Best bang for Ur buck ATO

[jason604]

Oooo I will try this method since I already have air pump n mech float laying around. I'm not really afraid of overflowing since my sump can easily handle max 5 gal of water from my water jug anyways

Originally Posted by mike31154

I use an air pump on a timer to pressurize a 7 gallon glass wine carboy. This pushes water through a mechanical float valve to keep my display topped up for about a week. I like simple with a minimum of electrics if at all possible. Fewer failure points. If I had a sump, I'd elevate the top off container & use gravity (eliminating the air pump) to trickle water through the float valve. I've used this set up for a good 5 years now with no issues. Periodically dose alk, calcium, mag through the top off & never had the mechanical valve clog. Just need to ensure you mix whatever you're dosing real well & not overdo it. No a big deal to check the opening during a water change to ensure it's clear. I've shortened the valve by cutting off two of the float chambers to reduce the footprint in the display & it still works great.

Great bang for buck since I had most of the components kicking around the house already.

Solid rubber stopper drilled with two holes to accommodate rigid air tubes. Short one for air in, long one to the bottom to transport water to float valve.


Photo of the valve when it was still full length. I've shortened it by cutting off two sections at the end.

[Ryanerickson]

If I tried putting that 5 gallon ghetto ato in my living room pretty sure the girlfriend would ask me to pack up the tank. I have a 2 gallon tank on a mechanical float cost about $30 to buy float and plexi glass. build small holding tank and place it higher then float it works off gravity.i know the float can fail but 2 gallons in over 250 will not do much.be carefull Jason 5 gallons may not flood your house but pretty sure it would kill your tank.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by jason604

Oooo I will try this method since I already have air pump n mech float laying around. I'm not really afraid of overflowing since my sump can easily handle max 5 gal of water from my water jug anyways

It does take a little tweaking to get the air pump timing right, so it doesn't run unnecessarily, so good idea to get it dialed in before you take off on vacation for more than a few days. Mine runs a few minutes almost every hour to maintain positive pressure in the carboy. The timer has 20 programs IIRC, so there are a couple hours where it doesn't run. The blank hours are during the night due to lower evaporation rate. Timings are a bit longer during the day due to higher evaporation rate. Since the air pump is fairly low pressure, there's little danger in it overpressurizing anything. Worst case if it runs too long is wasted electricity and wear/tear on the pump. Once you get it dialed in efficiently, there's rarely need to make further adjustments. I had to fabricate the bracket for my float valve out of scrap acrylic & used nylon screws/nuts to fasten things in place. It's a good idea to have an air check valve in the line between the air pump & the top off container. This helps maintain pressure & prevent leakage back through the air pump. These check valves are only a couple of $$ and readily available at most any LFS.