Top Off the old way

[JMorris271]

A question about yester years. How did you do it before the discovery of the ATO? Sump, tank, adding less salt to water to get levels to match?
How was it done back in those days please?
Thanks

[kmbyrnes]

I had ( still have ) a tape mark on my sump to mark Minimum and Maximun water levels. I kept a 5g container nest to the tank and topped off daily.
Now that I have an ATO. I sue those marks to verify the ATO is working correctly.

[JMorris271]

Originally Posted by kmbyrnes

I had ( still have ) a tape mark on my sump to mark Minimum and Maximun water levels. I kept a 5g container nest to the tank and topped off daily.
Now that I have an ATO. I sue those marks to verify the ATO is working correctly.

So you added how much and how often at a time to your sump? Not all at once I take it.

[sde1500]

Yesteryears? I've only been in the hobby a couple years, still don't have an ATO. I just add water as needed, have a low water mark on the sump. One piece of equipment I plan to add soon though.

[MrsReefK]

Originally Posted by sde1500

Yesteryears? I've only been in the hobby a couple years, still don't have an ATO. I just add water as needed, have a low water mark on the sump. One piece of equipment I plan to add soon though.

Definitely get one! You won't realize what a difference it makes to have ATO.


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[davocean]

Yeah yester years?
Pfft, I still top off the "old" way!
My sump has baffles that maintain a level, I notice the drop in my fuge area, I just add to my drain section and my sump is big enough to contain enough volume that it's not a big deal.
I'll get an ATO one of these days, not a top priority for me right now, there are other toys I want first.

[NeilFox]

i still do it the old ways too. Never trust a float valve...

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by MrsReefK

Definitely get one! You won't realize what a difference it makes to have ATO.

The only real difference it makes is how often you add water (unless your auto top off is connected to an RO/DI unit).

[billdogg]

Never had a ATO don't plan on getting one. Jet another thing to fail. I add about 5g to my 120 every 3 or 4 days.

[kmbyrnes]

Originally Posted by JMorris271

So you added how much and how often at a time to your sump? Not all at once I take it.

It was about a gallon once a day. It didn't make a huge difference in a 100g tank.
The tank still uses about a gallon a day. The ATO just tops off smaller quantities more often.
The best part of the ATO is that I only fill the top off container about twice a week.

[johnike]

After 30 years in the hobby, I finally got an Osmolator.

I still have a float in the sump of the fish system directly to the RO/DI.
(Not recommended)

Before that, I was just topping off with manual bucketing.

[ReefsandGeeks]

I went ATO free for 3 years and just last week got my first one. Main reason being I'm going on my honeymoon in a couple of months, and I wanted to be able to only have someone come check on the tank every few days, instead of every day, especially if they were just stopping by to add a gallon of water.

Recently I've just been adding water to a tape mark once or twice a day, but in the past I'd made a pressurized 5 gallon water vessel with a needle valve that dripped every 5-7 seconds or so into the tank, and maintained levels perfectly for a week at a time, with maybe one adjustment a week. This was nice, and cheap to build but not without it's problems. First, I was the only person who knew how to set it "just so" so it would work well. It did take a bit of work to get it adjusted when I did. Also, there was no fail safe for this. If my needle valve failed or air pump for pressure failed the tank could get 5 gallons of water at once, or stop getting topped off.

I now have my first ATO with a 5 gallon bucket, and so far I am enjoying the convenience, and I imagine the coral may like the more consistent parameters than me topping off manually. I'll just have to be diligent about keeping the float switch clear of salt creep and other buildup.

[ScienceRulez]

Up until about 6 months ago I added water to the sump to bring the water level up to "the line". Now I have a float valve attached directly to an RODI unit, in addition to an electric valve that the Apex turns on for an hour at 5am and an hour at 7pm. Up to then I was adding about 10 gallons of RODI water a day to combat the insane level of evaporation at this place thanks to the built in dehumidifier in our HVAC .
A year ago I was taking a hose and just adding standard untreated tap water into the tank once a week to bring it up to level.

See what this group has taught me?

[ScienceRulez]

Up until about 6 months ago I added water to the sump to bring the water level up to "the line". Now I have a float valve attached directly to an RODI unit, in addition to an electric valve that the Apex turns on for an hour at 5am and an hour at 7pm. Up to then I was adding about 10 gallons of RODI water a day to combat the insane level of evaporation at this place thanks to the built in dehumidifier in our HVAC .
A year ago I was taking a hose and just adding standard untreated tap water into the tank once a week to bring it up to level.

See what this group has taught me?

[JMorris271]

Originally Posted by billdogg

Never had a ATO don't plan on getting one. Jet another thing to fail. I add about 5g to my 120 every 3 or 4 days.

Doesn't adding 5 gals or so of RODI filtered water every 3 or 4 days cause a problem for your corals because of this sudden influx of fresh water?

[heathlindner25]

I pour freshwater right into my display tank, dump it right on top of the coral... they don't care

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by heathlindner25

I pour freshwater right into my display tank, dump it right on top of the coral... they don't care

I wouldn't go so far as to say they don't care, but they can certainly tolerate the change in salinity fairly well. There were days that I added 5g of RO/DI to the sump (in a 45g section) and then it pumped up into the 180g tank. I never saw any issues.

[heathlindner25]

When I say that, I mean ,they don't close up , and from an outward appearance ,I can't tell
" they care".

[JMorris271]

Originally Posted by heathlindner25

I pour freshwater right into my display tank, dump it right on top of the coral... they don't care

Would or could you do that with some fish or inverts around

[heathlindner25]

Originally Posted by JMorris271

Would or could you do that with some fish or inverts around

Coral are inverts, but yes. I have a lot of flow in my tank and it gets mixed up pretty easily

[davocean]

Of course I agree less change to your params is really ideal, especially to more sensitive corals, just many of us have done fine for a great many years w/out an ATO.
Yeah, when I had an easier softy tank just dumping straight into display was no biggie, but now I do at least put some thought into it, so I try to not just dump a 5er at a time and I add to first chamber of sump so it's a much smaller shock to the system overall.
A quality ATO should be reliable, but redundant safety's are always a good thing to have.
I do plan to add one at some point, it just does not feel like an urgent need for me.

[eastlake]

Read a couple stories about auto top offs not turning off and basically turning the saltwater system into a freshwater system while people were away. Those were more than enough to give me nightmares, lugging buckets is the way for me yes-sir-ie.

[ScienceRulez]

Originally Posted by eastlake

Read a couple stories about auto top offs not turning off and basically turning the saltwater system into a freshwater system while people were away. Those were more than enough to give me nightmares, lugging buckets is the way for me yes-sir-ie.

I've had that happen once, one of the staff members decided to make an adjustment and the apex flood detector circuit woke me up. It's not fun getting up at 4 to go in and fix a problem because someone couldn't keep their hands off the equipment.

The door to the tank equipment now has it's own unique lock. Not even the master key will work. The only people who have a key is the Facilities manager and me.

[billdogg]

The closest I have to an ATO is a line hard plumbed to the back of the tank from the basement water storage barrel. The barrel has a Mag18 in it hooked up through a $10 remote control on/off switch so that I can just turn it on with the touch of a button, open a valve behind the tank, and allow it to fill to the line marked on the sump. It's quick, easy, and 100% failsafe.

[davocean]

A properly matched resevoir would eliminate any serious water dump, but I do like Billdoggs idea and setup!