Would this ATO Resevoir work?? HELP!!

[DesertReefBoy]

i am getting ready to setup my 90 gallon WWC/BRS hybrid tank and I’m trying to figure out where to put the ATO Resevoir? Under the tank I have a sump and Ca reactor. Once this is all installed there isn’t going to be room for a ATO Resevoir.

Two options that had been brought up in discussion.

1.) 5 gallon gravity fed acrylic box ATO above the sump. I’m guessing I would frame in a drawer above the sump and it would slide in out when needed with a simple float valve in the sump.

2.) The picture below using a glass flower vase with a ATO pump at the bottom. I would use plastic liner around the decorations so the plants don’t touch the water.

Thoughts.

The stand I have

And the glass vase Resevoir.

 

[User]

What about a smaller cabinet to hide the reservoir in, a d double as a table for food while feeding or tools while cleaning. Maybe something sized for a 5 gallon bucket and made to look like the tank cabinet

The vase idea is a good one until the mother in law decides the plants need a top up with tap water...

 

[DesertReefBoy]

What about a smaller cabinet to hide the reservoir in, a d double as a table for food while feeding or tools while cleaning. Maybe something sized for a 5 gallon bucket and made to look like the tank cabinet

The vase idea is a good one until the mother in law decides the plants need a top up with tap water...

I have thought about a table or something similar. Problem is I would want the top to be matching granite since the tank is near the kitchen. I don’t know how hard it would be to match granite.
The mother in law lives 4 states away so she isn’t around much

 

[KrisReef]

I have my res outside where it is easy to top off. It's not in a cabinet, but whereever you put it access for filling is an issue.

Great location on the m-i-l! I commend you on that!

 

[User]

>> mil is 4 states away

@life goals


Mine was opposite sides of the country to start, then we got progressively closer. She’s an hour away now.

 

[DesertReefBoy]

I have my res outside where it is easy to top off. It's not in a cabinet, but whereever you put it access for filling is an issue.

Great location on the m-i-l! I commend you on that!

My last tank I used a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket next to my tank and my wife hated it. Just trying to get more creative.

 

[DesertReefBoy]

>> mil is 4 states away

@life goals


Mine was opposite sides of the country to start, then we got progressively closer. She’s an hour away now.

Haha. It is nice.

 

[User]

I think you’d want to keep the height in the stand for skimmer etc access.

A granite professional could match it for you, and if you went with something big enough to hide a 5 gal or even a 23 gallon slim Jim, it’s only going to be a couple of square feet. I’d make a rolling base for it, or hard plumb it with 1/4” line to your rodi , for easy refilling

 

[mmw64]

i am getting ready to setup my 90 gallon WWC/BRS hybrid tank and I’m trying to figure out where to put the ATO Resevoir? Under the tank I have a sump and Ca reactor. Once this is all installed there isn’t going to be room for a ATO Resevoir.

Two options that had been brought up in discussion.

1.) 5 gallon gravity fed acrylic box ATO above the sump. I’m guessing I would frame in a drawer above the sump and it would slide in out when needed with a simple float valve in the sump.

2.) The picture below using a glass flower vase with a ATO pump at the bottom. I would use plastic liner around the decorations so the plants don’t touch the water.

Thoughts.

The stand I have

And the glass vase Resevoir.

I like the glass vase, depending on how often you would have to refill.

 

[garbled]

I really like the vase thing, my only concerns would be:

1) Children or parents or house sitters might do the wrong thing.
2) It looks a little tippy, so, be aware of show easy it might be to potentially spill it with water in there. Maybe you could fashion some wooden pegs in the wall that kind of hold it in place so you don't knock into it and spill water everywhere.
3) If you put sticks or whatever in there, they need to be non-dissolvable reef safe etc etc

 

[JoshH]

How big is your budget? One idea a played around with with my last build was a custom ATO box that slipped behind the stand. If you have an external overflow you have 3-4" of space between the wall and your cabinet to play with. A slim reservoir would slide in behind easily you could even sit it on a shelf with a face to match the cabinet that slides out when you need to refill it. Lots of fun creative ways to go about hiding an ATO

 

[DesertReefBoy]

I really like the vase thing, my only concerns would be:

1) Children or parents or house sitters might do the wrong thing.
2) It looks a little tippy, so, be aware of show easy it might be to potentially spill it with water in there. Maybe you could fashion some wooden pegs in the wall that kind of hold it in place so you don't knock into it and spill water everywhere.
3) If you put sticks or whatever in there, they need to be non-dissolvable reef safe etc etc

There definitely is potential of kids putting something in the top. I would need to find a way to secure the vase so it wouldn’t get knocked over. I was thinking about finding some kind of plastic sleeve to put the decorative flowers sticks into then place the whole thing on the vase.

 

[DesertReefBoy]

How big is your budget? One idea a played around with with my last build was a custom ATO box that slipped behind the stand. If you have an external overflow you have 3-4" of space between the wall and your cabinet to play with. A slim reservoir would slide in behind easily you could even sit it on a shelf with a face to match the cabinet that slides out when you need to refill it. Lots of fun creative ways to go about hiding an ATO

A nice vase will cost $50-$100. I like the idea of a nice acrylic ATO box behind the tank. The tank will be drilled and should have 3-4” so that might work.

 

[DesertReefBoy]

I like the glass vase, depending on how often you would have to refill.

I figure if I could find a large enough vase to hold 4-5 gallons then it should last 5 days or so.

 

[JoshH]

A nice vase will cost $50-$100. I like the idea of a nice acrylic ATO box behind the tank. The tank will be drilled and should have 3-4” so that might work.

A 4" W x 12" D x 24" H will hold around 4.75 Gallons FWIW

Same dimensions but 18" deep would hold around 7.25 Gallons

 

[DesertReefBoy]

A 4" W x 12" D x 24" H will hold around 4.75 Gallons FWIW

Same dimensions but 18" deep would hold around 7.25 Gallons

Sweet. Thank you!!

 

[Tastee]

I use the stock Red Sea Reefer ATO (8l/2.1g) which is gravity fed into the sump using a simple float valve. I like this as it is a continuous trickle feed that maintains salinity stability perfectly.

I use a Neptune ATK however to keep the RSR ATO full from a remote RODI reservoir so I never have to refill it - the reservoir is connected to my RODI station so I just run it every 2-3 weeks to refill the reservoir. I like all the redundancy of the ATK to avoid the risk of overfilling the ATO and flooding my house. I only refill the ATO once a day which hopefully will extend the life of the PMUP which don’t seem to have a good reputation.

Finally I use a low level optical sensor in my sump to detect if the gravity fed ATO stops working - the float valve is prone to gumming up if not cleaned every month or so.

I have had this system up and running for 6 months now and so far so good.

 

[DesertReefBoy]

I use the stock Red Sea Reefer ATO (8l/2.1g) which is gravity fed into the sump using a simple float valve. I like this as it is a continuous trickle feed that maintains salinity stability perfectly.

I use a Neptune ATK however to keep the RSR ATO full from a remote RODI reservoir so I never have to refill it - the reservoir is connected to my RODI station so I just run it every 2-3 weeks to refill the reservoir. I like all the redundancy of the ATK to avoid the risk of overfilling the ATO and flooding my house. I only refill the ATO once a day which hopefully will extend the life of the PMUP which don’t seem to have a good reputation.

Finally I use a low level optical sensor in my sump to detect if the gravity fed ATO stops working - the float valve is prone to gumming up if not cleaned every month or so.

I have had this system up and running for 6 months now and so far so good.

Do you have pictures?

 

[Tastee]

Sure.

 

[DesertReefBoy]

Sure.

Wow that is way nice!! I like the ATO setup