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Tune nano question.


karisma

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I want an ato. Was looking at getting the tune nano. But i only have an aio tank which leaves me only one chamber to put the float switch. The return chamber. I want to know if the sensor will even fit in there. So i am looking for the dimensions of the switch diameter thickness....

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Thrassian Atoll
20 minutes ago, karisma said:

Thanks man. I like how small that one is. Will suit my pico tank well.

I used it on my lagoon and I had zero issues with it.  Just remember that when it turns on, whatever the amount of water it pumps that first time will be the max it can pump then after.  So make sure the first time it pumps for a 10-20 seconds.

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2 hours ago, Thrassian Atoll said:

I used it on my lagoon and I had zero issues with it.  Just remember that when it turns on, whatever the amount of water it pumps that first time will be the max it can pump then after.  So make sure the first time it pumps for a 10-20 seconds.

Ill have to remember that. Never heard of that before....

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Thrassian Atoll
36 minutes ago, karisma said:

Ill have to remember that. Never heard of that before....

Yeah, I am sure it’s in the directions.  Didn’t read the directions when I first got it and didn’t know why the alarm would go off so quickly.

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On 3/8/2020 at 12:57 PM, karisma said:

But i only have an aio tank which leaves me only one chamber to put the float switch.

How big is the back chamber that is would in question??  Do you have dimensions, or can you at least tell us which tank you have?

 

I'd say the Osmolator sensor is about 1.5" total, including the interior magnet.  Definitely the most reliable type of sensor (there's nothing else with a longer high-reliability track record than the reed float-switch), and Tunze has sold a ton of them.  (Seems like a bargain price-wise too.)

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14 hours ago, mcarroll said:

How big is the back chamber that is would in question??  Do you have dimensions, or can you at least tell us which tank you have?

 

I'd say the Osmolator sensor is about 1.5" total, including the interior magnet.  Definitely the most reliable type of sensor (there's nothing else with a longer high-reliability track record than the reed float-switch), and Tunze has sold a ton of them.  (Seems like a bargain price-wise too.)

Thanks for the reply. The chamber measurements are 3.75 by 2.25 it's a Chinese tank nobody has heard of.

"Yiding" 

 

So the tunze has a better sensor hey. Will have to think now. I like the micro ato cause itll fit in there for sure with the return pump. But 1.5 inch and reliability trumps that i suppose is another way to look at it.

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On 3/15/2020 at 10:11 AM, karisma said:

The chamber measurements are 3.75 by 2.25

Seems like that should be roomy enough for whichever one you end up going with.  👍

 

I haven't used the SmartATO (yet) or the other ones like it.  Seems like a good idea for a sensor, but from reading online they seem to have had more than a fair share of failed units...seems like mostly a problem with corroded magnets.  I don't know if they're still having this problem, but I'd make sure to find out if you decide to go with one of these.

 

A couple more example ATO's that use the reed type of float sensor, just FYI:

https://www.ultralifedirect.com/product/tank-boss-afs-advanced-float-switchato-single-float/

https://aquahub.com/product/top-it-off-kit-premium/

 

AquaHub is also an excellent resource for DIY ATO supplies and kits like the one linked

https://aquahub.com/do-it-yourself-guides/

 

https://aquahub.com/howfloatsw/

Reed switch - Wikipedia -- old tech born back in 1936, and designed to last "forever"

Quote

The mechanical motion of the reeds is below the fatigue limit of the materials, so the reeds do not break due to fatigue. Wear and life are almost entirely dependent on the electrical load's effect on the contacts along with the properties of the specific reed switch used. Contact surface wear occurs only when the switch contacts open or close. Because of this, manufacturers rate life in number of operations rather than hours or years. In general, higher voltages and higher currents cause faster wear and shorter life. Depending on the electrical load, life can be in the range of thousands of operations or billions of operations.

 

I like all of them pretty well...

 

My first ATO was a Tsunami AT1 (only for reference).  I think they are still sold.  it used an air-pressure sensor that I think is pretty reliable too, but not very sensitive.  It worked, but I didn't like it...or I should say my skimmer didn't like it.

 

I upgraded pretty quickly to an already-seven-year-old Ultralife reed-switch style ATO after that, which lasted through every tank incident almost without a blip for the next 8-9 years.  It still works, but was replaced with an Osmolator (dual sensor model) that came with the Reefpack 500 I use on my 125 Gallon DYI "AIO".  

 

The new Ultralife ATO linked above is wa-a-a-ay more refined than the one I used.  The old unit was more like the kit you can assemble from AquaHub.  (Which is to say solid and reliable, but very rudimentary.).  The Tunze unit has a good brain in between the sensor and the pump to apply a little logic beyond simple ON|OFF.

 

It's worth noting that on the bigger Tunze Osmolator, their solid state infared sensor gets backed up by a reed-switch float sensor in a snail-guard...which is the only sensor in the Osmolator nano.

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