Red Sea Reefer 350 ATO issue

[lterna]

hello all,

It appears that the stock ATO that Red Sea provides with their tank has failed. (seems like a right of passage with a red sea tank as there are many posts about it on R2R) Anyway, when I woke up, I found that the area of the sump with the return pump had run dry and the return pump was just blowing bubbles. I took apart the entire ATO system, cleaned out the tubing, checked the float valve and the little needle valve- no blockage.

After putting it together, for some reason there is still no water coming out of the ATO. I have resorted to drawing a line with a marker to see how much water has evaporated and then just topping it off myself. Obviously, these slight salinity swings are not ideal, and I'm sure quite stressful on my tank inhabitants. The tank has only been running for 4 months. Haven't been dosing anything and only use RODI water.

Some people have recommended just removing the little needle valve that controls the drip and just plugging the tube straight from the ATO to the float valve. My concern is: will doing this just cause the ATO water to flow uncontrollably and crash the salinity? I know the float valve is what controls how much water is added, and I haven't adjusted the float valve from the factory setting as it was working completely fine until now. Anyone have thoughts on this? Will removing the little needle valve solve the issue?

 

[AcanthurusRex]

It's gravity-fed. It uses a float valve which kinda never fail; they just get dirty.
The flow valve is optional. I removed it because when I turned it off I always forget to turn it back on.

 

[lterna]

It's gravity-fed. It uses a float valve which kinda never fail; they just get dirty.
The flow valve is optional. I removed it because when I turned it off I always forget to turn it back on.

Awesome and thank you. So removing the little needle valve could/should (hopefully) resolve the issue? Just tired about always worrying about it.

 

[AcanthurusRex]

Sorry for being a bit terse but I have never understood how these "fail" for people. Even if I put an electronic one on my tank I would leave the float valve in place.
The water container size is a different issue; they do need filling 2-3 times a week.

 

[lterna]

Sorry for being a bit terse but I have never understood how these "fail" for people. Even if I put an electronic one on my tank I would leave the float valve in place.
The water container size is a different issue; they do need filling 2-3 times a week.

no worries, i don't understand how they fail either. i am good about refilling my ATO, but for some reason it just stopped dripping as water evaporated. i removed the little needle valve for now and will keep an eye on it. kept the float valve in place on factory setting. thanks for the help

 

[New&no clue]

no worries, i don't understand how they fail either. i am good about refilling my ATO, but for some reason it just stopped dripping as water evaporated. i removed the little needle valve for now and will keep an eye on it. kept the float valve in place on factory setting. thanks for the help

having the same issue with mine, came home tonight to the return chamber dry and the ATO halfway full. Just checking to see how yours was doing and if the problem has been solved, or if you had any other tips?

 

[lterna]

having the same issue with mine, came home tonight to the return chamber dry and the ATO halfway full. Just checking to see how yours was doing and if the problem has been solved, or if you had any other tips?

Mine seems to be fixed. I ended up taking apart the ATO system. After seeing there were no blocks or anything on the tubing, the only thing I could think of was the float valve. I guess that commonly the joint can loosen and the float will start to hang lower. The thing that ended up working for me was just adjusting the joint so that float valve sits up higher in the water, close to a right angle. Then I just tightened the joint to try to prevent it from happening again. Hope it helps.

 

[Beechbouy]

Sorry for being a bit terse but I have never understood how these "fail" for people. Even if I put an electronic one on my tank I would leave the float valve in place.
The water container size is a different issue; they do need filling 2-3 times a week.

I can tell you how mine failed on my Rea Sea Reefer 250...it sticks when it closes.