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AVAST ATO


duoc9119

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Got me new Avast ato kit! Came in today and was pretty excited, so I took out the Aquahub ato and replaced it with the new Avast!

 

Its very simple. Just a tube connected to a relayed outlet. The Magnet holder is pretty neat as well. A little bulky in a 2.5 gallon sump but hold my temp prob and airline tubing from the Aqualifter.

 

Magnets do rattle a bit in its casing, so be careful when attaching to the tank. Thought I had smashed the tank when the magnets came together. *Derp* But I like the compression fittings to hold the prob and tubing. May have to incorporate those when I start putting together the sump.

 

Only problem so far was that the cord wasn't long enough... Lol I have my tank set up in a way that the rubbermaid of cables, cords, outlets and such is hidden underneath the bed, so you don't see a mess of jumbled cables. Had to temporarily solve the problem by plugging the ATO and power strip into a 2 outlet timer and set it to manual on.

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I've been looking at these.

 

Any pics, installed?

 

I can try later tonight!

 

The magnet mount is maybe 3-4 inches long and extends maybe 2 inches into the tank. Not much of a big deal if you have a larger sump than I do. Lol The pressure switch is around 4 inches tall, 1 inch diameter but only about 1/2 to 3/4 inches is in the water.

 

So far I like the design and simplicity. Another plus is there are no moving parts to get stuck or fail. The whole unit is literally just a project box thats like 4x2x1 inches connected to the pressure switch with some sort of vinyl tubing, so placement is super easy. The box also has an eye hole so you can screw into the wall or stand. Thought that was a nice feature too so it isn't just laying around

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Im going to order one of these once I get my new tank setup and running. It looks like a great design. Did you get the back up float switch?

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Red Sea Reefer

I have had my Avast for a few weeks now. Works flawlessly with an aqualifter to keep my waterlevel set to skim my Tunze. The float switch was to big for the sump of a BC, I think they said it extended out 5 inches or so when I emailed them. I also have Kalkawasser running in my ATO resivor with does wonders to keep my PH up and stable verified by the PH probe on my Apex.

 

There are better ATO's out there but none in this price range. I like it because it connected right to my Apex. Very simple plug and play. No problems like I hear about the JBJ shuting off or not turning on an aqualifter due to low voltage.

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Im going to order one of these once I get my new tank setup and running. It looks like a great design. Did you get the back up float switch?

 

Nope no float switch. I didn't think it was necessary and it is way too big for my set up. Lol Its only a 2.5 gallon tank.

 

For the price it is great. There is a higher deviation because of the nature of a pressure switch but 1/2 inch of water doesn't really effect salinity much. It may drop down to 1.025, maybe.

 

I think these are much better than any float switch device. You don't need a snail guard or constant cleaning to keep it from getting stuck on. I would say it beats the Tunze ato as well since it is almost unaffected by algae growth.

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Ya'll using Aqualifters with these?

 

I think that will work, I can adjust my max head as needed.

 

Yeah, the Aqualifter has a max lift of 3 feet. If you run a sump it isn't a problem because most likely the ato will be in the sump. For the all in one tanks it may be a little difficult

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Red Sea Reefer

Aqualifer works perfect for my BC29. Pumps about 10 to 15 ml of Kalkawasser per minute. ATO will fill for about 20 minutes probably about 8 to 10 oz of water and raise the PH 0.1 to 0.2 per fill.

 

I have a 7 gallon resivor on the lower shelf and the aqualifter on the top self of the BC stand. I may upgrade to a better doseing pump but for now the aqualifter works great with the Avast.

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Aqualifer works perfect for my BC29. Pumps about 10 to 15 ml of Kalkawasser per minute. ATO will fill for about 20 minutes probably about 8 to 10 oz of water and raise the PH 0.1 to 0.2 per fill.

 

I have a 7 gallon resivor on the lower shelf and the aqualifter on the top self of the BC stand. I may upgrade to a better doseing pump but for now the aqualifter works great with the Avast.

 

Yeah I may upgrade to a dosing pump for my ato sometime after I get a MP10 or new light. I am leaning towards a new light to accommodate the new tank, I can get away with the K Nano and K1, not pretty, but they work.

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andrewguilfoy

I have an avast ato unit. I actually use an Eheim compact 300, 80gph and 3/8" tubing. The tubing fits right into the probe slot on the magnet mount. After headloss, it actually does a nice job of not over doing it to the sump at 80. its more like 30gph once it's at the sump, and it's max head is only 1ft so... It actually doesn't pump anything past 1.5 feet. I can hold the tube straight in the air and it stops. Oh! and it's completely silent. It measures about 1.5" long, and 1" wide.. Very tiny.

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I have an avast ato unit. I actually use an Eheim compact 300, 80gph and 3/8" tubing. The tubing fits right into the probe slot on the magnet mount. After headloss, it actually does a nice job of not over doing it to the sump at 80. its more like 30gph once it's at the sump, and it's max head is only 1ft so... It actually doesn't pump anything past 1.5 feet. I can hold the tube straight in the air and it stops. Oh! and it's completely silent. It measures about 1.5" long, and 1" wide.. Very tiny.

Hmmm.

Any pics of this setup?

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andrewguilfoy

mehh.. no lol I shut down my 46 bow was very short lived until I decided to wait for a larger tank when I move out of my parents house.. Setting up a 25g cube very soon. DIY'ing my sump.. stand almost done, If you can wait like a week haha. I will definitely give you a nice shot. I can take some pictures of the pump and ATO by them selves and the tubing? brb..

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I ordered one of these tonight for my newly set up Pico in my dorm room...I managed to narrowly make 3 days without topping up over weekends but don't want to make a habit out of it. I also forgot spring break is coming up and there is no way it would last 9 days...So I bought an Avast Nano after some deliberation between that and the JBJ. Picked it mostly due to the compact size and from what I read greater sensitivity. I will take pictures and post a review once I get I receive it and set it up. Speaking of which, 20 dollars for 2 day shipping, had to wait to the last minute didn't I :angry:

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andrewguilfoy

Yes. The full size. I had a line of salt creep around the water level when I had it on my sump, I never gained or lost more than a 1/4" from the salt creep. The 1/2" overall is pretty damn spot on in the description..

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Word.

 

I'm in no rush.

Just eyeing the Avast ATO but haven't seen many pics of actual setups.

Also, I may not be trying very hard.

 

If you check my sig of my 10g nano build I have the Avast ATO setup. It is actually the nano version they sell which was just released a few weeks ago and has a much smaller profile. Hope it helps.

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Yeah the whole thing doesn't take up much room at all. It also keeps everything neat.

 

I think the nano version is the same pressure sensor but the only difference is the size of the magnet mount according to the Avast website. Only a $2 difference though.

 

It is pretty straight forward to set up. Lol For those that already have one, they placed a small rubber thing between the magnets during shipping. Did you guys peel it off and stick it to the external magnet or internal magnet?

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andrewguilfoy

I did nothing with it. What they do is just house a magnet inside of an acrylic cylindrical housing split in two. Mine was not rattling on the inside. However between the two magnets for me was not flush, kind of like the imprint bulkheads have when they're new. All I did was just sand it flat against a table with super fine paper. Since the magnet was on an acrylic sump I didn't want to scratch the acrylic yah know..

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