Red Sea reefer 170 ato

[John L]

Hi, does anyone have experience with using a separate ato on the 170 due to the small size of the 3.5l tank one the mechanical one?

I recently set mine up and have put an auto aqua ato in the return pump sump, using a separate larger tank for my ro. Is this ok to do? Or is it more acurate to set up the mechanical ato, and use my auto ato to top off the small tank with mechanical ato?

[bob115]

I have a plastic storage bin that holds 18L comfortably off to the side in a storage ottoman. From there its fed in with the tunze universal.

 

I wouldn't (and dont) bother with that tiny tank and float valve, I just pulled it out. Its only a single point of control that is much more likely to fail than a modern double control point ATO. Plus 3.5L would mean I'd be refilling every 1.5 days, might as well just manually top off at that point.

[John L]

Thanks bob, I was worried my ato wasn't working properly, and was putting too much water into the return pump chamber. I didn't realise it evaporates that much, I've just upgraded from a 94l biocube which only sipped top off ro.

 

I'm having a little trouble adjusting my overflow, which is affecting my ato sensor in the sump, sometimes it seems to go up or down a little during the day. So I have to lift the ato sensor when it gets submerged. Is this because the filter sock getting blocked overtime affects water flow? Or just my new system which needs bedding in?

[HarryPotter]

Thanks bob, I was worried my ato wasn't working properly, and was putting too much water into the return pump chamber. I didn't realise it evaporates that much, I've just upgraded from a 94l biocube which only sipped top off ro.

 

I'm having a little trouble adjusting my overflow, which is affecting my ato sensor in the sump, sometimes it seems to go up or down a little during the day. So I have to lift the ato sensor when it gets submerged. Is this because the filter sock getting blocked overtime affects water flow? Or just my new system which needs bedding in?

Hi! You should never have any change in the return pump chamber besides that due to evaporation or turning off your return pump.

 

Adjust the overflow SLOWLY to be about 1 inch below the emergency drain. When I mean slowly.... a few millimeters at a time. And then wait 5 minutes to see how the water level in the overflow box responds.

 

I top off using a tunze ATO into the top-off container and it sucks because the mechanical ATO jams every month or two and the return pump runs dry. I would reccomend getting rid of the stock ATO, and/or using the ATO container as a refugium!

[burtbollinger]

yes...using a Tunze ATO. ditched the stock.

 

dont top off the stock auto top off

 

I have my water doing a slow trickle over the emergency overflow.

[John L]

Thanks guys that's really helpful, il tweak my overflow this evening, try and get it just right. And will stick to my auto aqua ato.

[William]

I have mine going directly into my pump chamber, I use a vase as my resavoir

[John L]

I've tweaked the overflow, so it's 1 inch below top of emergency pipe, and set up ato. Hopefully will do the job.

[HarryPotter]

I've tweaked the overflow, so it's 1 inch below top of emergency pipe, and set up ato. Hopefully will do the job.

 

 

Looks good to me! Its nice and silent?

[John L]

 

 

Looks good to me! Its nice and silent?

Thanks Harry Potter, ultra silent, really happy!

Compared to my first marine tank Kent bio reef aio 20g, which I enjoyed, the 170 is in another class. Looking forward to it developing.