Auto Top Off recommendations

[Altohombre]

looking for some that you have used and work well.

[reeffreak]

I'm using a Reef Fanatic ATO for the last 10 months,never gave me a problem.Actually,saved from from alot of hard work....around $90 for the contoller/float switches.You will still need a aqualifter pump and airline tubing...add $10-15 more.Those JBJ are suppose to be good ATO units as well.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...ry_Code=Dosers

[Bifferwine]

Can't really be much help here, I'm afraid. I built my own out of $15 in parts from Ace Hardware, just a gravity ATO.

[Piggy]

I have the same one as Reef. It's been a lifesaver not having to top off the tank. Bet thing I ever bought for my tank. Should of done it from the start.

[fatman]

Tunze puts out the best level sensor arrangement, but provides a poor, cheap pump. Aqua Medic Niveaumat provides the best pump, but just uses two standard low watt floats, one to activate the pump, and a second as a safety to shut off the pumps if the first float gets dtuck in the fill position. The best set up pof course would be expensive, buy a Tunze and throw away the pump and replace it with aperistalic pump by Aqua medic. That would mean a $265 ATO system though. Of course there is the Liter Meter which supplies a peristaltic pump, and a seperate Top-off control module for only $395 dollars. It ll depends on what you want to spend. I use the Aqua Medic Niveaumat at $129. Thirty dollars more than the Reef Fanatic with the cheap pump, but I get a fairly high quality peristaltic pump.

[cgoodman381]

Originally Posted by Bifferwine

Can't really be much help here, I'm afraid. I built my own out of $15 in parts from Ace Hardware, just a gravity ATO.

did you just build one or can you give us a link to some instructions online?

[Altohombre]

yea biff, don't hold out on the secrets.

[Bifferwine]

Built it, used a plastic toilet float valve, hooked up to 1/4 inch tubing, that is hooked up to the reservoir, which is placed higher than the sump. When the water level drops, the float valve opens up, and water flows out. When the water level gets to where it's supposed to be, the float valve remains closed.

[fatman]

Your not kidding either, are you? Toilet valves stuck all around the country and running constantly and your using one as a float system for ATO on a reef tank. That is a strange thing to be putting ones faith in. I hope your ATO water reservoir is at least only a days worth of water, and not a full 32 gallon trash can. I do not think I have in years owned any fish or coral worth as little as what that float system cost. What site came up with and/or posted that idea? And I was feeling foolish about being so cheap as to not use a Tunze control/sensor system and an Aqua Medic pump that would only cost $40 more than I am already spending on an ATO. $15, no thanks, I could definitely not live with that, or recommend it to anyone. Actually, I do not think I could even bring myself to admit to the use of something like that. But I am known for spending a lot of money on my tanks and occasionally probably spend excessively and compulsively, so I guess if somebody wants to go to the opposite extreme that is their prerogative.

[Bifferwine]

My ATO reservoir is only 12 gallons. And the toilet float has been in place since September and has worked just fine. The toilet float valve has worked just fine for me without a problem, and has cost hundreds less than other ATOs. The volume of my tank is so large that if the float stuck, it would barely make a dent in my salinity. I am at home every day, so if something was wrong or broken, I'd notice, but I have gone out of town and left it before, and it was fine. I do want to increase the size of my ATO reservoir, but don't have the space right now.

I don't have a lot of money, and I don't spend a lot on corals or fish either. All of my corals have started out as very small colonies (LPS I've bought usually only have one or two heads), and all my SPS have started out as frags that cost less than $10 apiece. In the last 3 months, I've spent money on one fish (Jill the vlamingi) and everything else I've gotten has been through trades at the LFS or trades at frag swaps. I don't have a lot of money, so I run my tank using what I can afford. It may not be the best way, and it's definitely not the only way, but it is a way, and it works.

I may not do things your way Fatman, but my way works too, and I'm not ashamed, as you say, to suggest ways other than yours.