DIY $15 Nano ATO

[ghellin]

I just finished my DIY ATO for my 24 aquapod.
here is what I did.

Supplies

Float switch. Ebay ( $0.10 + $2.87 shipping )
Battery air pump. Walmart $6.97
2 liter bottle
Rigid airline
airline
1.5" Acrylic strip


First I built a bracket to hold the switch by melting and bending the acrylic to make a bracket.

Then I took the airpump and cut the wire from the battery to the moter and then connected the switch. Then I drilled a hole in the back of the pump for the wires.

After I installed the switch in the tank and adjusted it to my desired water level, I drilled two holes in the top of the two liter bottle cap one for the airline and one for the rigid water line.

Then I filled the two liter with water and connected the air pump to the bottle, and added the water return line to my tank. In a test the air pump drained the entire two liters in 4.5 min which is about 14 GPH. It works great and was less than $15 to make!

 

[cjilge]

Nice job on the diy!

 

[ghellin]

Thanks! BTW the corals look great under the Leds!

 

[Colin]

I've done this before, works great!

--C

 

[dirtyfrank]

So as the air is pumped into the bottle the water is forced up to the tank?

 

[ghellin]

Yes the two liter bottle becomes pressurized.

 

[deleau]

I like this setup. Have you tested with a larger vessel than a 2L bottle? I was thinking of doing something similar for my 28g nano-cube and was looking at a couple gallon size water jug. I would expect at some point the air pump couldn't handle the water pressure.

 

[ghellin]

As long as you can make it air tight it will work. A 2 liter bottle would last 2 weeks on my 24 gallon aquapod and it fit in my stand with no problem. Due to those reasons I never had a need to try to go bigger.