thanks

Zaalight !

oooook..... some kind of strange langauge

So that have an built in float swtch and just connect the wiring to the pump?

zzzzzz all right.............. : zzalight !

Old bugs bunny cartoon line.
" Zalight? Zaliiiiiight. "

This is still rolling around?

Nalgene type, Lexan bottles work the best.

anyone buy one of these floats? a little more than a cheap float by itself it comes with a mounting solution. theyre 20 bux at marinedepot.

Hey if you are really selling them for 20$ I will take one. Also your inbox is full undertheradar

Are you selling it? I want one too.

Finished one of these a couple weeks ago.... just wanted to state for the record, this thing works like a charm! THANKS

Please correct me if I'm wrong but this ATO SWITCH will run on 110v ac without the use of a relay.

but you have 110v ac practically in the water...

I'm a noob when it comes to ATO stuff just trying to get some info so I can make one. So your telling me that the current that turns on the pump will flow through the water?

it can. But most importantly, if the current ever gets through the insulation your fish and you will be in some deep ####

lol ok point taken

Just finished building mine, works great, the container I'm using expands a lot more than I thought it would. It seems to work good, I just need to figure out how to fix a tiny leak where the airline goes in.

supporting a float switch with suction cups would kinda worry me.

agreed. Where did you see that?

@ Intermission:

How big is that container dude? I've been wanting to upgrade to a 1 gallon but I wasn't sure if it would work as well.

It's 5gal, the only downside that I can tell is that it takes a while to pressurize. It seems to work fine. On my old 110v top off system I had a 3g container and I'd have to refill it every 5 days or so if I did my math right then this should last almost 9 days between refills.

i just finished my air powered ato! works great! big thanks to underthradar! genius idea!
i used a ebay float switch 4.00 shipped
ebay hagen air pump 9.99 shipped
pvc tube n caps air tubing 3.50
2.5 gal jug from wal-land 6.50

ILL TAKE ONE

Wow, I finally got around to making this ATO. It works great, and I even had two dead batteries I saved up for three months and it pumps the water perfectly.

The most difficult thing was making the mount. I got around that by using acrylic and bending it to hook to the tank. Thanks for the idea!

For those of you using the AZOO Pumps... can someone post pictures of how you spliced/attached the wires from the floatswitch to the pump?

Thanks!

If the ATO reservoir is full, I suppose the pump would run and run, right?

Batteries produce DC
Most plug in air pumps are AC.

If your pump is AC, it really isnt worth the cost of the parts given that battery air pumps are pretty cheap.

If you really want to go ahead, you will need to buy or make an inverter.

If your air pump is DC, then it should be easy.
_______________________________________
Website I developed for payday loan canada company.

I don't know if anyone posted on how to use the Azoo pump or not. I just did this using an Azoo in about 10 minutes. The red wire from the float was spliced in closer to the battery and the black was spliced by the pump. Let me know if you needs pictures. I assume by now you've already done this.

Of all the switches on floatswitches which do you recommend?

The nice thing about this ATO system as that the LARGE majority of float switches will work and there's not any AC current practically touching the water. Anything rated for 12v+ of DC would be fine.

Just do an ebay search for "float switch." I didn't see any there on the first page that wouldn't work. Good luck

wouldnt they sell float switches at home depot or a plumbing store or something?

will these work?

frabill aerator

bubble box

they have them both at walmart the bubble box is a bit cheaper dont know if theywould work though

The Bubble Box works great. I've been using it for 4 months with no problems and no battery replacements. Good luck.

thanks a bunch man! just wondering if they would didnt want to buy it and take it apart and not being able to return in

Post some picks ... we need to know

so i jsut set mine up works perfectly! also set one up a float switch on the ground wire so if the tank starts to over flow for soem reason the other float switch goes up and disconnects the ground

I just purchased the hagen air pump and got it all wired up as per the directions. However, I've tried a 1 gallon gatorade bottle and now a 2 liter bottle and the pump couldn't push the water up the line and into the tank. I tried 1/4" ice maker line and regular air line and neither worked. But when I physically would blow on the airline it would work just fine which leads me to believe there are no leaks anywhere. Am I just an idiot or has anyone else had this problem? I'm gonna lower the water level in the bottle to see if that helps at all too.

Sorry. Forgot to mention the head height from the bottle to the tank is about 3 feet or so.

Probably the head height. Mine really struggles around 2.5 feet. Try again after elevating your ato resevoir.

Will this switch work? It's the diagram of the open and closed part that's throwing me, or does it matter?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Liquid-Water-Level-Sen...=item19b9d46e39

I tried raising it up but it was nearly at the same height as the water level in order to work... I don't understand what the deal is. (I do understand the whole head pressure idea which I'm sure is an issue with this weak little pump) I have about half a ton of caulk around the airlines so I know there is no leak. It's frustrating at this point to say the least. I'm about to go Tim Taylor on this thing and hook it up to my air compressor! Grrr!!

yep. should work great



I dunno man... is the airline firmly pushed onto the airpump output thing (ie no leaks on that end..)?

hmmm... maybe try mixing a small amount of dish soap and water in a spray bottle then spay areas where it may be leaking air. If air is escaping and it is a small leak... you should see soap bubbles. Be sure to spray while the pump is running. Good luck.

I made an air powered top off using a 120v pump. i had a small pump hooked up and it had to pump up about 3.5 feet and couldnt do it. It actually requires a decent air pump to pump up any kind of height. Mine isnt even air tight. Which helps it from pumping more than needed. As soon as the pump turns off the water stops flowing because of the air leaks at the bottle.

this is a non mechanical vacum ato the only thing is the container needs to be crush proof for it to work

I found out why my pump was weak. The little diaphram type thing in the outlet side of the pump was broken. I'm gonna try to replace it with something like a piece of a latex glove. Hopefully that will work. Obviously with the cut wires and sloppy soldering I can't return the pump at this point. LOL. We'll see...

Thats been around for a long long time and needs to be above the tank. If your air tube comes loose or gets out of the water you will have a flood and your SG will be off. This way of topping off can be stashed in the stand/ out of sight and you can put in a second (fail safe) switch in.

Would any local chain stores carry a similar float switch, Orchard Hardware, Home Depot, Radio Shack, etc ?

I have looked and never found one. I got one from ebay a few months ago for less than $9 shipped from China

I know someone wants to build one of these for me for a small fee???

I wouldn't pay a dime to have it made... soooo easy..

+1 its like 2 wires and some tape

I am wondering why people are saying this switch works : http://cgi.ebay.com/Liquid-Water-Level-Sen...=item23058477e3
From what I understand is that it operates at the AC frequency so and that's what we're trying to avoid in our tanks, but I could totally be reading it's info all wrong since it's been mentioned to be safe.