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Innovative Marine Aquariums

AVAST ATO


duoc9119

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update: got an email from avast. they have a new one on the way already. love when companies take care of their customers. :)

 

edit: forgot to update this. got another one from justin at avast 2 days later. new one worked like a charm. :D

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  • 1 month later...

how long is the cord from the pressure tube to the box/outlet you plug your pump in to? I saw you mentioned it wasn't long enough, which is the same ordeal Im dealing with now with a different companies ATO. I keep my powerstrip, controllers, and whatever else, next to the tank in a little ottoman treasure chest looking thing - so the sensor's connecting cord/tube needs to be long enough to reach to there.

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how long is the cord from the pressure tube to the box/outlet you plug your pump in to? I saw you mentioned it wasn't long enough, which is the same ordeal Im dealing with now with a different companies ATO. I keep my powerstrip, controllers, and whatever else, next to the tank in a little ottoman treasure chest looking thing - so the sensor's connecting cord/tube needs to be long enough to reach to there.

 

 

I think it is about 3 feet. In my case it wasn't long enough because i have the bucket sump on the other side of the desk and the outlets are on the other side of the stand. I'm not allowed to drill into the stand for plumbing because it is the university's, so my sump is sitting out in the open

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  • 3 months later...

I've been reading through this thread and have a question. I see that a few have posted that they are using this unit on their 10 gallon, 8 gallon etc tanks. I have a 10 gallon, no sump, a HOB filter, an HOB refugium and am thinking of buying one of these. It seems though that a potential of 1/2" water evaporation before it kicks in would change the salinity of a 10 gallon (probably 9 actual gallons of water in tank) too significantly. My approximate calculations makes that a little more than a third of a gallon of evaporation, at least potentially. If it was only 1/4" drop before kickin it would of course be half of that which would not be a problem.

 

Any input or experiences with this? Anyone measured salinity change in their water using the Avast ATO?

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I've been reading through this thread and have a question. I see that a few have posted that they are using this unit on their 10 gallon, 8 gallon etc tanks. I have a 10 gallon, no sump, a HOB filter, an HOB refugium and am thinking of buying one of these. It seems though that a potential of 1/2" water evaporation before it kicks in would change the salinity of a 10 gallon (probably 9 actual gallons of water in tank) too significantly. My approximate calculations makes that a little more than a third of a gallon of evaporation, at least potentially. If it was only 1/4" drop before kickin it would of course be half of that which would not be a problem.

 

Any input or experiences with this? Anyone measured salinity change in their water using the Avast ATO?

Bump on this.

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I've got two of these units and have ran them on tanks from 2-14 gallons. Since the 2 gallon was an AIO with a small water level chamber it worked great. My two cents would be to utilize this ATO in a nano environment with minimal salinity shift you really need a compartment with a contained water level. Such as the third chamber of the Biocube. I actually tested my sensitivity on the BC14 and throughout the cycle it stays at 1.025. However with a tank that has a constant water level you may have difficulty. Like you said a 1/2 inch drop in water could pose a salt swing scenario.

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Thanks, that's kind of what I was looking for, whether or not people had used them in a constant level tank like a standard 10 gallon.

 

Any ideas on something I could build in the tank that would provide that kind of "small chamber" effect in which I could place the pressure switch of the Avast? I'm guessing that neither of my current HOB items would work as the pumps are going to provide the same levels in the HOB's regardless of the water level in the tank.

 

Oh, also, when I look at the Avast video on how the ATO works, it doesn't look like the level drops 1/2" before it kicks in. Kind of hard to tell, I know, but what's your experience? Have you ever measured the actual drop/rise levels before the pressure switch kicks on/off?

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I have the cheaper spectrapure version with an avast nano ato magnet holder. Works well but i think the pressure in the tube resets if the power goes out.

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I see that Spectrapure has one pressure ATO with 1" tolerance and also the Ultra Precise model with .1" tolerance but the latter is $240! The Avast is .5" tolerance on the switch. Are there pressure switches that one can buy separately? I could get the Avast system and replace it with with a pressure switch that was at least a little more precise than a 1/2".

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From my experience 1/2" tolerance seems like Avast covering their basis I'd say in reality its around 1/4" or a little less. They really are pretty sensitive, as far as sensitivity goes I believe the average is 1/2" across brands. I don't think I'd open it up a mess with it but if you have the confidence I presume it would work. Also, never had any issues with Avast units losing their pressure.

 

The constant level thing has me stumped though, luckily all 3 tanks I've ran my units on either had a sump or chamber set up. Perhaps send Avast an email? They are very quick with replies!

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