Home Made G-ATO
Home Made G-ATO
Yes everyone loves my Ghetto/Gravity ATO. And I gotta say it works 75% of the time.

It's for the Reefer on a budget!
SoMoney's Gravity(Ghetto)-Auto Top Off Unit.
STEP 1: THE SHELF
The G-ATO if you still dont get it, requires GRAVITY to function and must be placed higher than the tank itself.
STEP 2: The JUG
You need a RIDGID Water & AIR tight jug! I picked up this little .5g Jug at a health food store.
DRILL two holes: As high as you can for air, As low as you can for Water.
GLUE: A couple airline couplers to your jug. The Valves in the project are USELESS and only mess things up so I snipped off the ends and glued the adjustment valves in place. If you can find couplers without the valves just use those.
STEP 3: THE AIR TRIGGER.
Using a:
3/4" PVC Cap
3/4" to 1" PVC Adapter
2 pieces of airline (bigger the better)
2 pieces of Styrofoam
I fabricated something that can sit in the back of the tank.
The Top AirLine feeds to the top of my PVC Cap.
The Bottom WaterLine snakes into the back of my TopFin10 filter.
In the photo you can see that when the water level drops (artificially in this case) PVC Air Triger fills jug with air which then allows fresh water to flow into the back of my HOB filter.
From my observations there are 3 possible outcomes when I do this.
1. Everything goes well.
As shown in the picture when I lift the air intake line out of the water, the PVC Cap POP's, and drains, and GULPS AIR which is then sent to the top of the water jug via the AirLine allowing the WaterLine to then dribble fresh distilled water back into your tank untill it reaches the PVC cap again and drips to a stop.
2. Everything goes Weird but still works.
Sometimes when the water level drops to activate the AirLine Triger, some water and bubbles get sucked into the airline and carried into the ATO. Not really a big deal as the ATO still functions as designed at tops off the tank.
3. When it doesnt work.
Sometimes too many bubbles get into the airline and there isnt enough gravity to drain the WaterLine or Fill the airline.
Workarround: I flick the Airline with my finger and it wakes up and works again.
Now that you have this TOP SECRET information, you can send me all your Frags as payment..
