Let's talk ATOs

[wtac]

If one wants to plumb directly to the RODI, you have to use a water storage tank.

I set an ATO with quite a few redundancies with an AutoTopOff dual float ATO w/solenoid, APEX with float switches at "low", "set" and "high levels in the sump and a mechanical float switch set just above the "set" level of the ATO ATO.

The ATO ATO does the front line work, the mechanical float secondary if the ATO ATO "set" level float fails.

If the ATO ATO floats fail, mechanical float fails, the "high" float switch hooked up to the APEX I/O will shut off power to the ATO ATO closing the ATO ATO solenoid AND solenoid that feeds the RODI unit and one after the RODI storage tank.

Never had a problem other than replacing the solenoid plunger when it no longer was able to make a proper seal at the seat after 5 years.

 

[reefgeezer]

Is there anything wrong with just running a line from my RO/DI unit to a float valve in my sump? As long as I have water pressure (which is 99.999% of the time) I can keep the level constant. I've been doing this since I installed this tank in 2000. Never had a problem.

Many people, including myself, tried this early in their reefing experience. Unfortunately RO units bypass some unfiltered water when they cycle. That causes DI resin to be consumed very quickly, or contaminated water to be introduced to the tank. Standard practices involve using a storage tank to reduce the cycling of the RO unit for that reason. If you're lucky, the input water is low in contaminates and you can get by. Most of us aren't though.

 

[hkgar]

Avast Marine with an Apex to turn on the ATO pump bases on the open/close of the Avast pressure switch.

 

[LQT]

So I’ve been a faithful Tunze Osmolator user for years and have been extremely happy with its problem free performance and reliability. For the new tank I’m working on, I will dosing through a separate peristaltic pump, Kalkwasser from a kalk reactor until my consumption is enough to warrant hooking up my calcium reactor. This now has me concerned as I’ve read that dosing kalk can be very tough on optical sensors. Because of this, I’ve been considering switching over to the Spectrapure or Avast ATO systems because they use pressure switches instead of optical sensors which can get fouled with kalk.

Am I overthinking this? Should I hold on to my trusty Tunze Osmolator or switch to a pressure switch ATO set up? For those using dosing kalk with their Tunze Osmolator, have you encountered any problems with the optical eye getting fouled?

 

[Daddyrawg]

Call me cheap, but I've bought this for 2 separate aquariums, and it works great. Never had an issue. One has been working for 5 years. I get the one that says, "double with bracket".

http://autotopoff.com/Standard/index.html

I use this dosing pump for my pump. I like it because it's again..cheap, lol. But also it pumps very slowly so it doesn't affect your salinity too much if you slack a little, unplug your ato and wait for your new rodi water to be made. Lol.

https://www.chewy.com/tom-pet-produ...MI2IeQtfz-3QIVC1YNCh0HOgbjEAQYASABEgLlsfD_BwE

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

same for me.. works great and cost effective

 

[smatter]

So I’ve been a faithful Tunze Osmolator user for years and have been extremely happy with its problem free performance and reliability. For the new tank I’m working on, I will dosing through a separate peristaltic pump, Kalkwasser from a kalk reactor until my consumption is enough to warrant hooking up my calcium reactor. This now has me concerned as I’ve read that dosing kalk can be very tough on optical sensors. Because of this, I’ve been considering switching over to the Spectrapure or Avast ATO systems because they use pressure switches instead of optical sensors which can get fouled with kalk.

Am I overthinking this? Should I hold on to my trusty Tunze Osmolator or switch to a pressure switch ATO set up? For those using dosing kalk with their Tunze Osmolator, have you encountered any problems with the optical eye getting fouled?

I've used multiple Osmolators over the years and never had issues with the optical sensor getting scale on it. I've used the pump directly in the kalk reservoir, elevated above the sediment of course. Tunze doesn't recommend it as it wears on the pump, but I've found that the pumps still last a really long, plus they're cheap to replace. I have also used the Tunze Kalk Dispensor successfully. With all of that said, I still prefer to dose kalk with a Litermeter. No chances of an accidental overdose and each dosage is nice and small.