Pump a practical alternative to ATO?

[VR28man]

Was gonna post this question in equipment but the thinking about it this isn't equipment, this is about practical methods to keep a certain level of salinity.....



So this dude doesn't bother with a sensor based ATO, partially for aesthetic reasons, partially because he's not thrilled by an ATO's reliability/operation.


Thoughts?

My main worry would be that evaporation is not constant throughout the year, even given the same tank set up, and so you'd have to alter the amount you dose all the time.

Granted that you should be checking salinity bi weekly or so anyway IMO); further it seems to me if you mark a spot on your tank to be "35ppt salinity" and start to notice it's off a bit then you easily know you need to be compensating. Still you will have to tweak the dosing every so often by hand, vice letting the ATO sensor (or float valve in sump!) do it for you.

For instance, if you have a 10L tank you wanna keep at 35ppt, and your daily consumption is 100ml (1% - i.e. the salnity goes up 0.35ppt the first day without any additional water, and a bit more the. next day), and suddenly you notice after 5 days that salinity is 36ppt, you know that it's gone up about an extra 0.2 ppt a day (1 ppt/5 days), it seems you need to add an additional 57ml (0.2/0.35) per day?

 

[sunken3]

how big is your aquarium? and do you use a sump?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So this dude doesn't bother with a sensor based ATO, partially for aesthetic reasons, partially because he's not thrilled by an ATO's reliability/operation.

He needs a better ATO, and his solution sounds worse to me with lots of manual fiddling.

A large, high quality float switch in a sump can work well. I used a high end switch from omega engineering:

Side Mount Non-Magnetic Liquid Level Switches | Omega

The LV-1100-1200 level switches feature a nonmagnetic design suitable for applications where magnetic particles (i.e., rust) are present. Learn more

www.omega.com

Then you can set your pump to deliver just a little bit more than the daily evaporation rate, so it is running most of the time and cannot greatly overdeliver if somehow it gets stuck on (I don't recall mine ever doing so in 20 years).

 

[Borat]

Was gonna post this question in equipment but the thinking about it this isn't equipment, this is about practical methods to keep a certain level of salinity.....



So this dude doesn't bother with a sensor based ATO, partially for aesthetic reasons, partially because he's not thrilled by an ATO's reliability/operation.


Thoughts?

My main worry would be that evaporation is not constant throughout the year, even given the same tank set up, and so you'd have to alter the amount you dose all the time.

Granted that you should be checking salinity bi weekly or so anyway IMO); further it seems to me if you mark a spot on your tank to be "35ppt salinity" and start to notice it's off a bit then you easily know you need to be compensating. Still you will have to tweak the dosing every so often by hand, vice letting the ATO sensor (or float valve in sump!) do it for you.

For instance, if you have a 10L tank you wanna keep at 35ppt, and your daily consumption is 100ml (1% - i.e. the salnity goes up 0.35ppt the first day without any additional water, and a bit more the. next day), and suddenly you notice after 5 days that salinity is 36ppt, you know that it's gone up about an extra 0.2 ppt a day (1 ppt/5 days), it seems you need to add an additional 57ml (0.2/0.35) per day?

My ATO setup is extremely simple: I have reefer 425XL which already have a float valve fitted. I have an 85L RO water container stored outside of the house and a 10m RO tubing/rigid airline plumbed along the skirting board. The RO water container is slightly elevated above sump level, so water flows by gravity without too much pressure.

This setup worked for me perfectly for over 2 years.

I have a DIY leak detector - just in case something breaks and water overflows, but I never had any problems.

 

[VR28man]

Paah, it did become an equipment thread. My instinct was right.

Thanks folks, at least this shows that folks don't think this solution is a very good one.

FYI: this tank is a pico AIO, 15L (3.9 gal)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Paah, it did become an equipment thread. My instinct was right.

Thanks folks, at least this shows that folks don't think this solution is a very good one.

I'm not sure what else you were looking for. A pump for top off works, but requires frequent checking and adjusting to match evaporation, and does not seem the best answer to me. It certainly is not an improvement over the same system plus a float switch.

Your last paragraph about adjusting salinity by adjusting the pump certainly works, but with an ATO, you can do the same thing by adjusting the salinity of the mix delivered by the ATO. I did that all the time with my ATO.

 

[piranhaman00]

I use Tunze osmolator on an apex timer. It turns on once a day for a 5 minute window. Osmolator does an auto 15 second pump during turn on. It the sensor were to fail in on or off I would be safe. Works very well, but I’ve never had a Tunze sensor fail and I don’t clean them. But just for backup

 

[VR28man]

I'm not sure what else you were looking for. A pump for top off works, but requires frequent checking and adjusting to match evaporation, and does not seem the best answer to me. It certainly is not an improvement over the same system plus a float switch.

Your last paragraph about adjusting salinity by adjusting the pump certainly works, but with an ATO, you can do the same thing by adjusting the salinity of the mix delivered by the ATO. I did that all the time with my ATO.

Thanks, Randy. I was about to put it in equipment but last minute I switched to chemistry on a whim. Anyway, it want's a complaint but just a random observation. Again, I really can't see a strong alternative to what you're saying. Thanks as always for all your help to folks on the forums.

@piranhaman00 that's an interesting idea - keep it on a timer to minimize the chance of a failure.

 

[hart24601]

For small tanks with a cover an inverted water bottle with a tube works great, similar to a rodent water bottle. I made one for my 4g nano that came with glass lid and only have to refill it once a week or even less.

 

[efilho]

I cannot see anything more practical than the Tunze Osmolator: the thing is on 24x7 since 2008 and its pump failed only once after ten years service...