ATO Failed open salinity swing help...

D

dodge em

New member
like the title says my ato failed and was putting fresh ro/di water in the tank umm all night so says the basement ceilling anyway. Im down to 1.019/20is in about 12hrs so do i let it sit and bring it back up with mixed top off water like my searching says... searching also says everyone has one flood so here mine!

what should i do about the water under my tank aswell? not looking forward to the 6hr tear down and move But im not looking for mold either...

Im running a mixed reef and assume the the coral and inverts are what im worried about
 
I'd do a waterchange with sw mixed up at 1.026 or 1.027 and top off with 1.026 water until it brings it back up. I wouldn't do it too rapidly as its already been brought down rather fast already. I've heard of people that bring the Sg down quickly for hypo with good results, but they didn't swing it back up quickly like they brought it down like you would want to. This may have worse results than your swing to 1.020. I'd wait for someone with experience on this subject to comment.
 
Pull some water out and put it in a bucket. Add half a cup or so of salt, mix well, and then add it back in. Your not going to hurt anything raising it back up but don't do it all in one step. A lot of people run their tanks at 1.023 so your really not that far off. Just take it slow and worry about the water under the tank. Don't tear it down get a strong fan on it. If its humid get a good size dehumidifier.

Check out autotopoff.com
The dual float is a great ato.
 
I keep my tank at 1.024-1.025 because when I used to buy pre-mixed saltwater from the LFS that's what they kept theirs at and I figured it would be best to just keep it that way. I have been thinking about bumping it up to 1.026 though. I kind of like keeping it at 1.024-1.025 so when evap happens it doesn't swing up past 1.026 like it probably would if I kept it there. Although since I have 150g of total system volume I don't think it would swing anywhere near .001 just by evap over the course of the day.
 
we have been looking into the auto top off with the saftys. the float got stuck on the return line...

i have been running a torpedo heater in the basement heating the floor (drying) and a fan for the day and the dehumidfyer now upstairs) but im at 45% humidty and thats as low as it goes so im dry and hot... its 33*f out and i have windows open ha im good there, just worried bout the coral.

im topping off with high sg water so sloooow and steady unless told other wise

o i keep at 1.025 if that helps
 
A wet/dry shop vac will suck up most of the water if you are thorough and use a lot of elbow grease.
An aqualifter on a timer makes a good dependable and best of all cheap ATO.
Unless you have a calcium reactor I would also recommend using kalkwasser instead of just RO/DI.
 
This is why I will never use an ATO, the chance of disaster is just too great. The aqualifter is good and so is a peristaltic pump to replace only what is evapped in a 24 hour period. I still prefer a human to keep the tank topped off. ATO=ATD, Auto Tank Disaster, it is a gamble and many get away with it but eventually something in the system will fail. A pressurized top off is just a risk.
 
sirreal63 said:
This is why I will never use an ATO, the chance of disaster is just too great. The aqualifter is good and so is a peristaltic pump to replace only what is evapped in a 24 hour period. I still prefer a human to keep the tank topped off. ATO=ATD, Auto Tank Disaster, it is a gamble and many get away with it but eventually something in the system will fail. A pressurized top off is just a risk.
Click to expand...

I agree. It is actually the thing I hate most about reef keeping, but Its worth not sleeping due to worrying about a flood.

Just make sure you add that high SG water very slowly. Drip it in over like 2 days.
 
If you have or if you get a controller like Apex, do like I did, set the ATO to turn on for only 1 minute per hour. If a snail or something tricks the float valve, then it can only add 1 minutes worth of water (which at my slow pump rate is not too much) even if its stuck all day, by the time you get home, its maybe added like 8hrs worth or 8 minutes. Some of which evaporated during that time. When my disaster a few yrs ago happened, too much ato water, mine dropped down to like 1.007, I was out of the country, so my girl made fast batches of salt water and added it, bringing up to like 1.020 real quickly. Thankfully everything survived, a miracle.
 
would there be any problems with putting something like a basement flood alarm form home cheapo in the sump? its batt operated 9v... seeing as i was home and sleeping... womder about the salt and the probes

Thanks for the info im up tp a whopping 1.021 today im gonna figure out a fail safe but i just dont have alot of rom under the tank. some day the sump will be in the basement some day
 
There are no failsafe's...none, think Challenger Disaster, numerous failsafes all failed. Accidents do happen, it is a way of life and if your ATO is pressure driven (direct from the RO/DI) the chances for catastrophic failure increases.

The alarm is a good idea for when you are home but it too can get clogged by salt creep and splash and fail. I am surprised you are still considering an ATO after a near disaster. There is no better or safer way than manual top off or with limiting the amount of fresh water that can be added to the tank. Anything else is a gamble.

I am not an alarmist but the reality is systems fail. :-)
 
For tanks 75 gallons and under manual top off may be an option but for larger sytems 90 gallons and up most people don't have time to drip two gallons or more every morning.
An ATO is like any other piece of equipment, maintain it and it is unlikely to malfunction.
I have an aqualifter on a timer and it has never malfunctioned but I do have to keep it clean by running hot vinegar water through it about every two weeks.
If you are looking for a totally maintenance free ATO ther is no such thing.
 
Indymann99 said:
I cant imagine going WITHOUT an ATO, HOWEVER, I only have 5Gal in my RO top-off resevour. If the float were to stick it can ONLY dump 5 gal (not enough to drastically affect the SG) AND most important NOT enough to flood.

I do have to fill the ATO every 3-5 days but small price to pay and most important it keeps the SG constant.

my 0.02

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/SumpATO.jpg
Click to expand...
My 0.02 also. Living in Houston, I don't run my AC down low during the day when no one is home, so the air temps go up to about 83 or so. Using evaporation and my PC fans, my system evaporates about 2 gallons a day to keep the tank at 80 degrees. I end up topping off my 5 gal ATO reservoir every couple of days, but at least my salinity stays pretty constant throughout the day. I use a float switch and aqualifter pump, and plan to get a dual switch, but I might add the timer to mine for now. My bigger problem is when I forget to add water and the ATO runs dry. Then I have to catch up with a gallon or so of water to raise the float back up!

The one time my salinity did drop, through no fault of my ATO, it was my hydrometer on a water change, I just added saltwater through my ATO until it got back up to speed.

Good luck on it!
 
I'm going to clean my float valve really good this week when I do my maintenance. Yikes!

For salinity, remember that things can tolerate a much quicker drop in salinity than they can a rise. Just falling to 1.020 is not a really big deal. Sounds like your floors got the worst of it.
 
Same thing happened on my 18 gal nano on saturday. Small snail got into the overflow and lowered the level in the sump enough for the ato to kick in. Came home from party with water spilling over the top of the tank and salinity lower than yours. Pulled out 30% of that dilute water and replaced it with concentrated saltwater over about an hour (while I shop vac'd the carpet and basement) and the salinity was back to normal. Next morning everyone woke up happy, but sore. Well, the fish and corals weren't sore, but I was.

BTW, I still use a collection of old Kent float valves I've had for nearly 14 yrs. Use then in sumps, top off tanks, everywhere and one has never failed me. Still, I only use them to shut off gravity fed water, and never ever hookup a topoff to an infinite water supply.
 
I have a kent float valve that is not submerged in my sump. It comes strait from the ro.

I have my dual ATO.com switches plugged into my rk2. It cycles power on 4 times a day.

I have dual solenoids on the output of the RO. They are plugged into the ATO switches.

If the main switch fails, the second switch fails, the first solenoid fails, and the backup solenoid fails the kent float should stop it before I get in trouble.

If that doesn't stop it I have a water bug taped to the side of my sump. It will sound a fire alarm like siren about 2 hours before a flood.
 
Indymann99 said:
I cant imagine going WITHOUT an ATO, HOWEVER, I only have 5Gal in my RO top-off resevour. If the float were to stick it can ONLY dump 5 gal (not enough to drastically affect the SG) AND most important NOT enough to flood.

I do have to fill the ATO every 3-5 days but small price to pay and most important it keeps the SG constant.

my 0.02

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/SumpATO.jpg
Click to expand...

agreed - only use a 5G bucket for my ATO and usually only keep about 3 to 4 gallons max in it. Will last me a week before having to refill.

But i only have a 72g system and the bigger systems obviously need bigger reservoirs.
 
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