DIY ATO and 2 Part Dosing

[ddaddy2420]

I am on a budget and have recently purchased 3 aqua lifter pumps. I am looking to come up with an ATO system and a 2 part dosing system without having to shell out lots of dollars. Can you post your systems of either one (pics as well). Also looking to see what everyone as set up to make their water changes easier. I have limited space for the ATO reservoir so i am looking for something about the size of the 2.5 gallon water jugs, maybe a little taller but about the same width. Any ideas of how i can incorporate these aqua lifter pumps? Again pics are always appreciated.

Thanks,
Dale

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

Dale....I used a 6 gallon jerry can for my ATO. I had limited space under my 92 cube and the jerry can fit the bill perfectly! It's very thin. I found mine at Walmart in the camping area for $10. Just cut the nozzle out to get an opening for a pump. Then just use a small fountain pump for the top off.

 

[picoreefguy]

i use an aqualifter for my ato as well just get a switch/controller from autotopoff.com. they run about 40 bucks for a single switch one and come with a nice little mounting bracket for the float switch. its a very simple setup and works great. the only thing i dont like about it is that the wire from the float switch to the controller box is very short only about 2 ft long. other than that its a great system

 

[rdnelson]

Look up my thread "Rich's DIY ATO and a bunch of other letters". Been working great for about 18 months.

 

[sewer urchin]

Check out this thread

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64146">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64146</a>

Our beloved Ichthyoid came up a cool way to fine tune the aqua lifter for use as a dosing pump. I think that he wanted to patent the idea (don't think it worked out), so I'll steal the idea and at least give him the credit ( in case it fails Mahahaha).

 

[ichthyoid]

You can also use the 'bypass' in that ^ thread to just go back into the jug.

It's a little simpler and I think works better.

 

[ddaddy2420]

rdnelson99;839366 wrote: Look up my thread "Rich's DIY ATO and a bunch of other letters". Been working great for about 18 months.

Link to this? I can't find it at all.

 

[sewer urchin]

Here ya go...

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65855">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65855</a>

They way I did it was to click on rich's name, click on statistics, click on "all threads started by..." then scroll down

works pretty good unless the person is to prolific a poster

 

[rdnelson]

Sewer Urchin;839652 wrote:
works pretty good unless the person is to prolific a poster

Guess that rules me out. Hehehehehe

 

[ddaddy2420]

Something i am using now that i kind of stumbled upon which seems to be working great is this:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAYTON-Float-Switch-1APP4?Pid=search">http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAYTON-Float-Switch-1APP4?Pid=search</a>

Its main use seems to be for pulling water out of a sump because when installed right side up as the water rises to the first float it kicked on the pump, once i saw this i realized that i had something that was for the opposite of what i needed. Then my engineering brain kicked in and realized that if i flipped the dual float mechanism upside down it would do just the opposite. So while the sump is full the vertical chamber with the dual floats both stay afloat and the switch stays off, however, when the level drops the first float drops and the switch kicks on until the float gets back up floating again. It then has a feature that you can make it run for 5-30 secs after the float reaches its limit. I love this thing because the floats are protected in a cage like assembly, keeping critters out of it. I also have it on the return portion of my sump so not much gets in there anyways.

I guess its a good a system as any so I don't know why i need an ATO system. I just felt like i needed to look into a system that is made for that purpose. This set up is made for just the opposite but if it works it works. It has a battery you can install that keeps power to the system in the instance you lose power and it has a feature that sets off an alarm if the power to the pump stays energized for longer than a specified amount of time. Almost like it knows that the pump should only run for a certain amount of time and if it runs longer then something is wrong. This saved me the other day because the water line came loose from my sump and fell out of it and this thing started pumping water in once the float dropped. Once it had gone so long it started alarming this loud obnoxious alarm and I came running to find the ATO water line had fallen out and was pumping on the ground.

Anyways I guess I should be happy with this system because i think this is how ATO systems work anyways. Let me know your thoughts or if anyone else is using this thing. It seems to be price comparable to some of your nice ATO systems, maybe even a little cheaper. I got a discount cause i ordered it through my work.

Dale