ATO

[mike31154]

If you don't have room in the sump for a top off bottle and don't mind having a bottle sitting next to your stand (visible), you can do a variation of the gravity feed. Use an air pump on a timer to pressurize the container and have a feed line to mechanical float switch in your sump. Simple, nothing to burn out really, the air pump doesn't care if it runs a little longer than necessary. Just takes a little experimentation to dial in the timings. I run my air pump a few minutes every few hours and it keeps up nicely. Pretty unlikely to cause any major flooding, only electrical part is the air pump, nothing with wires in the water.

[Wayne]

Originally Posted by mike31154

If you don't have room in the sump for a top off bottle and don't mind having a bottle sitting next to your stand (visible), you can do a variation of the gravity feed. Use an air pump on a timer to pressurize the container and have a feed line to mechanical float switch in your sump. Simple, nothing to burn out really, the air pump doesn't care if it runs a little longer than necessary. Just takes a little experimentation to dial in the timings. I run my air pump a few minutes every few hours and it keeps up nicely. Pretty unlikely to cause any major flooding, only electrical part is the air pump, nothing with wires in the water.

I already have a 13G tank beside my DT right now for top offs. Interesting idea though!

[Wayne]

I am going to be picking up a JBJ ATO unit from a fellow Canreefer but it only has a min and max float switch. I am wondering if its possible to add 2 more switches? 1 for min level in my resevoir and a fail safe switch in sump? Can the Autotopoff.com unit work for this purpose with a mod?

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Wayne

I already have a 13G tank beside my DT right now for top offs. Interesting idea though!

Here are some photos of what I use, a 7 gal wine carboy and mechanical humidifier float switch. As mentioned a small air pump on a digital timer keeps the top off container under positive pressure to provide water through the float switch. Keeps my system nicely topped up for about a week. The container sits on it's own stand, just a little lower than the display. I suppose I could hide it in a wicker basket or something, but just can't be bothered. I don't mind it there and it's easier to change out bottles.

When I do my basement sump I will be using gravity feed, so no air pump required. With regard to the number of electrical float switches on an ATO, there comes a point where complexity outstrips redundancy and you just end up with too many components. If something goes awry, your troubleshooting skills better be good to try and figure out what float switch does what and the consequences of failure of each of them. Just my opinion on that though, I like to keep it as simple as possible.