Considering ATO
 

I am considering purchasing an Auto Top Off.

Just looking to see how many people use them, and if experience was good, or bad.

When I say bad, I have heard of people's ATOs malfunctioning and overfilling, or failing to function at all.

Also, please let me know what you might be using, as it will guide me to purchase one product or another.

Thanks

I have an avast marine ATO. Works great. It has never malfunctioned.

I have a 15 gallon reservoir holding top off water and about 20 gallons of available room in my sump.

And I use an aqualifter pump

Two solenoids in series connected directly to RO unit and controlled by profilux. Profilux can be replaced with timer and float swtich to do the same thing.
Always used similar systems never had issues plus it's actually automatic, I see little difference between filling a sump or a bin...

Which is more reliable.... or should I even ask? Assume its the current system you use?

2 JBJ ATO's on 2 tanks & I will never be without one again.

I'm running one, just got sick of manually topping off. It paid for itself over the summer as my place has a ton of windows and lots of natural sunlight.

I'd recommend the Tunze Osmolator, super simple to install. Just keep the Top Off tube out of the water or use a check valve. I kept mine out of the water just because if you don't it will back-siphon. The instructions don't mention any of that, I had it submerged, so guess what happened to me? Haha!

JBJ ATO also. I would never go without one again either.

two words......Tun Ze.........never plumb a never ending source of fresh water directly to your tank.......dont be lazy and use a reservoir

I won't use anything other than a Tunze Osmolator. Never had any issues with them. I have two that are 3 or 4 years old.

Agreed. 100%

If there is a malfunction the difference is a wet floor vs a potential crash from sudden salinity drop. I know of at least 2 or 3 tanks that have had complete crashes this way. Redundancy is insurance, laziness is risk.

DIY
Couple of eBay floats in series with an aqua lifter.

Malfunction is highly unlikely if even posible. The solenoids fail in off position and even if one fails the second one will prevent failure. Max on time is set with profilux or timer so even if float fails sump will only fill slightly over float. Profilux also has alarm for this case.

How would such a system fail? More likely one would forget to fill reservoir, pump runs dry and fails, tank crash.

Don't mistake laziness with convenience or progress for that matter.

Huh?

I feed my rodi water directly to my sump, but through two floats (similar to yours). One is mounted slightly higher, and if the lower one malfunctions for some reason (not sure how, as they are pretty simple mechanical devices), the other will catch it. Cheap, and foolproof, IMO.

Pressure sensitive activated and have enough extra room in my sump to hold my entire reservoir.

salt creep, snails?

auto top off from an 8gallon reservoir with an autotopoff.com float switch (with emergency cutoff float switch to prevent over filling). Two and a half years with this gadget now and no issues.

The only thing I would change on this system if I could would be a larger reservoir, but I don't have the space for it sadly.

No snails in my sump. Salt creep doesn't have a chance to form, as the water varies enough (with water changes, skimmer cleaning, other fiddling around) and washes it off. Besides, I have the higher back-up one that would kick in.

The 2nd higher float gets exercised regularly too, when I vary the water level, with other stuff I am doing in the sump. Lowering the skimmer water level (to clean it) happens at least once a week, which then raises the sump water level.

And once in a while, I test them, by just pulling the float down with my finger.

When water flows in through the float valve, I can hear it quite clearly (like a fizzing) so easy to keep an eye on it.

a couple peeps have suggested plumbing you ro directly to the sump....


and Steve said that to have to fill a reservoir defeats the purpose of having an ATO......cappice?

JBJ ATO system....comes with 2 sensors for low and high water...no over-fill

This is the one that I purchased. It took Doug from RC a couple of times to convince me.....and I am a die-hard believer now!!! I will not be without one ever again!!.........and I cannot believe why I was without one so long!

One of the most understated, hardest working piece of mechanical gizmo that you can have.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...D=tz-osmolator

+1 Love my Tunze!

JBJ
An ATO is perhaps the single best purchase I have made for my tank (it's between that and my RO/DI filter) ...NO WAY would I ever be without one.

+1
Tunze

Was this a real poll? I don't understand the question

I don't understand how someone can be uncertain whether they are using an ATO :question:

:lol:

Thanks. Appreciate the input.

I used a simple float valve and bucket for a few years. It worked well except then I wanted to start including kalkwasser in my ATO which would cause the valve to plug up all of the time. I would also manually fill the bucket which meant packing about 15 gal of water across the basement each week. To deal with the kalkwasser issue I bought a used Tunze ATO for $50. It lasted for about 5 years until recently the photo eye started to act up. Sometimes it wouldn't start and sometimes it wouldn't stop. Rather than replace it with a new system I recently just added two float switches and a maxi jet to my Apex and programmed it to do the ATO. So far so good so I'll just leave it alone for now.

To cut back on my weekly bucket brigading and for a few other reasons I've got an RO/DI on a solenoid controlled by the Apex to top off a fresh water can three times a week. I recall reading somewhere that its not good for the membrane to run short bursts of water through it so this allows me to run it non stop for a couple of hours at a time. It also means that if something sticks on I won't flood the aquarium with an excessive amount of freshwater.

My first was a JBJ, my second is a Tunze. I like the Tunze better, but I would recommend either depending on your budget.

I've plumbed my RO through a solenoid and float valve with a pressure shutoff. Works great. No hauling jugs, filling reservoirs, etc. My solenoid also fails in off position. Even if my float valve fails, the timer for the solenoid matches the evaporation rate. Best thing I've ever done in the hobby!

Yes. I think I shortened that last one too much. Ha. Ha.

Uncertain if I will.... Lol.

I voted this because i'm using my dosing pump to top off. It's not precise as there is no float valve/sensor to regulate the water at a certain level.

Exactly what he said.
I'd never go without one again.
I have a 30gal top-off tank that I fill only about once a week. Great for going on short holidays.

eshopps
 

I plan on using one of these.

http://www.conceptaquatics.ca/index....o-top-off.html

No solonoids, no pumps, no electricity, just plain physics. I can't see there being anything more reliable, simple and straight forward. Of course you'd want to have it plumbed to a reservoir. I cannot see anyone plumbing an ATO to an endless water supply.

Manual floats are less reliable than electronic. Electronic has endless capabilities for redundancy and safety back-ups. Salt creep alone is enough to keep a manual float from closing.

I've got a Tunze ATO. By far THE BEST investment I've made for my tank.

The JBJ is almost half the cost of the Tunze.

I see both come recommended. Why such a price difference?

The tunze comes with a pump and is a way more reliable system uses a optic sensor, don't cheap out on this we did and lost most of a tank a few years ago.

Look at the avast marine ATO. It uses a pressure sensor. When the water lowers and the pressure is released it tops up until the pressure builds up. No moving parts to get stuck

Hmmm. What was it that went wrong?