Gravity Fed ATO's for Nano

[Haggisman14]

Okay everyone, I'm looking into the whole idea of an ATO, but don't want to over complicate things.

What are y'all using in the sense of an ATO that is gravity fed. I don't want to do anything that's dealing with electric switches, sensors, etc. Want to keep it as simple as possible.

I don't think i'm going to have a ton of evaporation, and I would probably even be able to just put a cup in manually every day once I figure out where I'm going to keep my water level at in the rear chamber, but my main concern would be for over a 2 day weekend, or the occasional 3 day weekend.

Let me know what y'all are doing, and pictures would be great!

Thanks!

 

[Saltyreef]

Okay everyone, I'm looking into the whole idea of an ATO, but don't want to over complicate things.

What are y'all using in the sense of an ATO that is gravity fed. I don't want to do anything that's dealing with electric switches, sensors, etc. Want to keep it as simple as possible.

I don't think i'm going to have a ton of evaporation, and I would probably even be able to just put a cup in manually every day once I figure out where I'm going to keep my water level at in the rear chamber, but my main concern would be for over a 2 day weekend, or the occasional 3 day weekend.

Let me know what y'all are doing, and pictures would be great!

Thanks!

You will need to DIY if you dont fancy one of those upside down 2 liter bottle top offs.

Something like this is really cool!
Standard mechanical float switch connected to a bottom drain reservoir.
A couple L brackets under it and good to go.

 

[MoshJosh]

gravity is where it's at. . . using gravity on my 20 long and used to use it on my 5 gallon.

Also this:

Gravity ATO - IceCap

The IceCap Gravity ATO is a compact and simple auto top off solution for those wishing to replenish evaporated water in their aquariums without dealing with pumps, sensors, or power cords. No electricity required for operation Ideal for small aquariums or sumps Simple to set up and operate...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Haggisman14]

The return chamber for the Deskmate is so narrow though, that I'm not sure if a regular float valve will work, even the "mini" ones look too large.

Might be manually topping off for now, and using the bottle trick for weekends

 

[Kongar]

20gal tank. In the winter with the heat on, I have to replace 3-4 gal of water per week. I don’t know how the gravity fed water bottle solutions work - it’s be more of a pain to fill them up rather than just top off the tank manually.

so whatever you do - make it a big holding volume? I use a 5 gal holding with a tunze ato. It’s not what you asked for, but it’s for sure on my “must have” equipment list.

 

[MoshJosh]

20gal tank. In the winter with the heat on, I have to replace 3-4 gal of water per week. I don’t know how the gravity fed water bottle solutions work - it’s be more of a pain to fill them up rather than just top off the tank manually.

so whatever you do - make it a big holding volume? I use a 5 gal holding with a tunze ato. It’s not what you asked for, but it’s for sure on my “must have” equipment list.

Yeah I would not use the water bottle for a larger tank, but on a 5 gallon it buys you a few days (depending on the area/humidity). I have a 1.5 gallon reservoir on my 20 gallon and I refill the reservoir 1-2 times a week. I plan on upgrading soon. . . but can't decide if I want to drill a small glass tank or just buy/order an acrylic one.

 

[Nman]

Hi Iam using a diy bottle on my nano 12g tank had it running for 5 weeks keep salinity bang on every time . Good for nano tanks maybe no good for large tanks as mentioned above.

 

[Haggisman14]

I figured out that I'm losing about 1/4 cup of water every day due to evaporation. That means it'll take just over 8 days to lose just over 2 cups of water.

I think the best and most failsafe way to go foward is going to be using the IceCap 500mL bottle. 1 will get me through a full week of top off, and if for some reason I'm goign to go away on vacation i'll add a second one to the rear chamber, which will give me 2 weeks of top off.

Only thing I"ll have to worry about in that time is an automatic feeder to keep the fish happy!

Thanks everyone for their feedback!

 

[Saltyreef]

I figured out that I'm losing about 1/4 cup of water every day due to evaporation. That means it'll take just over 8 days to lose just over 2 cups of water.

I think the best and most failsafe way to go foward is going to be using the IceCap 500mL bottle. 1 will get me through a full week of top off, and if for some reason I'm goign to go away on vacation i'll add a second one to the rear chamber, which will give me 2 weeks of top off.

Only thing I"ll have to worry about in that time is an automatic feeder to keep the fish happy!

Thanks everyone for their feedback!

Get one and make sure it works well before your vacation. I keep one running 24/7 so i just have to fill pellets every month or so.

 

[bvanfish]

I have the Amazon 7 buck gravity fed one with a Fiji liter bottle on it. I have to fill it every day or so. I wish it lasted longer but my salinity has never been off in 5 months. No fear of overflow etc.

I would love it to be able to take 5 gallons so I could leave for a weekend but haven’t figured that out.

 

[Haggisman14]

I have the Amazon 7 buck gravity fed one with a Fiji liter bottle on it. I have to fill it every day or so. I wish it lasted longer but my salinity has never been off in 5 months. No fear of overflow etc.

I would love it to be able to take 5 gallons so I could leave for a weekend but haven’t figured that out.

Do you have a lid on your tank? The second I put a lid on the small deskmate, the evaporation went from about 1-1.5 cups per day to 1/4 of a cup!

 

[bvanfish]

I just have a mesh top lid. I want the air exchange and I didn’t know if it would block too much light