ATOs - How do they work?

[j.falk]

I'm ATO dumb...seriously...I've never had one before.  I've always just added water (daily) to keep my water level where it needs to be.  Now that I'm finally getting a new tank started, I would like to make my life easier when it comes to topping off the tank every day.  Can someone please explain to me in layman's terms how they work?  Are there any risks involved?  Possible potential flooding? Any recommended brands of ATOs?  If I get one it has to be able to do it's job with low to no risk that the second floor of my house will be flooded.

[Jaren45]

There's lots of types of atos but most of them now use a float switch, optical sensor, or a combination of both. My favorite are the duetto and the tunze (both nano and regular)

 

Neither of these have ever let me down, they both have their own form of auto time out to prevent flooding. I believe it is even adjustable on both. Super safe, i've never had a tank overflow in 4 years

[TheKleinReef]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-osmolator-universal-3155-auto-top-off.html

 

i will only ever use this one. I have additional sensors on my apex that warns me if the water level is too low or high in the sump.

[AiredaleReef]

On 4/5/2023 at 2:51 PM, j.falk said:

Can someone please explain to me in layman's terms how they work?

I recently added an ATO to my nano tank, and so happy with my decision. I should have done this years ago, but fear of trying something new that I was not familiar with kept me filling up my tank by hand every day. I purchased this Hygger from Amazon, and have been really pleased. 

 

In short, an ATO is a device that monitors and automatically adds fresh water to your tank to replace the lost water from evaporation. Essentially, through optic sensors, the ATO will pump water from a reservoir (5 gallon bucket) that I have filled with RODI water to one of my AIO chambers when I lose water from evaporation. It will pump water until it reaches the desired amount of freshwater you determine. It saves me from having to refill my tank every day with water. Definitely more efficient! 

 

https://www.amazon.com/vdp/0f88e2430aea407d9aed0c9a65e7db2c?product=B0928BFK1V&ref=cm_sw_tw_r_ib_dt_V1Pa5vmx0zMTy

[ml86743]

On 4/5/2023 at 5:16 PM, TheKleinReef said:

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-osmolator-universal-3155-auto-top-off.html

 

i will only ever use this one. I have additional sensors on my apex that warns me if the water level is too low or high in the sump.

+1 on the tunze:)

[Dmmitchell]

Definitely recommend the Tunze. I use a slightly cheaper model on my 3 Nano tanks (the 3152 vs. the 3155.) I appreciate how modular they are ... If something does fail, like the pump or the level sensor, the part can be cheaply replaced vs. having to replace the whole device.

[j.falk]

Anyone using a gravity fed bottle nano ATO?