Auto Top Off.....Question.

Just curious how far your RO/DI unit is from the reservoir that holds your ATO unit? I'm sure pressure plays a part in how far away the RO is to the ATO unit?

 

Don't have an ATO or RO/DI to ATO set up but distance is definitely a factor in pressure. The farther away the more pressure is need to move something across the length. So the pressure will be less as the distance grows. How much of a role it plays I have no idea.

 

Yeah, other than get a pump for the RO unit, I guess it just fill it manually.

 

That is how I do it. 3X a day, twice when adding alk and once when adding Ca.

 

My RODI container is in the basement. It feeds the Reef ATO on the first floor and the FOWLR ATO in the basement. I picked up a used Mag 9 for the reef ATO, but could probably use a 3. I got tired of carrying a 5 gallon bucket of water upstairs every day.

 

So you use a pump to pump wate up 1 floor.......auto shut-off?

 

I have 2 55G drums that sit by my sump/fuge one fresh...and the other is salt....the fresh has my Tunze ATO...my RO/DI is on the mud sink in the same room...whenever the drum gets low i just pull it over to the RO/DI and it fills back up...then i push it on back...lol I only have to do this process once every 2 weeks or so on my 265G..

 

The RODI container in the basement has an auto shutoff from the RODI unit to keep it full. There are two pumps inside that container, one goes to the FOWLR sump, also in the basement, and the other goes to the first floor reef tank. Both of the ATO's are JBJ.

The reef tank alone evaporates about 2.5 gallons a day in the winter. The FOWLR system is about 500 gallons total, but I don't remember what that evaporates. I have better things to do than lugging water around every day.

I saw the write-up here about the DIY gravity feed ATO, but there are a few issues I have with that. One is by the time all of the components are purchased, it's nearly the price of a retail unit. The second is that I would still need to fill the gravity container every day, so it's not saving any time. Lastly, my wife would pull my hair if I had a water container for top-offs in the living room.

 

lol I know the feeling...luckily my tank is plumbed through a wall into our laundry room....they just dont appreciate our hard work sometimes..lol

 

Exactly barbianj, I'm trying to get away from lugging water everyday to. I also have a JBJ.