Apex and ATO

[shafiq_hossain]

Alright. I took a leap of faith. I purchased the Apex system, Breakout box and a bunch of floats and sensors to serve the following:

1. Float to pump in additional RO water when the level goes below
2. Float to turn off the power to the pump (which pumps RO water into Sump) if the level exceeds a certain level.
3. Sensors placed on opposite sides of the cabinet to detect water leakage and turn off the power to the return pump.

So, my question is if anyone has done this? Any suggestions? Any direction, instructions, etc..? Anything additional I would need?

Thanks....

 

[thanh386]

The tunze osmolator is about 175. And is the best . It has all those features builted in. If ur cost was close to that and u can return it u might want to reconsider. Those switchs have flooded my house a few times. But others have never had problems.

 

[shafiq_hossain]

So, when you say switches, are you referring to the floats?

 

[thanh386]

Yea. The mechanical ones get stuck. And water keeps pouring in. The tunze is a laser sensors .

 

[shafiq_hossain]

Got it. Do you know if the tunze float can be purchased separately? It seems like it's part of a whole ATO or doser system.

 

[thanh386]

U can call marine depot or aquarium specialty and ask. I'm sure they do

 

[shafiq_hossain]

Thanks

 

[shafiq_hossain]

That's precisely what I'm trying to avoid. Sorry to see that you went through that catastrophe. I can't afford that on my end since I have a 265 gallon tank. It would be a monumental task trying to clean up and repair the damage under the stand. Thus, I got 4 floats to handle the following scenarios:

1. One float in the RODI container. If it bottoms out, Apex will turn off the ATO pump.
2. One float in the sump at the water level mark. Apex will turn on pump once water level goes below that mark.
3. One float submerged in the sump near the bottom. Once water reaches that level, Apex will turn off the return pump so it does not burn out.
4. One float near the top of the sump. Once water reaches that level, Apex will turn off ATO pump.

The only thing I have not evaluated is one of the scenarios listed above could potentially conflict with each other (or two conditions could be met at the same time or shortly thereafter) which would mess up the priority. Or one action might lead to another scenario which may cancel the previous action.

In any case, I would certainly be interested in talking with you when or after you hook up the floats to your Apex. I may need some training.

 

[gnashty]

shafiq.hossain;709292 wrote: Alright. I took a leap of faith. I purchased the Apex system, Breakout box and a bunch of floats and sensors to serve the following:

1. Float to pump in additional RO water when the level goes below
2. Float to turn off the power to the pump (which pumps RO water into Sump) if the level exceeds a certain level.
3. Sensors placed on opposite sides of the cabinet to detect water leakage and turn off the power to the return pump.

So, my question is if anyone has done this? Any suggestions? Any direction, instructions, etc..? Anything additional I would need?

Thanks....

Sorry, I dont have any experience with Apex programming.. One thing to think about on #3. If your sump is overflowing for some reason and trips the sensors, then turning off your return may not be the best idea. Or maybe its overflowing because your return is already off. There are many reasons an undercabinet can get wet without the need to shut down the return in my opinion...just thinking out loud.

 

[shafiq_hossain]

Good catch Gary. So, if my sump crests, I will really want to turn off the ATO pump and turn on the Return pump (if it's off). By the way, how was it that you had a back siphoning incident? Was the height of the ATO container lower than the sump? I recall you stating that the sump siphoned back into the ATO container?

 

[gnashty]

The hose running from my top off to my sump had fallen into the sump and under the water, that created a back siphon when the ATO pump turned off and since my top off container is much smaller than my sump it overflowed the top off the entire contents of the sump into my stand.


Totally preventable
:doh::doh::doh:

 

[shafiq_hossain]

Another thing. I was talking to BRS regarding replacement bulbs when we got around talking about an ATO pump. They recommended the BRS Top Off Doser pump. Anyone know anything about that? It said something about ensuring against back siphoning which this pump accounts for. Is that something I should think about? Does back siphoning happen while the pump is running where instead of pushing out water, it starts pulling in water? Is that what brs meant when their pump is designed not to do that? They actually have a video where they talk about that but I wasn't familiar with general issues in this area (with pumps) to put their comments in proper context or perspective.

 

[schwaggs]

Check out this thread for my setup...

 

[gnashty]

shafiq.hossain;709515 wrote: Another thing. I was talking to BRS regarding replacement bulbs when we got around talking about an ATO pump. They recommended the BRS Top Off Doser pump. Anyone know anything about that? It said something about ensuring against back siphoning which this pump accounts for. Is that something I should think about? Does back siphoning happen while the pump is running where instead of pushing out water, it starts pulling in water? Is that what brs meant when their pump is designed not to do that? They actually have a video where they talk about that but I wasn't familiar with general issues in this area (with pumps) to put their comments in proper context or perspective.

I am thinking about trying one of these pumps, just make sure you dont get a dosing pump as they look identical. I bought 2 BRS dosing pumps last year and they sent me a top off one accidently...

 

[shafiq_hossain]

Hmmm.. I thought they were the same. Do you have the details of the brs pump which should be used for top off?

 

[gnashty]

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/pumps-and-plumbing/dosing-pumps-and-auto-top-off-systems">http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/pumps-and-plumbing/dosing-pumps-and-auto-top-off-systems</a>

They call them 2 different things - one is a dosing and one is a top off. They have different flow rates. Dosing pumps are 1.1/ml per hours while the top off pumps are 50 ml per hour. So while the dosing pump slowly drips into your system for precise dosing requirements the top off pump goes much faster which would be problematic if accidently used for dosing..

 

[fener103]

They have two pumps on their site. One for dosing 2-part at 1.1ml/min and the other for top off does aroun 50ml/min. I use the dosing pumps but I use and support the Tunze Osmolator. The optical sensor on it imho is much better than the typical float switch set up. True it costs around $200 dollars, but how much is worth to not to clean up overflows, replace flooring etc............

 

[shafiq_hossain]

So..... what is special about the brs top off pump? can we use just any other pump?

 

[gnashty]

I use a maxi jet 1200 right now, some use aqua lifters. I just ordered the BRS top off pump, it was on sale...

 

[schwaggs]

alcatoe, the other awesome use for a float stitch is on your skimmate container. This way you can alarm and turn off your skimmer when the container gets full.

Also, another safeguard is to program your pump to only pump enough water to keep up with evaporation. This can be done for any top-off pump. I have the programming in my thread linked above.