Automatic Top-Off for 1.6 Gallon

[The Keeper]

Topping off ED or EOD is not enough, Its not stable enough.

 

Does anyone have any ideas for a cheap, easy, and reliable ATO system for a 1.6G. I was looking at the Sun Tea Jar doohickie ATO.. that looks pretty cool, but I wanted more input from the forums. How does everyone else maintain the Sg in there >2 Gallon tanks???

[schaadrak]

Check it twice a day, everyday.

[mooman]

What do you guys consider "stable". My sg fluctuates between 1.024 (right before daily top off) and 1.022 (right after daily top off). All polyps, zoos, and fish seem to be doing fine.

[The Keeper]

Topping off ED or EOD is not enough, Its not stable enough.

 

The thread is called Automatic Top-Off, not manual Top off.

[brandon4299]

those swings are likely tolerable for the animals who appear to be dealing well with the flux, but that also makes a statement about the immediate risks in swings associated with anything but under-the-thumb maintenance for that system. Topped off daily I suspect most corals will be okay with that after acclimation and culling of the less-adaptable specimens. I can't tell you how important the aspect of sealed systems (that display restricted evaporation or no evaporation) have been in my works of small reefs. Oxygen supplementation through refugium photosynthesis makes it all run stable, sometimes it's not even needed, and the minimal need for only 13watts of lighting (pc) above the systems (and a little added extra fanning) keeps all temps in the 80's spot-on.

 

Other than sealing, there is only one option of convenient topping off and that's the ATO approach. I don't know why the pico bandwagon companies haven't built pico glass digital heaters 3" long and little ATO's for these azoo tanks that are commonly open-topped reefs. Hint@!

[Fishfreak218]

The thread is called Automatic Top-Off, not manual Top off.

well you did say "how else is everyone keeping their SG in there >2 gallon tanks"

and so he answered, anyway i also check... i top-off in the mourning and top off when i come home from school (around 3:30)

[jmt]

ATO is risky on a pico. A larger tank can handle a malfunction, but a pico most likely cannot.

 

To avoid this, you might have to use a smaller container. Which, will have to be filled every few days.

 

I used a 32oz. lexan Nalgene bottle on my 10ga when I was experimenting with ATOs. It had to be filled every 3-4 days, but evap was relatively low.

 

Look into an air driven ATO system. Me, tylernt, and qfour20 all wrote how-to's back in the day, but I don't know if the pics still work.

 

Basically, it works like a beer keg.

 

The air pump pumps air into the container to pressurize it. It has to be air tight and strong enough not to expand. Lexan containers, like the Nalgene, are a good choice for this.

 

Once it's pressurized, water will flow from the container into the tank. It's a simple process and is somewhat slow; making it a good choice for your pico.

 

HTH.

[The Keeper]

This is a tough dilemna. I need to be able to leave my pico unattended over the weekend. I can keep it nearly perfectly stable by topping of daily. And it only swings from 1.023 to 1.025 if I dont touch it for 2 days.

 

This is going to be for a 5.5 gallon tank that will be split into about 3.5g/2g, the back section housing a nano fission skimmer, finnex 25w heater, a tiny fuge, and lr/ls.

 

I think I'm going to cut a peice of clear acrylic to cover the top of the tank to minimize evaporation, but I dont know how to get the power cords into the back of the tank without getting salt creep out that whole. Maybe ill cut a hole in the acrylic and then silicone the cords. I was also going to use a Toms Lifter Pump and a floater to make an ATO for this tank.

[brandon4299]

I've included this closeup picture to give one working idea for reducing ###### in sealed-pico reef designs. Cut the power cables of any items in half, run them through a tight-fitting grommeted hole and solder/tape back together (outside of the tank of course)

 

Look at lid on top of the .5 gallon system and it's easy to see my powerhead wire running through the glass. Acrylic works okay, but can bend, and needs to mate with the tank on some sort of cushion or seal to really work and prevent ######. At the very least a plastic/plastic mate point ought to restrict evap a little, buying you another day or so but it might need to be cleaned around the edges for creep every week or so. Watch temps!

 

 

 

how funny, it's censoring the word e v a p o r a t i o n

 

maybe that'll get around it with spaces!

[Iveman]

This is a tough dilemna. I need to be able to leave my pico unattended over the weekend. I can keep it nearly perfectly stable by topping of daily. And it only swings from 1.023 to 1.025 if I dont touch it for 2 days.

 

 

 

i was in the same boat this past weekend (went on a surfing safari) and didnt know what to do. ive heard about ato's, evap reduction and so forth but my solution was just the following: water change the night before i left. the salinity was at whatever it was. i dont run numbers on my system, just took out x amount of salt water and replace with the same amount of salt water. then i took into account how much i lose in a day and added that much more FRESH water. the salinity may have dropped a bit for that day, but as evap ran its course the salinity rose to norm levels. by the time i got home the water level was where it is when i top off daily anyway (i have a piece of tape on the glass, whenever the water level hits the bottom of the tape i top off). i dont go for gadgets and diy stuff as it opens the door to alot of things going wrong (for me anyway) so i just keep it simple. i have a .5 gal with just a hang on filter and everyone has been fine since i returned. thats about as cheap and easy as it gets.