Bestest ATO out there: give me opinions, help me not build one

[richiev]

My Reefer 500 has the standard red sea gravity ATO. It takes up a lot of sump space, but I've always liked the concept and considered it very safe. Worst case scenario, a couple gallons get added, slowly because of the drip rate.

Generally I've had a separate, electronic, reef-pi controller managed, ATO pull from a secondary reservoir and refill the gravity one, a couple times a week. On a timer so if that completely failed, it would at max dump a controlled amount of water in as well.

Secondary reservoir
---electric ATO---> Primary reservoir
---gravity---> mechanical float valve
---> tank

I recently, finally, drilled a hole in my external wall and put a larger ATO reservoir out there. I ran some long tubing and a really long DC line, so I could have my reef-pin controller continue acting as the secondary->primary filler.

Recently I've started running into issues. First, the 12v DC pump i was using because I messed with something and ran it dry. I got a replacement, but it was too cheap and weak and couldn't handle the head pressure. I bought another, and it can.

Second, my tank that last couple days has been incredibly over filled. I finally tracked down why and it's the line between the primary->float somehow developed a hole and is slowly, constantly, leaking.

Third, I had some electronic issues, and need to redo my electronic ATO setup because the sensor went bad.

Anyway, I'm currently running a bunch of fans on my tank to evaporate and get my salinity back in check, but this has me rethinking everything.

The easiest thing to do would be use a single ATO pumping from the external reservoir (20 gallons) into the sump. I then could get rid of the under tank reservoir, giving me a lot more room to clean up my sump equipment placement.

However having 20 gallons directly connected to my aquarium freaks me out.

So question: how do people do this in a very safe, robust, fault tolerant, manner?

If I was to diy this I'd use the 12V pump, connect to an electronic eye in the tank, have a mechanical electronic float cutting power to the pump if the water gets to high, have a maximum run time in which case it'd shut down, have it shut down if over a longer period (an hour) it in total ran to long, and have it alert me when any of those happens. Finally have it be resettable remotely.

Am I over thinking this, and is there just a close enough version I can use out there? I don't want to buy into an apex/hydros ecosystem right now, since that'd be a big investment. If needed I can diy extend cables if there's an existing device that works.

 

[psidriven]

sounds like you made a tunze ato.

you got 3 electronic layers. if you're not using a high pressure or persitalic pump, I'd replace one or just add a mechanical float valve. my buddy swears by them.

 

[wazzupmac]

Can’t say enough about the Red Sea ReefATO. As long as it stays connected to internet it hasn’t had an issue once. I’ve had the reservoir run dry, etc. it alerts you to just about anything that can go wrong. It will work without the WiFi - WiFi just gives you the quick status check if you need it.

 

[Srt4eric]

However having 20 gallons directly connected to my aquarium freaks me out.

I had 65 gallons attached to mine and it wiped everything out...

 

[richiev]

sounds like you made a tunze ato.

you got 3 electronic layers. if you're not using a high pressure or persitalic pump, I'd replace one or just add a mechanical float valve. my buddy swears by them.

Looking at it, I do think the tunze is pretty close to what I'm describing, with the networked pieces. I feel like for the price, one might as well buy a used full controller + ATO though? I guess with the used asterisk one could also try and find a used tunze...

I had 65 gallons attached to mine and it wiped everything out...

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. What were you using?

Can’t say enough about the Red Sea ReefATO. As long as it stays connected to internet it hasn’t had an issue once. I’ve had the reservoir run dry, etc. it alerts you to just about anything that can go wrong. It will work without the WiFi - WiFi just gives you the quick status check if you need it.

That "as long as it stays connected" gives me pause . The lack of a secondary fail stop also makes me concerned with it. Though I imagine one fall back could be have the fill hose connect to a mechanical float valve, such as the one installed by default on red sea sumps. Unless the pump is strong enough to push through a float?

 

[wazzupmac]

That "as long as it stays connected" gives me pause . The lack of a secondary fail stop also makes me concerned with it. Though I imagine one fall back could be have the fill hose connect to a mechanical float valve, such as the one installed by default on red sea sumps. Unless the pump is strong enough to push through a float?

If the sensor fails it shuts off and that sensor has a back up and a leak sensor that will also shut it off. “As long as it stays connected” is more about being able to monitor it. The WiFi is just for controlling it remotely. It lets me know if the reservoir is low. I use a 20G reef can but I also have a large (S850) tank and sumps that theoretically can handle an excess of 20 G which wouldn’t destroy my salinity. The app takes into consideration the input and output tube length to minimize the chance of overfill -it knows how much water it’s putting in even if sensor is stuck and shuts off after a designated amount or time.

A float switch in the sump could turn off the outlet for the ato or a salinity monitor (on my apex) would also do the trick.

I’ve had a tunze fail on a smaller tank - all was lost and the garage had an excess 5g of water on the floor.

 

[richiev]

If the sensor fails it shuts off and that sensor has a back up and a leak sensor that will also shut it off. “As long as it stays connected” is more about being able to monitor it. The WiFi is just for controlling it remotely. It lets me know if the reservoir is low. I use a 20G reef can but I also have a large (S850) tank and sumps that theoretically can handle an excess of 20 G which wouldn’t destroy my salinity. The app takes into consideration the input and output tube length to minimize the chance of overfill -it knows how much water it’s putting in even if sensor is stuck and shuts off after a designated amount or time.

A float switch in the sump could turn off the outlet for the ato or a salinity monitor (on my apex) would also do the trick.

I’ve had a tunze fail on a smaller tank - all was lost and the garage had an excess 5g of water on the floor.

Seems like the only complication then would be I need to build a very extended power line for the pump, rest should work.

I'll mull this route over, thanks.

 

[richiev]

Seems like the only complication then would be I need to build a very extended power line for the pump, rest should work.

I'll mull this route over, thanks.

Ah F it, I can see how this would work and it basically checks every box for me. Triple bonus points that I can just buy the cheaper upgrade kit version and it'll drop in replace in the sump. Luckily I have some BRS credit saved up, so I'm going to think about it until tomorrow then buy this one.

I also use a reef wave gyre so I'm in that ecosystem already.