I dont want my battery air pump ATO to be constantly putting in a little water every 5 minutes. Does anyone have any ideas that would make it send more at once? I though of putting a little tray that fills up and then tips into the tank but thats kinda complicated...

Unless you want to build a circuit relay with a timer, that's the way she blows.

thats kinda what i figured. Thanks anyway.

I don't have a battery type ATO, I have a DIY one with a realy so it runs off of standard 110V power supply, but it pumps a little bit every 10-15 minutes too. It's just the way an ATO works IME.

What's the voltage on the pump? How many batteries does it use?

If you put a valve on the water line coming from the reservoir and close it off a bit to restrict the water then when the ATO turns on more pressure will build up in the reservoir and it will add more water per cycle.

You can put it onto a regular timer so that it will only come on once every 15 mins, 30 mins, hour, whatever you chose. That way it will put more into the tank at once instead of every three minutes. Hope that helps some.

those last two ideas were really good guys, thanks. I also came up with a third:

Have the water squirt into a cup that has a very small hole poked into the bottom, suspended above the water level. The cup will fill up, the water will overflow the cup and fall into the tank, and then the float switch turns off. There is still water draining from small hole in the cup, though. So however much water is in the cup when the switch is turned off is your "bonus" water.

For a more elegant solution, a resistor, capacitor, and transistor can be added that will create an "off-delay" timer. Just ask and I'll whip up a circuit and parts list - literally four components and probably for under $2.. Will also need to know an upper limit on how long you want it to run, though it will be adjustable. A PCB, if you want it, will be fairly cheap too.

Though I think the best idea is cptbjorn's. Valves are dirt cheap and it's just too simple to not at least try it. If it works, it will be small and unobtrusive.

Fishguy's idea is workable for an AC pump, or anything else that plugs into a wall receptacle. The regular timers aren't meant for operating battery-operated devices, and it will fry your pump. Don't do it.

My bad, I was thinking it was a plug in pump for whatever reason. Sorry about that!