Best budget auto top up?

[Phoerut]

I need an auto top up for my 250 litre Red Sea tank. The ball valve thing sucks, I’ve replaced it so many times, it’s so unreliable. Just looking for a better one. Not looking to spend too much money on it because there are some other bits I want to upgrade on the tank as well! .. and maybe buy more coral..

 

[stoney7713]

I need an auto top up for my 250 litre Red Sea tank. The ball valve thing sucks, I’ve replaced it so many times, it’s so unreliable. Just looking for a better one. Not looking to spend too much money on it because there are some other bits I want to upgrade on the tank as well! .. and maybe buy more coral..

I have one of the cheap $50 ones from Amazon, it has 2 floats. It has worked well for over a year. I check my ATO daily for levels anyways and my ATO isn't large enough to cause problems if it did completely dump.

But it has worked fine so far.

 

[officialreefbros]

Personally I've has some issues with salinity swings from them so I tend to shell out a little extra. But If you want to go real budget there's the water bottle ones!

 

[stoney7713]

Personally I've has some issues with salinity swings from them so I tend to shell out a little extra. But If you want to go real budget there's the water bottle ones!

I'm not contesting your account. But I can add a gallon of RO water and my salinity only moves .1 or .2, not enough to worry about.

 

[officialreefbros]

I'm not contesting your account. But I can add a gallon of RO water and my salinity only moves .1 or .2, not enough to worry about.

My tank is probs a lot smaller than yours

 

[Rmckoy]

I need an auto top up for my 250 litre Red Sea tank. The ball valve thing sucks, I’ve replaced it so many times, it’s so unreliable. Just looking for a better one. Not looking to spend too much money on it because there are some other bits I want to upgrade on the tank as well! .. and maybe buy more coral..

For ato I got tired of
Lugging buckets of water and didn’t want to trust mechanical float valves as they were labeled as unreliable and sure to cause floods sooner or later.

I went with tunze ato and haven’t had any issue with it .
I’ve had it close to 5 years already

 

[RJT]

I use avast ato. Great product and customer service

 

[JGT]

Spend a little more for the Tunze. Money.

 

[X-37B]

Just get a Tunze nano. I run 2 nanos and one optical. One of the nanos is 7 years old.

 

[curt]

I've been using one from Autotopoff.com for 10 years with no problems at all. I don't think you'll find a better one. You can use any type of pump with it. Aqua lifter or MJ pump.

 

[Reefing102]

I use Kamoer ATO’s and haven’t had any issues. Not a fan of Neptunes ATO (I know it’s not cheap but just giving opinion). Ive heard great things about Tunze

 

[NeedAReef]

I have used this one for the last year plus no issues with it, though i did have a snail who found his way into the sump and covered the sensor however my reservoir is not big enough to over fill.
(XP Aqua Duetto Dual-Sensor Complete Aquarium Auto Top Off ATO)

 

[kyleinpdx]

This one from reef breeders. It’s optical sensor is external and not exposed to the aquarium water.

I would go through one of those internal optical sensor such as the auto aqua and very 9 months or so when the sensor would fail. This one works much better in my opinion.

 

[Greybeard]

I'm a DIY kinda guy...

Kerick-Valve-MA052-Float-Adjustable. $9.56 at Amazon
ZAOJIAO-Bulkhead-Connector. $6.99 for 5 at Amazon
1/4" OD poly tube. $7.99 / 15' at Amazon
5g Plastic Hedpac jug. $17.99 at Amazon

42 bucks.

If the valve fails, 5g of fresh water into a 65g system, that's 7%. If you're running 35ppm salinity, that'd drop it to 32. Unlikely to affect anything, as long as your sump can handle the extra volume.

If you get real creative, you can add an electronic shutoff. A 12vdc power supply, a 1/4" NC electric ball valve, and a float switch. Probably add another $50.

 

[Uncle99]

This one I had for 3 years now.
Never missed a beat.
I have an earlier model, 5 years still running.

 

[Phoerut]

Spend a little more for the Tunze. Money.

Do you think I could get away with the tunze nano?

 

[Phoerut]

I'm a DIY kinda guy...

Kerick-Valve-MA052-Float-Adjustable. $9.56 at Amazon
ZAOJIAO-Bulkhead-Connector. $6.99 for 5 at Amazon
1/4" OD poly tube. $7.99 / 15' at Amazon
5g Plastic Hedpac jug. $17.99 at Amazon

42 bucks.

If the valve fails, 5g of fresh water into a 65g system, that's 7%. If you're running 35ppm salinity, that'd drop it to 32. Unlikely to affect anything, as long as your sump can handle the extra volume.

If you get real creative, you can add an electronic shutoff. A 12vdc power supply, a 1/4" NC electric ball valve, and a float switch. Probably add another $50.

Thanks! I would be worried about it failing though! I don’t know how reliable something will be if I made it lol!! I’ll keep it in mind though!

 

[Phoerut]

Just get a Tunze nano. I run 2 nanos and one optical. One of the nanos is 7 years old.

Do you run all of them at the same time on the same tank?

 

[BaliReefBox]

I use Kamoer ATO’s and haven’t had any issues. Not a fan of Neptunes ATO (I know it’s not cheap but just giving opinion). Ive heard great things about Tunze

I got one of these about a month ago. I got the new ATO one 2 which has 2 opical sensors. for the price its great...if money no object the new red sea ato with temp probe...over three times the price of the Kamoer

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Since you have a Red Sea tank, I would just go with the RS one... it is super easy to hook up. I am pretty happy with mine.