ato or no ato

[banditpowdercoat]

I made a ATO with some parts form ebay. A couple float switches, and an Omron timer H3CR and wiring base. I acctually had the timer, but the float switches cost me $2 ea I think. I have a 20g rubbermaid garbage pail that I house the RO/DI water. The ATO circut runs a little pump in the bucket that keeps the sump full. Cheap, easy and reliable.

I can help ya make one if needed

[tgoeujon]

bandit i think i may take you up on that offer sometime in the not so distant future

[lorenz0]

i picked mine up just because i was getting sick of filling up the tank every day. it actually was a pain in the ass. when you forget to fill up one day cause your tired it comes and kicks you in the butt with a pump beathing in air

[wolf_bluejay]

I ran for years without an ato. Then I finally put on it, it was a "kit" for about $40.

Just a few float switches, a relay, power supply. Just add a small pump like the aqualifter. The kit came with directions, and they are pretty easy to do if you are not very handy with electronics.

As i have had a little flood that the wife didn't like very much, I went a little nuts. I have a fresh water tank that gets topped off with a manual valve and a float switch in case i forget. From there, if the level in the sump tgets low, it turns on the pump and adds water from the top off tank. I have an extra switch in the sump for "saftey sake" and one in the topoff tank so as to not run the pump dry.


Over all it was under $80 buck for everything, and took about 1 hour to setup (except for the custom topoff tank). And the best thing I have ever added to the tank. Now, I just top up the tank once every 2 weeks, and it keeps it perfect.
If you're in kamloops. feel free to poke around at how it is setup. I can even give you the pretty picture directions that it came with.... They do have a few nice photos that make it all make sense.

[phillybean]

I have a very simple set up that works great for me.

I have a 20 gallon brute with Kalk. I drilled a hole in the lid and ran a 1/4" Hose to the sump. I then added a 1/4" valve and set my drip rate. I left for a week and never had an problems with it.

Since Kalk is my main Calcium additive, I didn't want to go with a Aqualifter due to the Kalk plugging them up. A Maxi-Jet is another option I could have gone with, however I was worried it would add too much at once and mess up my pH.

I check the drip daily with my other daily maintence (feed, dose Vodka, Sugar, Zeo and check skimmer). Rarely do I need to tweak it.