened, but it doesn't really matter. It shut the pump off so it won't burn out (if it is running dry), which also stops it from adding water so it won't over-fill (in case the sensor failed), and regardless, the alarm gets my attention so I can address the issue.

erm213 · Dec 10, 2013

I just ordered one of these. I was considering putting on a EB8 outlet, but it sounds like it would be better to have on an always on outlet.

Nice review.

Erik

Djtonton · Oct 2, 2014

erm213 said:
I just ordered one of these. I was considering putting on a EB8 outlet, but it sounds like it would be better to have on an always on outlet.

Nice review.

Erik

I know this thread is a year old but how do both of you still like your smart ATO's?? I am thinking about getting one for my 265 reef...

Daniel@R2R · Oct 2, 2014

Djtonton said:
I know this thread is a year old but how do both of you still like your smart ATO's?? I am thinking about getting one for my 265 reef...

I know I'm not one of the posters here, but I've had mine for months, and I still think it's the best ATO on the market. HTH

Djtonton · Oct 2, 2014

mdbannister said:
I know I'm not one of the posters here, but I've had mine for months, and I still think it's the best ATO on the market. HTH

anyones opinions are greatly appreciated!! Thanks for the review im def going to get one. And i still have coral for you but my holding system took a big dump on me last night and i lost A TOOOOOON of stuff :hurt: lots of chalices

When i get everything situatied and if the VDM's and that my miami made it ill get you a frag right away. i know the miami is still pretty small and impossible to frag but i will keep you posted

Daniel@R2R · Oct 2, 2014

Djtonton said:
anyones opinions are greatly appreciated!! Thanks for the review im def going to get one. And i still have coral for you but my holding system took a big dump on me last night and i lost A TOOOOOON of stuff :hurt: lots of chalices

When i get everything situatied and if the VDM's and that my miami made it ill get you a frag right away. i know the miami is still pretty small and impossible to frag but i will keep you posted

Sounds good, bro! I'm in no rush.

Sorry you're having these issues. If those don't work out, we can figure something else out. Also, let me know if the ones I traded you don't make it, and I can get you some replacements possibly.

dbl · Oct 2, 2014

I too am not an original part of this thread either, but thought I would jump in to say how much I love this top off. I will add itâ€™s the only one Iâ€™ve had, but it has been working great on my 5 month old 120g system. It beeps to remind me when reservoir is out of water (if I forget to fill it) and Iâ€™ve never had an issue with it resuming normal operation after a power failure or intentional shut-down.

Djtonton · Oct 2, 2014

great stuff im getting one for sure thanks for all the great feedback!!

stunreefer · Oct 2, 2014

These are very intriguing and I'm interested to see how these stand up long term. When it comes to ATO I've been a steadfast user of Tunze osmolator. Tried and true with two redundant fail-safes is hard to beat (and hasn't been yet). My first osmolator is still in use after six years, with zero hiccups.

Per the Coralvue website they mention, "This ATO comes integrated with AFS (Auto Feedback Security) technology which provides real-time fail safe protection against failure." which gives us a warm and fuzzy feeling however does not explain what the AFS actually does. I'm guessing it's a timed sensor, meaning that the pump will only stay on for "X" amount of time, tops.

Have you guys had to clean the sensors? If so, how frequently?

FWIW I'm a big fan of Coralvue and most of my systems are outfitted with lots of their equipment

However this is one piece of equipment that we should be overly confident in.

Djtonton · Oct 2, 2014

stunreefer said:
These are very intriguing and I'm interested to see how these stand up long term. When it comes to ATO I've been a steadfast user of Tunze osmolator. Tried and true with two redundant fail-safes is hard to beat (and hasn't been yet). My first osmolator is still in use after six years, with zero hiccups.

Per the Coralvue website they mention, "This ATO comes integrated with AFS (Auto Feedback Security) technology which provides real-time fail safe protection against failure." which gives us a warm and fuzzy feeling however does not explain what the AFS actually does. I'm guessing it's a timed sensor, meaning that the pump will only stay on for "X" amount of time, tops.

Have you guys had to clean the sensors? If so, how frequently?

FWIW I'm a big fan of Coralvue and most of my systems are outfitted with lots of their equipment However this is one piece of equipment that we should be overly confident in.