Pump for my Hydor ATO

dragonfisher33 · Feb 3, 2014

so i'm waiting on my Hydor smart level control ATO system to arrive. i chose it because of its affordability and the lack of float/moving switches. can someone recommend a good pump to go with it? The height that the water has to travel is probably in the neighborhood of 3-4feet directly into my display tank since i don't have a sump. something adjustable would be great since i wouldn't want a sudden splash of water (or is this too OCD?). I imagine the water will be traveling through one of those airline tubes.Thank you for the recommendation.

shred5 · Feb 3, 2014

Hydor sells a pump for it.
I actually am using a aqualifter with mine but I am not a big fan of these pumps, they do go out once in a while. I might buy the hydor pump but it is pricy.
Any pump you use will have to fill it up at a certain rate and if you use something that fills it up to fats you will need a valve. It can only react so fast.
Hydor aint to bad but that alarm annoys me big time... Every time I stick my arm in the water, turn off the skimmer, float a fish or coral, anything that raises the sump level a little the thing goes off.

dragonfisher33 · Mar 5, 2014

shred5 said:
Hydor sells a pump for it.
I actually am using a aqualifter with mine but I am not a big fan of these pumps, they do go out once in a while. I might buy the hydor pump but it is pricy.
Any pump you use will have to fill it up at a certain rate and if you use something that fills it up to fats you will need a valve. It can only react so fast.
Hydor aint to bad but that alarm annoys me big time... Every time I stick my arm in the water, turn off the skimmer, float a fish or coral, anything that raises the sump level a little the thing goes off.

how are you using the aqua lifter when the plug won't fit the outlet on the Hydor ATO?

shred5 · Mar 6, 2014

dragonfisher33 said:
how are you using the aqua lifter when the plug won't fit the outlet on the Hydor ATO?

Mine fit.. Took a little effort but it went in, very tight fit.. At first I thought it didnt.

I also got hydor and aqua gadget hydrofill mixed up.. They are the one with the dedicated pump not hydor, hydor does not make a pump for it you have to use someone elses.

Honestly I bought the wrong top off system I should have got the hydrofill..

The hydor works fine but if you have a small area where one cup of water is added to the tank and raises the water level enough it can set this off and it beeps and drives you nuts, then you get up and shut it off and guess what You forget to turn it back on.. They need a reset button on the thing instead. I have a small are for my ato to measure because I dont like huge fluctuations in salinity.