ATO build

So my tank was losing water due to evaporation and i wa not going to spend a lot f money on an ATO system.
Here is whaty I did our office has a water cooler with the 5 gallon Poland water containers, took an empty one home, on the way home stopped at the hardwares tore and bouaght tubing a small plastic elbow and a rubber stopper. Drilled a hole in the stopper slightly smaller than the tubing jammed the tubing into the hole and sealed it with some silicon, drilled a hole in the side of the water container glued the elbow in using aquarium cement attached the hose to it. Now I ran the air hose into the sump to the level just below the waterline, filled up the container and it works like a charm total cost about $5.;D

 

Pictures or schematics!!?!??! Sounds really effective. .. .

 

I will take them tonight and post them as well really simple great reuse, I have a 75reef and a 55sump the 5 gallons lasts about 3 weeks, I amgoing to put a shutoff valve on the waterfill side so I can refill the container without it draining, that willcost abot $.50 if I cannot find one laying around the parts bin I have.

 

How is this fed? Gravity? Can you post pics or drawing?

 

im thinking its gravity fed. when the water level drops below the airtube it lets water into the sump, once it fills in it stops because the water doesnt let anymore air in the jug. the water jug is air tight. am i right?
i did this on my old 10g and it worked like a charm, only mine was a gallon arnold palmer jug lol

 

Ok. So then I see the airline tube in either the stopper or the side of the container, but it seems to me that both would vent the container and if gravity fed, would continuously feed the sump.

I like your idea. I'm trying to find an ato solution now so I can do kalk and be gone for more than three days if need be. I'm pretty squeezed by both expenses and space though! This sound perfect if I can squeeze in the space!

 

ya im not sure why there is 2 tubes. if the container is air tight you only need one.
the airline tube size makes a big difference to. it has to be big enough to let air into the container after the water level drops. standard airline will work but it has to be less then a foot of tubing or the air wont make it back up. i used a little bit bigger tubing on mine. it does work though, and super cheap.

 

Thanks! I'll have to cogitate on this a bit. Maybe bothe lines went down to the sump (one from the stopper and the other from the elbow at bottom). The top acted as the vent and the bottom as a feed? Once water comes up, the line going to the top would again be plugged and stop the feed...

Seems like the larger the container, and the lower the top off gets, the greater the volume of water released as more and more air gets into the jar? Is this a potential fail point on this set up, especially if using to dose?

 

Yes I would think this is how he set it up. Both lines ran to sump and when water drops it opens the vent. But I can't answer ur question about the air in the container making it dump more water. Shouldn't matter since as soon as the level in the sump rises high enough to cover the vent tube, it should stop filling.

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Got pics of this yet?