nanoty Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 The link. I bought one of these a few months ago and I have to say it is probably the best money I have ever spent on my reef. Very adjustable, redundant cutoff in emergencies, never fill up another ATO reservoir again. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is about to run a line directly from their RO unit. If you have any questions about it let me know. Here is a pic in my super messy sump. Link to comment
neanderthalman Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Bad idea, IMO. When you first start up your RO unit, the water on the "clean" side of the membrane has actually become contaminated by stuff leaching across the membrane. This initial burst is usually taken care of by your DI resin, if you have it, but it's not without cost. If you keep turning your RO unit on several times a day for a few minutes at a time, you're going to very rapidly burn through your DI resin. If you don't use DI, then you're adding contaminated water to your tank. lose-lose. For hooking up an RO unit directly, I recommend using a standard ATO with a reservoir. Then, using a pair of floatswitches, a relay, and a solenoid valve, you can create a latching setup that turns on the RO unit when the reservoir is nearly empty, and shuts it off when it is full. That way, you minimize the frequency at which you're turning the RO unit on, saving your DI resin. You can add a third floatswitch for emergency cutoff, of course. Link to comment
nanoty Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 Bad idea, IMO. When you first start up your RO unit, the water on the "clean" side of the membrane has actually become contaminated by stuff leaching across the membrane. This initial burst is usually taken care of by your DI resin, if you have it, but it's not without cost. If you keep turning your RO unit on several times a day for a few minutes at a time, you're going to very rapidly burn through your DI resin. If you don't use DI, then you're adding contaminated water to your tank. lose-lose. For hooking up an RO unit directly, I recommend using a standard ATO with a reservoir. Then, using a pair of floatswitches, a relay, and a solenoid valve, you can create a latching setup that turns on the RO unit when the reservoir is nearly empty, and shuts it off when it is full. That way, you minimize the frequency at which you're turning the RO unit on, saving your DI resin. You can add a third floatswitch for emergency cutoff, of course. You didn't read the link info well enough. The redundant electric float switch is not just fot safety (although it helps). I have it on a timer to only run 1 hour per day, that is just enought time for it to come on and fill the sump back to where it is supposed to but not enought time to have to come back on after it swtches the mechanical switch on. Basically it is only turning on once a day and only long enough to deliver just enough top off water and does wear on the membrane and DI resin excessively. Good point though, they just covered it already. Link to comment
neanderthalman Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 .... I retract my original statement. Good idea IMO. Link to comment
nanoty Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 .... I retract my original statement. Good idea IMO. Lol, you brought up an excellent point thought Link to comment
neanderthalman Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Lol, you brought up an excellent point thought well, now everyone else will know why it's on the once-daily timer. Link to comment
nanoty Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 well, now everyone else will know why it's on the once-daily timer. Indeed, way to look out for the masses. I should have been more descriptive in my original review but I've been posting from my phone and its just too much damn work. Link to comment
Bamato Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I just ordered one as well. Although I ordered mine from DFS because I already had an order going. Would have preferred to buy it from BRS though. I'll post a review when I get it Link to comment
Bamato Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Got mine on Tuesday. It's worked very well so far I have it set to run twice a day for five minutes each. Setup was a snap Link to comment
nanoty Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 I am looking for one of these for my breeding setup but it seems as though the company is having some trouble and I cannot find one. If anyone knows where I can score one, new or used, please let me know. Thanks Link to comment
seldin Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 I originally bought a custom unit from someone else and it stopped working after 1 year and I got screwed because the guy could not fix it. I then bought the Level Lock ATO from a different vendor. Have used it for several years. I have a timer on it to go on 3 times a day. Has worked flawlessly for several years. Love it... Very cheap price for 2 levels of protection. I do recommend using it with a timer. Works awesome. Another plus, is how easy and straight forward it is to setup and use. I use a different ATO on my Solana nano tank, and luckily it had the fail safe, because the competitor's unit did stick. Link to comment
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