ATO reliability

[Gungo]

JBJ ATO with a Sicce 0.5 pump running for 7+ years without any issues. Just works.

 

[JNalley]

Had the ReefBreeders Prism up and running for 2 or 3 years without an issue, then the pump died. Since the unit itself was so cheap, I bought another and within 6-ish months the pump died. So I bit the bullet and got the Osmolator 3. So far, so good, it's been up and running for 3-4 months without any issues. Of course, the Reefbreeders did the same, so only time will tell.

 

[Triton_Z]

I just replaced a 12 year old Tunze 3155 (a few pumps in that timespan), but did the job well without much fuss. The pump MOSFET burned up and its way too old to repair at this point. I'm unsure about their newer design and liked the connectivity of the RedSea ATO+ and app integration, so decided to run with the RedSea setup now. So far it's worked well out of the box, longevity TBD.

 

[TehBrainz]

I used the hydor smart level ato hooked up to a small pond pump. Worked for nearly 5 years before I replaced it with 2 float sensors and my GHL profilux.

The hydor has fixed temperature sensors so that was a negative for customization, but positive for ease of use. The alarm sensor was too close IMO and would trigger if i had to work in the tank and caused the level to go up the slightest.

 

[David_CO]

Tunze ozmolators for me but I run a lot of kalk and I was having to clean the optical sensor weekly. I added a power head to the return chamber and I haven’t cleaned it in 6 months.

 

[threebuoys]

ReefBreeders EXO model. Running for 3 years so far

 

[Mwatts12]

Tunze going on 4 years, have not replaced pump yet.

 

[Grumpyfish64]

Tunze osmolator for me too. Just replaced the pump after around 8 years. Only messed up once, and that was my fault because I didn’t clean the sensor. I’m about to start a new tank, and the Tunze is what I’ll be using.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

MagTool ATO it worded great for a month and the pump burned up, I am trying to get it resolved , I called Amazon to get it replaced buy so far nothing, they promised to call back.
My Tunze Nano ATO constantly overflowed my sump, but would work flawlessly outside in a old tank trying to figure what the problem is, I think it does not like SW.
So I am inATO heck right now.

 

[OctaviusBrine]

I have been using red seas ato since it has came out. Just cleaned it as my kalk was crusting over the contacts. So far it has been great I also like how you can manually add water if you’re not home through the WiFi.

 

[SanFernandoValleyAIOReef]

Auto aqua ATO (think it’s f zone now) from Amazon40-50$ Ran good for about 2 years then sold whole tank set up cos moved states, might still be working might not but did good and plan on getting new ATO and heater every year or 2 anyways

 

[ta88brian]

I find the gravity-fed ATO is most reliable.

No sensors or pumps to clean. As long as the reservoir has water and the float is dialed in, it works.

I've had this setup for many years; I feed all of my tanks off of (1) 40 gallon brute.

Im 1 who hasn't had any luck with tunze osmolater. Have alarm for water damage. Has been in waterproof box.look for something better.

 

[icedgxe]

I’ve had a Hydrofill Ti since 2016. It’s been moved to 5 different tanks and (knock on wood) I still working. I used to use Aqualifters with it before they stopped being made. Now it runs on an Avast diaphragm pump. I clean the sensors every so often and that about it. The one thing I do as a secondary failsafe is run it on a smart plug that only turns it on every 2 hours and stays on for 5 minutes. This reduces the chances of the ATO being stuck on and the ATO is not cutting on and off as much.

 

[slythy]

I have been running 2 float switches on my Apex with the breakout box on tanks for over 10 years. I have 2 float switches at the same height. I have a switch on my reservoir as well. I do invert 1 of the switches on the ATO so they read oposite of each other. I turn it off for my AWC and then it has to stay low for 60mins before it does anything. I have been running this on a couple tanks for a long time. I use the cheapo float switches. theres really nothing to go wrong. I dont even really clean them...

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If ATO_R CLOSED Then ON
If ATO_1 OPEN Then OFF
If ATO_2 CLOSED Then OFF
If Time 04:00 to 06:00 Then OFF
Defer 060:00 Then ON

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I have the Mag Tool, I am on my second pump, the first time they warrantied it and sent me a new one, now the second as gone out and back in July I told them and they said they would cover that one as well, but I have not received it yet, they keep saying OH Yeah what is your address again 5 times.