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Smart ATO top off in planted tank

SDIESEL77

SDIESEL77

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Joined
6 Aug 2018
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159
Location
Celbridge, Co. Kildare
I ran the TMC one for a year or so until the float got stuck down and emptied 25lts into the tank and floor. They need weekly cleaning to have confidence in them.
Doing by hand is safer or a glass lid reduces evaporation a lot

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
Iain Sutherland said:
I ran the TMC one for a year or so until the float got stuck down and emptied 25lts into the tank and floor. They need weekly cleaning to have confidence in them.
Doing by hand is safer or a glass lid reduces evaporation a lot

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
This is also my fear. It seems that the one I posted the link above is fully digital, no float, I think it should reduce the risk...
 
When the "marine boys" use auto-top up units, they will generally have an overflow to outside in the tank or sump. If the top off unit fails to on, excess water will overflow safely out of the tank, rather than onto the floor, as would happen to most aquascapers tank.

I would be quite reluctant to trust one of these devices, even infrared detector one, without some form of fail safe in case it jams on.

Again the "marine boys" use auto top up but often have two float switches for redundancy as well as limiting the time the pump can run for to as to prevent tank overflow.

Thus Tunze top up unit (@ £169) has two sensors, infrared and float switch, as well as limiting pumping time & alarms to prevent overflowing the tank if there is a sensor failure.
https://www.tunze.com/GB/en/catalogue/katalog-ii.html?user_tunzeprod_pi1[predid]=-infoxunter036
 
ian_m said:
When the "marine boys" use auto-top up units, they will generally have an overflow to outside in the tank or sump. If the top off unit fails to on, excess water will overflow safely out of the tank, rather than onto the floor, as would happen to most aquascapers tank.

I would be quite reluctant to trust one of these devices, even infrared detector one, without some form of fail safe in case it jams on.

Again the "marine boys" use auto top up but often have two float switches for redundancy as well as limiting the time the pump can run for to as to prevent tank overflow.

Thus Tunze top up unit (@ £169) has two sensors, infrared and float switch, as well as limiting pumping time & alarms to prevent overflowing the tank if there is a sensor failure.
https://www.tunze.com/GB/en/catalogue/katalog-ii.html?user_tunzeprod_pi1[predid]=-infoxunter036
Click to expand...
Yep I used to have this one when I had a reef tank
 
Yup as ian_m says, relying on mechanical devices and water without an overflow is crying out for problems on the long run. Compare it with a simple toilet reserviour, it's the same principle.. At one point you are always happy it uses an overflow. (It's not invented for the fun of it) And there are very few that do not spill some at one time caused by dirt build up or mechanical wear. Even if it's only a drop every 2 seconds you hardly notice in a toilet reserviour.. But put a bucket under a dripping tap and you'll be surprised how much that is in a day.

Building all that into a display tank aint realy representative. You best have a sump and a sewage pipe in the tanks vicinity for the safety overflow.
 
As @ian_m says ATO with only the optical sensors are a little risky and if you have a sump then the Tunze is the way to go so you have both mechanical and optical however if you don't have a sump they are not just unsightly but also almost impossible to get them running anywhere near the top of the tank so your water level would be at the very least 50mm down.
I have been running 3 of the auto aqua smart ato micros for a couple of years now and so far no problems.
They do alarm if they detect a problem, keep the sensor clean and I think you should be okay.
https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/shop/aquatics/filtration/autoaqua/autoaqua-smart-ato-micro

They are expensive but worth every penny in my opinion.
 
I used a float valve ato on my marine tank and it never once caused me issues, i use to clean it every few months. (Mini aqua ato)

I would use one on an aquascaper without hesitation. Some people had them controlled by apex which would only allow the pump to run for a maximum set time before switching off the socket, others used leak detectors in the sump.

My sump was big enough that if it did stick on, it would not flood my floor, as my sump had the extra capacity
 
It might be fine if you have a drilled overflow that goes back to the ATO unit. It can never flood your floor. :p
 
SDIESEL77 said:
I just check view much top up water I have to add and roughly it is close to 2L daily.
Is it normal for a 200L tank (Aquascaper 900)?
Is it ok to use tap water only or with conditioner?
Click to expand...
How much evaporation depends on lots of factors; heat, humidity etc (someone with scientific knowledge will be able to fill you in more)
The hotter and drier it is the more you will find water evaporating.
As for the conditioner question - I treat my ATO storage tank when I fill that up.
 
SDIESEL77 said:
Is it ok to use tap water only or with conditioner?
Click to expand...
If you want to do it "100% properly" you are supposed to use RO water so as to not add more "salts" (eg hardness), as adding tap water will increase the accumulated "salts" in the tank.

However in the end, if doing frequent weekly water changes, and adding weekly say 6 litres tap water a week in 900litres is only about 0.5% so, b*gger all really.
 
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