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[alaska clowns]

Can an ATO be as simple as this............... a bucket of RO water sitting higher than the sump with a drain hose coming out of it, attached to a float valve in the sump? Thanks!

 

[jbax]

yep. you can make it yourself or buy it at the fish store.

 

[alaska clowns]

Thank you! I was looking at them on DFS and the $99 ato controller said that you didn't need to worry about float valve failure... so I didn't know if float valve failure was common or not, but I wanted to try to do something a little less expensive than the ato controller, as long as it wasn't doomed to failure.

 

[jbax]

don't crack your sump and your good. and just make sure salt creep doesn't effect the hing of the float.

 

[LJA]

Do yourself a favor and put the bucket below your sump so the water has to "climb" up through the hose, if not you might start a siphon and empty the entire bucket into your sump.

 

[jbax]

the float valve shuts off the ato water. that kind of setup is based on gravity if the bucket is below the sump how will the ato water go up the tube. how will the saltwater go up the ato hose? there's no pumps involved. same idea as the float valve of a toilet.

 

[Popeye]

That setup will work fine. I had 2 for years with no problems. I'm assuming you are going to drill the sump to install the float valve.

 

[alaska clowns]

That setup will work fine. I had 2 for years with no problems. I'm assuming you are going to drill the sump to install the float valve.

Hmmmm....I hadn't thought about drilling the sump. The float valve that I was looking at on DFS for under $30 looked like it was hung on and tightened to the glass with nylon screws.... but maybe there's something I'm not taking into account....

 

[rbnice1]

You dont have to drill the tank. you can just make a bracket to hold it.

 

[Mike31154]

Great way to go IMO. No electrics required so that's actually one less failure mode to worry about. Once you start hooking up wires, pumps & electrics, you end up wanting more than one float switch in case they get stuck or fail. This way, really the only thing to fail is the float valve or you spring a leak somewhere, both of which are fairly unlikely with a little maintenance.

 

[mullinsd2]

Yeah, I have the exact set up you described running on my tank. Bucket next to tank on bookshelf, hose running from near the bottom f thebucket to my float valve. Float valve is connected by a piece of wood I cut and some acrylic. THe entire set up literally cost me 3 dollars; I already had the valve. Works great too. Use a 5 gallon bucket.