Sad day in America....

[Afrashz]

so a few months ago my ato crapped out and I bought a new one, one with 2 float switches. Since replacing it I’ve had 2 issues with it over flowing...not sure what’s going on. Could be user error but I don’t think so.
Went ahead and bit the bullet and bought the osmolater 3155, hopefully this is more accurate and causes me less of a headache. Last night I went to bed and woke up this morning to my ato bucked almost empty after about 2 gallons of freshwater got dumped in my tank lowering the salinity from 1.025 to 1.024. Second time this has happened in a week. I’m sad. Oh well, only up from here, salinity that is.....

 

[Thaxxx]

Is your ATO water level higher than the height of the exit tubing?

 

[Afrashz]

Is your ATO water level higher than the height of the exit tubing?

No, I thought about the siphon but that wasn’t it

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

what chamber do you have the sensor/ float in? I keep mine in the return chamber, there is less water movement in that chamber. maybe you have it somewhere where there is too much water movement triggering the sensor? do you have a siphon break on your line?

 

[Afrashz]

what chamber do you have the sensor/ float in? I keep mine in the return chamber, there is less water movement in that chamber. maybe you have it somewhere where there is too much water movement triggering the sensor? do you have a siphon break on your line?

I also keep mine in the return chamber, and yes I have a siphon break also. I’m curious if the magnets that hold the floats in place are causing issues

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

I also keep mine in the return chamber, and yes I have a siphon break also. I’m curious if the magnets that hold the floats in place are causing issues

I can't see how they would. I don't know too much about the Tunze system, but I have been using the Autoaqua one for a while and I love it! when I had it in my 29g display I would have issues with snails climbing on it and it would overrun. but it has a timed safety built in. now that I have it in my sump on the 75g, I don't have any issues. just bought another one for our frag tank build....

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I also keep mine in the return chamber, and yes I have a siphon break also. I’m curious if the magnets that hold the floats in place are causing issues

Are you using the tunze yet?
You can set it to have max run times and slower pump speeds.

 

[Afrashz]

Are you using the tunze yet?
You can set it to have max run times and slower pump speeds.

What do you suggest I do slowest rate?

 

[Afrashz]

It should be noted that on Veterans Day I should not be complaining about such unimportant things like an ato failure. Thank you to all out vets out there!!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Yup

What do you suggest I do slowest rate?

 

[Afrashz]

Yup

Okay, I’m confused though. The 10
Minute timer seems like a super long time for the ato to operate, I feel like it could still dump a full 5 g bucket in that time

 

[Afrashz]

Yup

What do ya think ^^

 

[DaddyFish]

I also keep mine in the return chamber, and yes I have a siphon break also. I’m curious if the magnets that hold the floats in place are causing issues

Any chance you're running a DC return pump and have the sensor in close proximity? Motors make larger magnetic fields than you think, especially coreless DC and even permanent magnet DC.

 

[Joe's Coral Reef]

Okay, I’m confused though. The 10
Minute timer seems like a super long time for the ato to operate, I feel like it could still dump a full 5 g bucket in that time

You can open up the unit and on the right side is a potentiometer that says dosing power. You can turn this down. It will still run 10 minutes but will run the pump at a slower rate.

 

[Afrashz]

Any chance you're running a DC return pump and have the sensor in close proximity? Motors make larger magnetic fields than you think, especially coreless DC and even permanent magnet DC.

No it wasn’t close at all

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Since the pump will be much slower, you should be fine.

 

[Uncle99]

Amazon, Multi-Timer, $20, can be programmed to the second.
Mine turns on every 2 hours, for 60 seconds, hasn’t missed a beat.
Practically anything can be automated in terms of “on” “off”
Along with ATO sensors, cannot fail.

 

[Afrashz]

Amazon, Multi-Timer, $20, can be programmed to the second.
Mine turns on every 2 hours, for 60 seconds, hasn’t missed a beat.
Practically anything can be automated in terms of “on” “off”
Along with ATO sensors, cannot fail.

Got the link for the exact one you use? This wouldn’t have an effect on a ato that uses an optical sensor would it?

 

[Uncle99]

Multi Function Programmable Timer...

No effect, is an enhancement on the optical.
In my case, every two hours I need about 30-45 seconds to fill to optical, the timer just keeps the power on for one minute.

So if optical fails (and they do) the tank will receive no more than 15 seconds water every two hours.

I could make that tighter if I needed to.

 

[Scratch08]

I think its only a 10 second run, not 10 minutes. I have the tunze and it never misses a beat...unless I forget to turn it on. Also, are you using the high level float? It should alarm you if the level in your sump gets too high...such as when its draining your rodi bucket.