Gravity Fed ATO

[AnthonyP]

SO..
I have been doing some research and really like the idea of a gravity fed ATO for my application. I have read many threads on RC about success stories and reliability. My goal is to be able to hold about 15-20 gallons in the resevoir mounted just above the sump. I am reaching out to see if anyone has experience with this and could guide me in a direction?

I am looking at buying the Kent float valve or equal to mount in my already running sump. I have seen installations where this would be drilled through the side of the sump....Since the system is up and running I am planning on running PVC conduit over and down inside the tank to the height that I need and installing the valve on the PVC rather than drilling the tank. Anyone have a smiliar installation or does anyone have a gravity fed ATO and could share experience and installaation ideas??? Any help would be great. Thanks for looking.

 

[JohnK]

I've set up a few ATOs similar to what you are describing, but I have always drilled the sump. The PVC idea could work, but I would be very concerned about it getting jostled or otherwise not staying in place consistently.

What do you have for a sump? If it's acrylic, it's easy to drill while the sump is in service. If it's a glass sump, well petco is having their dollar per gallon sale again, so replacement probably woudn't be very expensive

 

[AnthonyP]

It's a 40 breeder drilled in 3 spots. I will explain this setup and try and post a pic later...Basically There are 4 tanks on this stand. The stand I built out of cynder blocks and 4x4's. The stand is 8' long (2 tanks side by side on each level). The top 2 frag tanks feed in to the bottom right skimmer refuge tank which then drains into the bottom left sump tank. It would be much more of a pain to take this down and drill another hole etc..so my thoughts were to construct a "T" out of 1" PVC and drill it to the bottom of the 4x4's that the top tanks sit on (which are directly over the sump (if you can picture that?)...and just have the long section come right down to the height of my choosing where I would then mount the float valve.

 

[AnthonyP]

Picture of the Sump

 

[JohnK]

That would be some effort to replace if it broke.... If you did want to try I have the holesaw to go with the kent float valve.

Otherwise, If the PVC were really securely fastened, then yes the original idea would work. I'd still feel nervous, but it would work. Maybe use sch80 PVC so it's as rigid as possible?

 

[AnthonyP]

I know it would be quite some effort to replace if broke, yet again everything in this hobby takes quite a bit of effort!! I ordered the float valve and should have it by Tuesday. I am sort of leaning away from breaking this sump down and drilling but thank you for the offer to use your holesaw.

Sched 80 sounds like a good option sturdy option

Another thought is that I do have an 8" baffle in the middle of that sump (see pic above). The baffle does not have any teeth on it...basically just acts as a weir for water to spill over in the return section. I could possibly drill near the top of that at the 7 inch mark and mount the valve in the return section as another option...maybe?

 

[Reef_Wizard]

I just installed float valve ATO in my 10g fuge. Instead of drilling, I installed it on the eggcrate cover. The cover is tightly fitted on the rim and the fuge light is holding it down. Also installed an airline valve to turn off water supply from the reservoir whenever I need to remove the cover to service the fuge or do water change.

 

[JohnK]

Another thought is that I do have an 8" baffle in the middle of that sump (see pic above). The baffle does not have any teeth on it...basically just acts as a weir for water to spill over in the return section. I could possibly drill near the top of that at the 7 inch mark and mount the valve in the return section as another option...maybe?

That sounds like a great option if you have the space to fit the valve, and the baffle is fairly sturdy.