Wilioli Posted December 22, 2010 Author Share Posted December 22, 2010 Your gonna get evap regardless. Salt doesn't evap. So, if the water evaps but not the salt....salinity goes up right? = not good. So, ya gotta top off that tank with fresh RO/DI either way. An ATO just Automates the process for ya. Auto Top Off ... hmm ... lol. No, ya don't need a sump in the beginning or maybe ever for that matter. Ya can "rig" a top off DIY or buy one and go from there...pretty ez to set up ... or ... you can just top off daily or as needed by hand. Lots of people will use the inner rim "line" as a guide to gauge the evap and keep the water line at the inner rim line by "topping off the tank" with fresh RO/DI ... follow me? I love this thread, no I REALLY do. If I ever get back to Canada I'm comin over... hahaha, yes i know water evaps, i top off everyday.. ive looked into ATO's, and everyone seems to set it up in their sumps cause of the hardware making things look 'less aesthetic' and for it not being such a hidden contraption that you place in your tank. ... especially the DIY ato's.. I use the inner rim... to be honest i drew a line with marker right under the rim... 3 days later i realized there was a rim.. hahahah... im not sure if ur bein sarcastic bout the thread -- this thread is the BOMB... come over any time -- and back to canada? u were here before? Link to comment
aquariumcentral Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hey Wilioli where abouts are you located in Ontario? Link to comment
JBM Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 6-8" off the water line is a good place to start. Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 22, 2010 Author Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hey Wilioli where abouts are you located in Ontario? barrie, you? 6-8" off the water line is a good place to start. done and done,thanks Link to comment
Mojorizn Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 I was there once, just over the border and back. Crossed in North Dakota in the middle of October several, no make that many years ago. I had never seen snow like that before. It was a wild trip. Took 2 weeks off, threw open a map and said," Lets go ... umm ...here today." Long story short .... we wove our way across the USA up to Canada and back. Awesome. Desert one day, blizzard the next....awesome. Well, if your the ATO, then never mind. Sometimes I over explain things ... sorry bout that. Got a pic of that light fired up? That would be cool. See how it looks over your tank even if ya gotta get someone to just hold it fer ya. Link to comment
JBM Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 pick up an azoo fan. either the 2 of 4 fan model. It will help with surface tension & keeping temps down. Downside is there will always be an epic battle between your ato, heater & fan. But hell it's a needed evil to keep cool stuff Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 curse putting anything together! we decided to mount it on the ceiling.. anything else was too time consuming (christmas rush) -- bought some anchors, and put em in... put one cable up .. the anchor pulled down bout half an inch... the 'butterfly' that locks it in was holding it in place.. the 2nd anchor goes in, screw in cable number 2 of the fixture -- and slowly let it go to see if the weight will hold -- SNAP, the anchor breaks right off.... !#@@$@#$ no pics... horrible goin back tomorrow to get new anchors... Link to comment
JBM Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Each piece of the hanging kit should be able to hold double the weight of the entire fixture. So go buy hardware rated for 50lbs. Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 Each piece of the hanging kit should be able to hold double the weight of the entire fixture. So go buy hardware rated for 50lbs. the anchors were rated 160lbs!! Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Get the ATO. Thank me (and Dave) later . No seriously, save yourself the headache and get one. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 WTF! nooo, did you lose the fixture? is it still ok with the bulb? btw I recommend an ATO. one of those things I put on my tank before I start it up (I can never afford the safe manufactured ATOs so I make my own ghetto ones...lets leave it at that w/o details.) Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 wow, didnt' realize u all had ATO's... guess dave was right.... ill get one next month... LOL... and no i didnt lose the fixture.. I was holding it with my two hands while my wife attached the cables to the ceiling.. then i slowly let go of the left side.. which was ok.. then the right side, which was not ok.. lol.. Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Honestly, I wouldn't even bother setting up a tank lit by mh's without an ATO. My new tank burns through ~1g per day and the light and fan is only on for 4 hours (still acclimating my frags). It would be too much of a pain in the ass to be constantly topping off the tank manually. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 yes and too much of fluctuation in salinity between top offs. just periodically do checkups of your ATO once you get it, to make sure its working properly and that the delivery tube hasnt slipped out of the tank or anything (lol yes I've emptied at least one gallon of RO water on my carpet that way...) good thing you were spotting the fixture well Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 glenn -- how far off the tank are ur halides? 1 gallon a day... dang... im losing approx 0.5gallons a day... newman -- ur right.. with an increased water loss the salinity is going to fluctuate waaaay too much with the immediate top off... great... time to research ato's... lol Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 what kind of pump am i going to need to pump water 3-4ft away? everything im reading is saying maxijet1200 will do.. but this is only 295gph..i thought i would have to be hitting1000? Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 glenn -- how far off the tank are ur halides? 1 gallon a day... dang... im losing approx 0.5gallons a day... newman -- ur right.. with an increased water loss the salinity is going to fluctuate waaaay too much with the immediate top off... great... time to research ato's... lol ~10". Aqualifters are great for ATO pumps. That's what I've always used. I just had the first one I bought burn out on me yesterday actually. I've had it for about 4 years, luckily I had a back up. hey look at that 7k posts.... Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 hey look at that 7k posts.... THAT HAPPENED HERE! Link to comment
Svobodin Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 This tank has progressed nicely. I skimmed thru the 9 pages, I think I'll go for a reread in a bit. Do you have any recent tank shots? Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 This tank has progressed nicely. I skimmed thru the 9 pages, I think I'll go for a reread in a bit. Do you have any recent tank shots? thank you really appreciate that! the only recent shot i got is from the 18th of this month -- recent shots are on the first post.. waiting to get my lighting system up before i take another shot... Link to comment
JBM Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 A aqua lifter or one of those battery backup air pumps will do the trick nicely. I may get an ato, but so far I lose less than 1 quart a day. So I don't need it. Link to comment
Mojorizn Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 I use an Aqualifter ( used from Glenn) as well. The head height on those is .... Google-ing.....30 - 36 inches as I can find. So, with that in mind, if your ATO reservoir is on the floor and it's more than 30 inches to the top of your tank....no good. Need to decrease that distance. Reservoir on a stand next to tank, in the stand itself elevated, hang off the back of the tank...whatever will work. Anyone have experience along these lines to add? Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 yea im reading about ato's and the aqualifter (as dave said ) is for 30inches of travel... Here's the thing.. my tank isn't on a stand persay.. its on a big study desk.. thougth it would look good put on the back of this desk instead of a desktop computer or what not -- anyways, there's no stand or extra area where the reservoir could be put up higher -- unless i bought something... anyways, the aquafilter is rated at 3.5gallons per HOUR... --- so is it safe to say that if the maxijet 1200 is 295gpd , then roughly 12 gallons per HOUR.. .then should be fine for more than 30inches of travel? or is there another factor involved with going against gravity with flow of water? also.. .the ceiling mounts.. the one anchor broke as i mentioned -- so defective anchor -- wtv.. the other one thats put in that comes out a bit (comes out and stops once the 'switchblade anchor' catches to the drywall) completely broke off. I was pulling on it to see how sturdy it was, and the metal piece that catches in the inside of the drywall for stability is now in the drywall part of the ceiling, and the plastic anchor with the screw that was in it just slid right out.. now i know this may be basic.. but remember, im an idiot with these kind of things... maybe some of you DIY experts know whats goin on here. The nearest joist is too far from the aquarium... I reaaaly don't want to move the furniture around for this... i'll keep googling this, and also searchign for a 'floor stand' to put the fixture on.. might just solve everything... edit: fixed the 229 - 295gph on the maxi stat -- thanks glenn Link to comment
d9hp Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 also.. .the ceiling mounts.. the one anchor broke as i mentioned -- so defective anchor -- wtv.. the other one thats put in that comes out a bit (comes out and stops once the 'switchblade anchor' catches to the drywall) completely broke off. I was pulling on it to see how sturdy it was, and the metal piece that catches in the inside of the drywall for stability is now in the drywall part of the ceiling, and the plastic anchor with the screw that was in it just slid right out.. now i know this may be basic.. but remember, im an idiot with these kind of things... maybe some of you DIY experts know whats goin on here. The nearest joist is too far from the aquarium... I reaaaly don't want to move the furniture around for this... i'll keep googling this, and also searchign for a 'floor stand' to put the fixture on.. might just solve everything... It's not basic. Most anchors are #### man! I broke 4 of the 'pretty' ones when hanging my lights and ended up finding a really nice solution. Get these: They require a bit of a larger hole to be drilled but they're strong as can be. Use something like this (mine aren't very large and can't even be seen really) I then used thin thin thin galvanized steel wire to hang the whole ordeal. Works great and looks better. P.S. Pengiuns @ Capitals tonight. I grew up thinking Jagr wasn't mortal so of course I'm watching this showdown. As for the canes this year...they'll come around! Link to comment
Wilioli Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 thats actually very reassuring... and thats hilarious i just found this link you don't need to watch it... its hilarious cause its tailored to people like me "screw in the screw... now you are complete.." lol but yea its the first pic -- 'dem molly screws... so yea.. ive left some nice sized holes which apparently are required by those molly's so im good to go... the fixture has that steel wire already on it.. so im lookin forward to that lookin nice afterwards... yea im still stuck in the jagr days... lemieux and jagr superteam -- the 90's were good... ! Link to comment
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