Does water in an aio evaporate from the front or back?

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

Basically exactly what I asked. I bought an ato but instead of my water level in the back of my tank dropping the Maine part of the tank water is lowering. Why is this?

Auquanut · Dec 31, 2019

What AIO do you have?

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

Auquanut said:
What AIO do you have?

It’s a jbj cubey. Basically exactly like a bio cube system

ScottR · Dec 31, 2019

It should be lower where you have the return pump. Do you have pics of set up?

Auquanut · Dec 31, 2019

It doesn't seem to make sense. Every AIO tank I'm familiar with will show eveaporation from the return section of the filter portion. Pics would be helpful.

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

Auquanut said:
It doesn't seem to make sense. Every AIO tank I'm familiar with will show eveaporation from the return section of the filter portion. Pics would be helpful.

It seems weird to me too. Here’s some pics

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

Auquanut said:
It doesn't seem to make sense. Every AIO tank I'm familiar with will show eveaporation from the return section of the filter portion. Pics would be helpful.

I posted some pics

Auquanut · Dec 31, 2019

When the level in the display goes down, does the level in the return section go down at the same rate?

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

Auquanut said:
When the level in the display goes down, does the level in the return section go down at the same rate?

Nope, the return pump section stays the same(probably because of the ato) and the display goes down. Technically that shouldn’t happen though

Scrubber_steve · Dec 31, 2019

If water is pumped from container A to container B, B will always overflow.

Auquanut · Dec 31, 2019

Just shooting from the hip here. When the level in the display is correct, is the level in the return section the same, or lower than the level in the display?

vetteguy53081 · Dec 31, 2019

Evaporation. I lose water literally daily to the point you'd think there's a leak but it just loses it from the sump chamber and tank together.

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

Auquanut said:
Just shooting from the hip here. When the level in the display is correct, is the level in the return section the same, or lower than the level in the display?

Sometimes the return section is higher than the display. It confuses me...

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

Scrubber_steve said:
If water is pumped from container A to container B, B will always overflow.

Then why do people always say to put ato in the back?

Auquanut · Dec 31, 2019

Okay. Here's what I'm thinking. You may have the sensor for your ATO too high. The level of the return section should normally stay somewhat lower than the level in the other two sections. Try lowering the sensor. Also, if you haven't already, check the SG in the tank to make sure it isn't lowering. That's all I can think of.

eschaton · Dec 31, 2019

I am not familiar with how your system works, but typically people put ATOs in the sump portion of their tank because the overflow system means the display tank water level will always be the same (if it gets any higher, it drains) while the sump water level can fall if there is evaporation or water is otherwise removed from the system.

I am guessing you have an all-in-one system, and the rear of your tank acts as the sump? The same basic principle should apply here. As long as the pump is working water should reach a set level in the display portion of the tank, then pour back into the rear chambers. This should continue until the rear chambers get to be so low the pump can no longer work.

For the water level to be falling in the display portion of the tank, but not the rear, it would seem to imply they weren't plumbed together properly at all. Are you using a under-tank sump as well? If so, that's where the ATO should be pumping, not the rear chamber.

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

Auquanut said:
Okay. Here's what I'm thinking. You may have the sensor for your ATO too high. The level of the return section should normally stay somewhat lower than the level in the other two sections. Try lowering the sensor. Also, if you haven't already, check the SG in the tank to make sure it isn't lowering. That's all I can think of.

Yeah I put the sensor really high because I wanted to keep it high but I’ll try that, thanks! Do you know any science behind what keeping that level lower will do, or is it just experience?

Gw2kpro · Dec 31, 2019

SamAPFish said:
Sometimes the return section is higher than the display. It confuses me...

You have water flowing uphill?

ScottR · Dec 31, 2019

SamAPFish said:
Then why do people always say to put ato in the back?

The ato should be in the return chamber where the water level should fluctuate. The water levels elsewhere should never fluctuate. Only thing I can think of is perhaps you have a clog in a filter chamber where water isn’t getting pulled through properly.

SamAPFish · Dec 31, 2019

eschaton said:
I am not familiar with how your system works, but typically people put ATOs in the sump portion of their tank because the overflow system means the display tank water level will always be the same (if it gets any higher, it drains) while the sump water level can fall if there is evaporation or water is otherwise removed from the system.

I am guessing you have an all-in-one system, and the rear of your tank acts as the sump? The same basic principle should apply here. As long as the pump is working water should reach a set level in the display portion of the tank, then pour back into the rear chambers. This should continue until the rear chambers get to be so low the pump can no longer work.

For the water level to be falling in the display portion of the tank, but not the rear, it would seem to imply they weren't plumbed together properly at all. Are you using a under-tank sump as well? If so, that's where the ATO should be pumping, not the rear chamber.

Nope just using the back of the tank which acts as a sump. I don’t know if this will work but aquanut said to try lowering the sensor so I’ll try that