Need some help on ATO

[shipwrecked]

ok so I top off the old fashioned way with water cooler containers(of course RO water)and I do this daily and manually.This works up till now,and in the past when we went away we had someone sit the tank.In a few weeks we will be going away for a few days-I can go away for 2 days without worry but 3 and the tank is pumping air and well you know what happens next..anyhow, what I'd really like to do is make something that would top off automatically.And but heres the catch-I dont have the option of running a water line from my ro unit to the tank.Any help would be appreciated and pics and links would be terrific..thanks in advance

 

[malulu]

you sounds like you may only need about 10 gals of water when you were away...?

something very quick on top of my head:
- get 2 extra 5g buckets (if you don't have any let me know) fill them up.
- sit them the same height as your current cooler containers
- put a tube(s) into Bucket-1's all the way reaching the bottom, and the other end reaching the container's bottom
- put another tube(s) into Bucket-2's all the way reaching the bottom, and the other end reaching the container's bottom
- make sure the tubes have no air in it, and secure them.
- NOW, you will have 15g of water for ATO.
- to be extra sure, you can put TWO tubes each.

if hope this is clear, if you need a drawing, let me know.
thx

 

[malulu]

try to do this ASAP...
so you can observed it for a few days.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Tony, If you go to my Tale HERE (post #3, Reply#30), you can see the reservoir I made using a salt bucket and five gallon water jugs. I also have (had) a link to the Aquahub ato DIY kit, but the site crash made that disappear. I did one modification to the Aquahub kit in making my own bracket out of real plexiglass. Otherwise, I really like this little kit (ATO KIT FOUND HERE). As far as the reservoir, I would have preferred a Brute can that held 20 gallons, but the water level would have been higher than the sump and caused siphoning. By using this funny looking bucket/water bottle (for a total of ten gallons), the siphon point is below the sump…..ie, no siphoning. Hope this helps or gives you some ideas.

 

[shipwrecked]

Thanks David and Paul This will be something in the near future to put together and give me peice of mind while away..you guys rock and thanks again

 

[malulu]

oh, yeah, forgot to mentioned. my idea is for a quick work around.

the right way would the the Paul's way. (all the right way would need a real ATO switch one way or the other.)

 

[howze01]

Just run a hose into the tank! I saw it on "Tanked" on TV so it must be OK right?

 

[Fish Brain]

Since I was a little slow in realizing that my RKL has ATO capability, I bought two JBJ ATOs for my tanks, one most recently in February. I have one tank running on the RKL now and have a JBJ I'm not using. I can give ya a good deal on a lightly used JBJ ATO. Free installation included!

 

[shipwrecked]

Jonathan,if ya seen it on tanked then it has to be real..just like adding a few 20 or so fish doesnt cause a cycle.If ya have tons of $$$ everything just falls into place....Brian I will send you a pm..

 

[MadReefer]

The best thing is get an ATO. Thanks to Darren I have one and I don't know how managed without it. I fill the 5g bucket up once a week with RO water.