Inexpensive ATO's...LazyBone Aqua NG11

[MrZ2u]

I had a Hygger ATO which I liked pretty well but I may have splashed it when plugging it in and caused it to release its magic smoke.  It was and is about $75 and before that I had that little green one that goes by many brands but is almost always called SmartATO Lite...it just puked on its own but in the "warranty period" but I was not in the "warranty country" so I had to eat that one (UGGG...I wish Amazon made its vendors call out gray market!!!)  

Anyway, I am on to a third version now, and may be a little early to give a full report but I really love the implementation of the sensor and its housing so I wanted to bring it to light.  Hard to get a feel from pictures but watch the video on the Amazon ad and you can see it in action.   At only $40 its pretty impressive so far

One caveat though...its BRIGHT.  If you need it to be in the display area you might find it an eye-sore.  This is a little tank I am using to keep some rock and sand alive while I finish another project, Marineland Portrait.  I ripped the ATO part of it out and put a HOB on it 🙂  As you can see here its pretty bright.  In a sump or the back side of an ATO this probably wouldnt be an issue.  
 


https://www.amazon.com/NexGen11-Saltwater-Aquarium-Seamless-Optical/dp/B0CN32Y41F

[MrZ2u]

Nevermind...what a POS.  The pump runs in spurts to supposedly prevent overfilling...problem is the spurts arent enough to fill it up in fully in the first place and about every 4-5 days it gets to the point it cant refill it enough and you had to power cycle the damn thing to get it to top off completely.

Too bad cause I liked the physical implementation of it.