Confused about evaporation rate. PLEASE HELP!

[RogueGrown]

So I have a buddy who bought an osmalator nano for his system. It's a 40 breeder with a 20 sump that has plenty of rock in it, so he is under that 55g mark. He has the sensor in the return as that's where evaporation SHOWS. He is convinced the ATO is broken as when he leaves for a day his return is now down 3" salinity has risen and the ATO is still running for only 15 seconds when it turns on so it has to be a faulty product...

He has the ATO still set at the low setting that allows it to run for 1.8min at 1/3g. I told him he needs to make it run the 3 min 2/3g setting as that is the recommended tunze setting for his system.

He keeps telling me that whether the system is 20g or 300g as long as the sensor is where the evaporation SHOWS it will not make a difference..... clearly he is wrong as evaporation OCCURS though out the entire system and is only shows in one spot (the return). I completely understand his thought process here and can see how it is very confusing when you think about it, but I can't seem to get him to understand system surface area and volume as a factor.

I have a 20g long with maybe 14g of water that will lose 1/2g in a day... He has about about 55 gallons on the high end and losses 1g per day. To him I should be losing more as my 20 with no sump has more surface area than his return area alone and those are the only spots that SHOW evaporation. He can't grasp where it OCCURS... how do I explain this?

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[jenkinscrew2578]

Your correct. With an ATO, in the correct spot, the return section, it should stay the same level. The ATO should run to fill evaporated water as much as needed. This will keep the salinity stable. Tell him to crank it or that pump will eventually suck the return section dry.

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[RogueGrown]

Your correct. With an ATO, in the correct spot, the return section, it should stay the same level. The ATO should run to fill evaporated water as much as needed. This will keep the salinity stable. Tell him to crank it or that pump will eventually suck the return section dry.

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This is the problem he has run into... he's confused because when the ATO kicks on its only for about 15 seconds not nearing it's max time.

As stated it is the tunze osmalator nano.

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[Ebone]

not all tanks are the same but my 40 breeder 20 sump can take up to 4 minutes for the ato to return return chamber to proper level... I have mine set for 5 min shutoff time... it needs to be allowed to do what it must...

 

[RogueGrown]

not all tanks are the same but my 40 breeder 20 sump can take up to 4 minutes for the ato to return return chamber to proper level... I have mine set for 5 min shutoff time... it needs to be allowed to do what it must...

So could it be that the nano is running not 1/3g in 1.8 minutes but 1.8 min or 1/3g what ever comes first?

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[jenkinscrew2578]

I have never used the Tunes, but if he has it on max time and it's not staying on long enough, then it is faulty.

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[RogueGrown]

Before shutting down. If it reaches 1.8 minutes of pumping it defaults and stops working entirely but if it reaches 1/3 gal it stops till it needs to turn on again.

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[RogueGrown]

I have never used the Tunes, but if he has it on max time and it's not staying on long enough, then it is faulty.

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He is convinced it does not need the mac time as his return is maybe 3.5g.... hard headed AH

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[jenkinscrew2578]

For sure!
You know...some people just have to learn the hard way...

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[RogueGrown]

Not my livestock.... but I hate to see something I've helped so much with crumble because he has to be so ignorant to other variables.

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[jenkinscrew2578]

Show him this thread and show him he is making the wrong decision.

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[sde1500]

I can say he has a faulty unit. I use the nano, and don't have it set to the 3 minute run, and my tank is bigger than his. The controller doesn't measure how much water it pumps, only how long it pumps. It only takes a few seconds for it to fill the water in the return section beyond the float switch. Took a while to get it right with Tunze, they had a bad batch of controllers sometime around last August when I got mine. Had to get a pump, and then the whole controller replaced.

 

[RogueGrown]

I can say he has a faulty unit. I use the nano, and don't have it set to the 3 minute run, and my tank is bigger than his. The controller doesn't measure how much water it pumps, only how long it pumps. It only takes a few seconds for it to fill the water in the return section beyond the float switch. Took a while to get it right with Tunze, they had a bad batch of controllers sometime around last August when I got mine. Had to get a pump, and then the whole controller replaced.

How was tunze customer service?... He said this morning it has to be a faulty unit. He was playing with the switch and it's like it won't get power.

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[sde1500]

They respond to emails very quickly, and get new parts out quickly as well. Overall wasn't impressed only because I feel they should have known faster what was wrong if they knew already there were a bunch of bad controllers sent out, but its working now so water under the bridge I guess.

 

[LX20000]

I bought mine in Feb., and I had to have a new controller sent as well. The problem is that the company they source the pumps from made a change, and the pumps randomly have hard starts, and the controller trips on high pump current (it assumes something is wrong). This happens randomly. Every couple days I would look at my tank, and the level would be a couple inches below the sensor. I would unplug the unit, and plug it back in, and it would run for a long time an fill the tank back up till the float went back up. Then it would work one or two days, and it would happen again.

Tunze took care of it real quick, they sent me a replacement BEFORE I sent mine back in . Sent a return label as well. First rate customer service.

 

[RogueGrown]

Why would they sell this as a nano unit if it is capable of much larger systems?

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[LX20000]

Sometimes it helps to use Einstein's method of looking at things at their limits.... tell your friend to use this mind experiment...

1. The Tunze is installed on a 1 gallon tank. It sees the level go down 1/4 inch, turns on. How much water does he need to top off? Maybe 50 ml

2. Now he installs the Tunze on the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean drops 1/4 inch. How much water does he need to raise the Atlantic ocean 1/4 inch? Can the Tunze on the short time setting still get it done because it's just 1/4 inch either way?

 

[homer1475]

When I switched from my biocube(29G) to my 80G with 20G sump I temporarily used my nano with the intentions of buying the bigger unit. 1 year later and the nano keeps up with my roughly 1.5G daily evap.

If it's running properly it should never have to run longer then a second or so to fill the evap.

 

[sde1500]

Why would they sell this as a nano unit if it is capable of much larger systems?

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Really it would depend on the size of the return section. If it only takes a few seconds to fill up the return section to what is required, you could probably hook this thing up to a 1,000 gallon system. If the return section is huge, then it wouldn't be able to keep up. Better they play it safe and rate it for small systems than not and have it not work on someone's system they claim it would.

 

[LX20000]

Really it would depend on the size of the return section. If it only takes a few seconds to fill up the return section to what is required, you could probably hook this thing up to a 1,000 gallon system. If the return section is huge, then it wouldn't be able to keep up. Better they play it safe and rate it for small systems than not and have it not work on someone's system they claim it would.

And the smaller the return section, the more quickly the level drops when evaporation occurs... which is why my AIO 40 gallon with very small, probably 4" x 5" return section drops quickly, and therefore needs little water to fill. Nano comes on for 6 seconds... bang... filled.