How much do you worry about your ATO?

Nooonan · Mar 28, 2017

I have had my share of reef aquariums and because of that I have had my share of reef aquarium mishaps. The system before my current system was a 16 gallon Nuvo. I was asleep one night 4 or 5 years ago, with the Nuvo on a stand next to my bed. I woke up to the sound of rushing water, my tank was overflowing. The ATO engaged and never disengaged. I blame a magnet from a frag rack being the cause of the of this, as my nano ATO from ATO.com worked fine before I added the rack but I can't be sure.
My current reef is much larger, as it now a Nuvo 20

and I top off by hand 2-4 times a day. I want an ATO, but I don't want to stress over it. I also don't want to spend the money on an Apex as a failsafe. I almost feel irrational and I am wondering your thoughts.

gcarroll · Mar 28, 2017

I have always used the Tunze Osmolator for my auto top off. It has a lot of built in fail safes so issues like that won't happen. It has been around for decades and is tried and true!

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 28, 2017

Fear is the enemy.

Syntax1235 · Mar 28, 2017

Never.... I use a tunze 3155, one of the best tank purchases I've ever made.

recess62 · Mar 28, 2017

I use 2 failproofs. One is the built in safties in the osmolator. I also have a float switch hooked up to an apex that is set to power off the ato when the sump gets to a critical height

AllSignsPointToFish · Mar 28, 2017

Just the other night, I had the ATO dump six gallons of limewater into the tank during the middle of the night when I was having a drain issue. When I figured this out at 0530, I immediately removed six gallons of water from the 125 gallon system and checked calcium, dKH, magnesium, and salinity. The salinity was down one point to 1.024, the dKH was up at 10.9, but all other parameters were within acceptable limits. So far, no issues with any of the livestock. My sump is easily big enough to handle this situation several times over in terms of surge volume, and I worry about this scenario a lot less now than I used to.

The same situation on a small tank would be catastrophic.

AllSignsPointToFish · Mar 28, 2017

recess62 said:
I use 2 failproofs. One is the built in safely in the osmolator. I also have a float switch hooked up to an pex that is set to power off the ato when the sump gets to a critical height

I've been considering exactly this after my recent incident!

mcarroll · Mar 28, 2017

Nooonan said:
I have had my share of reef aquariums and because of that I have had my share of reef aquarium mishaps. The system before my current system was a 16 gallon Nuvo. I was asleep one night 4 or 5 years ago, with the Nuvo on a stand next to my bed. I woke up to the sound of rushing water, my tank was overflowing. The ATO engaged and never disengaged. I blame a magnet from a frag rack being the cause of the of this, as my nano ATO from ATO.com worked fine before I added the rack but I can't be sure.
My current reef is much larger, as it now a Nuvo 20 and I top off by hand 2-4 times a day. I want an ATO, but I don't want to stress over it. I also don't want to spend the money on an Apex as a failsafe. I almost feel irrational and I am wondering your thoughts.

The whole volume of your ATO reservoir should be able to fit into the tank at any given time. Foolproof.

Might take some re-thinking too.

AllSignsPointToFish · Mar 28, 2017

Nooonan said:
I have had my share of reef aquariums and because of that I have had my share of reef aquarium mishaps. The system before my current system was a 16 gallon Nuvo. I was asleep one night 4 or 5 years ago, with the Nuvo on a stand next to my bed. I woke up to the sound of rushing water, my tank was overflowing. The ATO engaged and never disengaged. I blame a magnet from a frag rack being the cause of the of this, as my nano ATO from ATO.com worked fine before I added the rack but I can't be sure.
My current reef is much larger, as it now a Nuvo 20 and I top off by hand 2-4 times a day. I want an ATO, but I don't want to stress over it. I also don't want to spend the money on an Apex as a failsafe. I almost feel irrational and I am wondering your thoughts.

By the way, you don't have to have an Apex as a failsafe. You could wire up a 120VAC relay that drops the power on the ATO pump when the level in the sump gets too high. Much cheaper than an Apex, although I strongly recommend the Apex for other reasons!

gcarroll · Mar 28, 2017

The Osmolator goes into safe mode if the pump runs continuously for more than a couple minutes. In that time we are talking like 1/2 gallon of top-off at most.

Even if that fail safe fails, the float switch will shut it down.

Reefltx · Mar 28, 2017

Tunze is pretty good if kept clean, mine has failed a few times during the years. Not over flowing, but not reading the water level correctly and allowing my pump to run dry.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 28, 2017

I built my own ato.

Brew12 · Mar 28, 2017

I've toyed with the idea of taking a small top off water source and setting up a drip feed to my frag QT. I may do it this weekend.

JasReef · Mar 28, 2017

I use a gravity fed system with float valve.

It is so easy and simple to elevate a top off container above the sump level and I am no more worried about failure than any other type ato.

mtraylor · Mar 28, 2017

I don't worry about mine at all, but I built mine and run it through my apex and it has a backup to prevent overflows. Not to mention, my ATO is directly connected to a RODI unit. So what I'm saying is that if you have an auto top off system, you should have a fail safe on it to help prevent a disaster. You will get some sleep then.

Nooonan · Mar 28, 2017

I've used the Tunze in the past without issues but most of the others I've had issues with. I wouldn't even consider using a Hydor or IM ATO.

I like the looks of the Smart Micro ATO for its size but I am not sure on its reliability without a fail safe. The Icecap ATO has a high and low float (or sensor, not sure) which would come in handy.

I'm still topping off by hand for now.

azbigjohn · Mar 28, 2017

I use a double-float system that has a sensor for if the unit sticks on, the second float shuts it off. Between that, and an air gap to prevent siphoning, I have never had a major mishap.

I actually use the very simple setup on autotopoff.com with a simple MJ1200 pump to move the water over. Foolproof for 4+ years, and very inexpensive!

Ou8me2 · Mar 28, 2017

Nooonan said:
The Icecap ATO has a high and low float (or sensor, not sure) which would come in handy.

I'm still topping off by hand for now.

I went with the Icecap ATO when they first came out a few months ago. It's a dual optical sensor which uses one for water level and the other is for high water optical sensor. It has worked flawless for me for a couple months now and the price was right for me. I would never use a single sensor system for an ATO myself.

mtraylor · Mar 28, 2017

azbigjohn said:
I use a double-float system that has a sensor for if the unit sticks on, the second float shuts it off. Between that, and an air gap to prevent siphoning, I have never had a major mishap.

I actually use the very simple setup on autotopoff.com with a simple MJ1200 pump to move the water over. Foolproof for 4+ years, and very inexpensive!

Exactly. Awesome setup. I have never had issues with ATO system once I installed a second float for backup.

Flippers4pups · Mar 28, 2017

mcarroll said:
The whole volume of your ATO reservoir should be able to fit into the tank at any given time. Foolproof. Might take some re-thinking too.

That's why i have only a 16 gallon ATO reservoir on 200 gallon system. It will throw things off, a little, but nothing I can't fix relatively quick.