Does your ATO suck?

[PasoFish89]

Maybe a more venting than question here, but why do the somewhat expensive ATOs suck? In 2 years, I've gone through 1 Duetto Nano, and 2 tunze osmolator nanos. They've been set up on my 10 gallon IM fusion, and I've never spilled water etc on any of the controllers. The first osmolator crapped out on me and I had it replaced under warranty, however it would overfill the tank numerous times a week nearly to overflowing the tank. I got tired of this and switched to the duetto nano which eventually also died outside of the warranty period and got no help there. So I switched back to my osmolator and just keep an eye on it. Now, what frustrates me is the price tag accompanied by the failure rates I've experienced compared to two amazon $30 ATOs I've bought now for two tanks I keep in the garage. I keep a hospital/qt tank ready all the time and keep a frag tank in the garage. Both tanks have $30 amazon ATOs for the same time frame now and literally have never failed or hiccuped once. I'm in the planning and equipment gathering stages for a new 75-90 gallon tank and I'm really torn here on what ATO to go with for this new set up. All signs are currently pointing towards amazon no name ATO. Has anyone else had a similar experience or is this bad luck?

 

[csund]

Try the Spectrapure. It’s great. I have two that pull off my 55g Rodi tank 30’ away. One has been run for 2.5 years and still haven’t changed peri tube. It uses pressure sensor so no moving parts.

 

[PasoFish89]

Try the Spectrapure. It’s great. I have two that pull off my 55g Rodi tank 30’ away. One has been run for 2.5 years and still haven’t changed peri tube. It uses pressure sensor so no moving parts.

I'll check it out!

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Neptune Atk works great and has redundant high level sensor and emergency shut off float valve

 

[homer1475]

In 30 years of reefing only ever had one issue with an osmolator. Bad sensor that @rvitko replaced for rather cheap. Been using the same one with the exception of a new pump for all of those years.

2 pumps, and 1 brain box in 30 years, I call that rock solid performance.

Perhaps it's just the nano that is having issues?

 

[All_talk]

I feel ATOs in general are the most problematic piece of equipment we use on our tanks. I had the Tunze for years, it was OK, but the optical sensors required regular cleaning and finally the brain box started glitching out.

I then switched to float switches through the break out box on my APEX with safety and monitoring programming. I found this more reliable than the Tunze but still some issue from time to time. I ran this setup for many years.

I recently switched to an ATO based on a DOS (peristaltic pump) and I'm really liking this setup. It uses the same float switches as the previous setup, but the primary control is the scheduled dose that is slightly more than the evaporation rate. Even if the first flow switch sticks the overfill to the second switch would take most of a day to reach a problematic level. The next step is to add some programing that monitors the state of the first float switch and a alarms if it's open or closed for too long. I used this approach with my last setup and it saved the day more than once.

I think ATOs will always need some maintenance and attention, but some setups are better than others.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

been having good luck with kamoer, but i also ahave a float switch and then a final 3rd redundancy that shuts off the outlet that works off air pressure.

 

[92Miata]

Maybe a more venting than question here, but why do the somewhat expensive ATOs suck? In 2 years, I've gone through 1 Duetto Nano, and 2 tunze osmolator nanos. They've been set up on my 10 gallon IM fusion, and I've never spilled water etc on any of the controllers. The first osmolator crapped out on me and I had it replaced under warranty, however it would overfill the tank numerous times a week nearly to overflowing the tank. I got tired of this and switched to the duetto nano which eventually also died outside of the warranty period and got no help there. So I switched back to my osmolator and just keep an eye on it. Now, what frustrates me is the price tag accompanied by the failure rates I've experienced compared to two amazon $30 ATOs I've bought now for two tanks I keep in the garage. I keep a hospital/qt tank ready all the time and keep a frag tank in the garage. Both tanks have $30 amazon ATOs for the same time frame now and literally have never failed or hiccuped once. I'm in the planning and equipment gathering stages for a new 75-90 gallon tank and I'm really torn here on what ATO to go with for this new set up. All signs are currently pointing towards amazon no name ATO. Has anyone else had a similar experience or is this bad luck?

IME, cost and quality are almost completely unrelated in this hobby. Since getting back into the hobby, I've bought 3 expensive Tunze products - had problems with all of them. My cheaper AutoAqua SmartMicro atos have been bulletproof though.

 

[92Miata]

In 30 years of reefing only ever had one issue with an osmolator. Bad sensor that @rvitko replaced for rather cheap. Been using the same one with the exception of a new pump for all of those years.

2 pumps, and 1 brain box in 30 years, I call that rock solid performance.

Perhaps it's just the nano that is having issues?

The Tunze products I bought back in the 90s/early 2000s were bullet proof. The Tunze products I've bought in the last couple years have been really problematic.

 

[theMeat]

Have been using hydor smart level for about 13-14 years. It finally crapped out after 12 years. Didn’t try cleaning it or anything, just bought a new one. Would say 12 years is plenty long for the few bucks it costs. Not sure why hydor smart level is not more popular