Newbie Questions

[michael151722]

Problem is I am a student on a budget and I don't have a sump so how should I put my ATO in if I have a hood on my tank or is it possible to put it in with the hood

Thanks

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by michael151722

Problem is I am a student on a budget and I don't have a sump so how should I put my ATO in if I have a hood on my tank or is it possible to put it in with the hood

Thanks

I'd be more concerned with where you're going to put the protein skimmer and heaters and filter socks and media reactors and stuff I'd get a sump!

[michael151722]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I'd be more concerned with where you're going to put the protein skimmer and heaters and filter socks and media reactors and stuff I'd get a sump!

I would probably upgrade later but as of now i have a place to put the things i need just don't know how to put in my ATO

Michael

[mike31154]

I've been running sumpless for years, since day one. Someday...... perhaps..... I'll also have a sump, basement is the plan. In the meantime, my ATO is fairly simple with a minimum of electrics, lots of clutter around the tank though without sump, the industrial look is where it's at! 7 gallon glass winemaking carboy on a stand next to the display. An air pump on a timer pressurizes the carboy via tubing through rubber stopper. Rigid tube to bottom of carboy (also through stopper) feeds fresh water through a mechanical furnace humidifier float valve into the tank.

Some dated photos to illustrate, I shortened the mechanical float valve by one or two chambers to reduce the footprint in the display. This has worked for me with minimum hassles for many years. Relatively fail safe since the top off is a mere trickle & there's just sufficient air pressure in the carboy to keep the water moving on demand. If you keep the top off container smaller, there's even less chance of a flood. The 7 gallons keeps my 77 gallon tank topped off for 7 days.... lucky 7!

There's also a gravity feed variation of this scenario. If you can mount the top off container above the display, all you need is the mechanical valve & some tubing.

Carboy containing DI water & tubing. Sometimes I mix Kalk or Alk into the top off water.


Mechanical float valve. Not sure how you can work your hood around this, but I don't really see that you have another option other than drilling your tank.

[Coasting]

Some skimmers have a little port in the bottom of the cup you can attach tubing to so its drains into another bucket or something. Perhaps you can alter yours to be like that? My vertex 150 has it.

[mike31154]

Yes, drain adapter for the cup routed to a bucket. I have a 2 liter pop bottle inside an IO salt bucket to collect skimmate. The plastic bottle cap has one hole drilled into it to accept the vinyl tube & a few smaller ones to vent any pressure that could build up. The bucket is my secondary fail safe, I've had a few occasions where the skimmer overflowed & the pop bottle was insufficient to hold the fluid, bucket saved my butt. But I also agree with others that leaving a tank totally unattended for weeks is inviting disaster.

Another old industrial look photo featuring my wooden air diffuser driven skimmer. Situated on a little stand attached to the display stand. Don't recall whether it had the drain adapter already or if I added it. The skimmer came with the tank. Here's a photo of it labeled as to various functions including drain.

[michael151722]

hello everyone, thanks for all the reply i am not leaving the tank entirely unattended for three weeks, i will have a friend to check on it. The thing is i just want to know if i can turn the skimmer off for the two weeks or maybe put it to run on a timer for like 10 hours a day

Thanks

[michael151722]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Yes, drain adapter for the cup routed to a bucket. I have a 2 liter pop bottle inside an IO salt bucket to collect skimmate. The plastic bottle cap has one hole drilled into it to accept the vinyl tube & a few smaller ones to vent any pressure that could build up. The bucket is my secondary fail safe, I've had a few occasions where the skimmer overflowed & the pop bottle was insufficient to hold the fluid, bucket saved my butt. But I also agree with others that leaving a tank totally unattended for weeks is inviting disaster.

Another old industrial look photo featuring my wooden air diffuser driven skimmer. Situated on a little stand attached to the display stand. Don't recall whether it had the drain adapter already or if I added it. The skimmer came with the tank. Here's a photo of it labeled as to various functions including drain.

hello this is really useful, do you guys know if they have it on HOB Reef Octopus Skimmer 100