ATO options

[hdyoung]

I'm looking around for an ATO. I'm kinda cheap, and I'm willing to DIY it if it saves me money. I tried building a gravity fed ATO, and I was unimpressed with the results.

Ive been looking around at websites. It seems that, no matter how I slice it, a decent ATO is going to require 2 saltwater float switches, a relay, a power cord, a piece of acrylic, a project box of some sort, and assorted other hardware that I don't have laying around. If I look hard for a good deal, I'll still probably have to pay shipping once or twice. I think we're talking about 30 dollars bare minimum, and probably more like 40. For just a bit more, I can buy one all set to go. Dont get me wrong, I've DIY'd a lot of stuff, but this seems like something that might be better off just purchased.

Autotopoff.com sells this sort of thing for 50 plus shipping. I'm willing to pay an extra 20 or 30 bucks to save me large numbers of DIY headaches. Does anyone know if these cheaper  systems work well? Or, can anyone direct me to a place I can get the parts for 20-30 dollars?

Dan

[verper]

http://topdose.net/shop.htm

This is where mine came from in a group buy.   With one float and included shipping, the basic unit would be $50.

[ohioreef]

I made mine using 1 float switch, an extension cord, Aqua Lifter pump, some air line/tubing and a 5 gallon water container.

My ATO can be seen at http://www.ohioreef.com/forum/index.php?topic=1308.0

[JoeAyers]

I have two from autotopoff.com and they have always worked without fail.

Joe

[hdyoung]

Hm, so you skipped the relay and the safety

[JoeAyers]

I use the double from ATO and a solenoid and top off directly from my RODI through my kalk reactor. No pump. I know a lot of people don't reco this set up cause of the solenoid fails your tank will continue to top off forever...I've never had any problems and check my tank enough that if the solenoid fails (which 99% of the time happens in the closed position) I will catch it and be able to manually remedy the situation.

[ohioreef]

Hm, so you skipped the relay and the safety

If the float would stick open the most I'm gonna pump in is just a little over 4 gallons so that isn't going to hurt the tank any.