ATO malfunction.need advice

Ok my stupid Float switch just took a crap. I just happend to look under tank to see if skimmer cup needed to be cleaned.when to my surprise holy cow water right to the top of my sump,another few sec over flow time....BUT now what. I took some of the water out so not to spill.do I just let it evaporate on its own or siphone some out...dont want to mess up my salinity..TIA..

 

samething happened to me in my 10 this morning i'm just going to let it evaporate

 

Let it evaporate down, if you took some water out you may need to add some saltwater back in once your water level comes back down to keep your salinity stable. Also you might look into an ATO with a backup float switch as well, they seem to get stuck somewhat frequently.

 

if it's a large amount of water check your salanity if it's really mix up some really salty water to balance it out

 

is was alot of fresh water,im going to let it run for a bit and then check my level.. I will (if level not to off) just let it evap...thanks guys

 

just wanted to throw this out there see what everyone thought..time for a back up switch or timer..

 

when I built my ATO (http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/diy-solenoid-ato-auto-top-off-64316.html) I used 2 floats for redundancy, and a timer to allow it to put out no more than about 6gals a day.

so far so good

*knock on wood*

 

Thanks .I found this before.Im going to now do the same thing as you.got to get a timer that will allow me to only leave it on for a min or two..its not much of a deep sump(wet/dry)area...

 

What kind of float switch was it that failed?

 

It is the slide type. black rod with the white disk that floats up/down..I belive this to be the magnet type? it was hooked to a small power head.