ATO suggestions
 

I am going to be purchasing an ATO soon for my 180G and was hoping for some suggestions. I have read good things on the tunze, are there any other good ones out there?

I have an Avast Marine, it's worked great for the last year.

I have a Hydor Smart Level and have found it very reliable. I'll freely admit it's my first-ever ATO, though :mrgreen:

Same here, I've been running mine a WHOLE 3 WEEKS lol, no complaints yet.

Had been using a Tunze nano ATO with no problems, easy to set up.

Now bought a Tunze Osmolator full size, waiting to put on my new tank. Should be a breeze too.

I use a tunze. Its ok. If water level increases an alarm goes off which is really annoying. So if you shut your return pump off to feed the tank you have to shut off the ato so the alarm doesnt go off. I'm probably going try something else soon. The other thing is I've had a red low alarm for no apparent reason too. Only happed a couple times but thought I'd mention it.

Hydor lover here.

Two float switches and a maxi jet pump turned my Apex into an ATO a few years ago after my old Tunze started acting up. I think I got 6 good years out of the Tunze, I just didn't feel like forking out the cash for a new one when I already had the controller.

Thanks everyone for the ideas. The avast is probably off my list as they are out of stock on some items.

Questions for all those who use hydor, what pumps are you running with it?

And thanks for the feed back regarding the tunze. Lol hmmm decisions decisions....

Lol I would love to do that, Santa must of forgot to leave an apex for me this year.

Tom Aqualifter. Whatever you use, it has to be a pretty small pump. Otherwise it does stupid stuff.

I'm using a Rio 600 and its too big. Had to add a ball valve on the output of the hose.

I've got the hydor as well, and my only complaint is the overflow sensor is to close to the off sensor. I had a hard time getting it to fill without turning the alarm on. The pump that was recommended was way to small. It had a hard time pumping the water only a few feet, and was also affected by the water level in my reservoir. It pumped to much water when the reservior was full, and struggled to pump anything when it was less then half. I would recommend a dosing pump, or diaphragm pump. I ended up buying a innovative marine hYdrofill ato pump. It's quiet and works flawlessly.

Here is a pic of the ATO in action. The minimum run time is 20 seconds so I've had to slow the pump action with a TLF 1/2" ball valve, as I mentioned.
If it fills too fast the water level will rise and alarm will sound (annoying), not to mention messing up your salinity.
I have also noticed that the sensor needs to be cleaned of salt creep once a week. I use a Q-Tip.
Overall it seems like a good system, so far.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7366/...ca8050c8_z.jpg

Well I decided I would get the hydor and give it a try along with a eheim compact 300. Should have it by next weekend lol. Thanks for the advice and the tips.

Let me know how you like the Hydor.. I was going to buy that one then ended up making my own DIY Arduino Auto top off with optical sensor Its a similair idea to Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

$40 aquahub DIY ato from BRS and any little pump $15-20 is what I use works perfect.

Plumbed directly into my RO unit, never needs filling :)

That's a nice feature. I was going to automate water changes but I'm setting up the new tank in the living room. It would be along way to fish wires Defiantly a nice way to go though!

I went through a wall and used some baseboard conduit. Haven't topped up my tank in 5 years.

Im using the Tunze ato and never had any problems with it. I flipped over the floater sensor and polaced it at the bottom of my top off tank. It will go off when the water gets down to about an inch so I know I need to change it.

Got anything in place to prevent failure?

That's a disaster waiting to happen. :twised:

Well I finally got around to making room under my stand for the ato reservoir. Today I got the hydor ato with an eheim compact 600 pump installed and so far I love it!

I'm around 9 years with a float valve on the rodi, still waiting.