ATO pump question

[avilamillar]

Hi everyone. I wanted to ask why is that my ATO pump keeps siphoning after the pump (aqualiffter) shuts off.

It had to happen exactly the day I wasn't home the whole day :mad:

Thanks

[Cammed_02]

Is the reservoir container higher than the sump? If it is it will create a siphon and keep water flowing. Lower the container or make a small hole so the siphon will break when the pump shuts off.

[Big_Pun]

keep the ATO outlet tube out of the water in sump.

[avilamillar]

The outlet tube is out of the water in the sump. The reservoir container is already on the floor but the tube might not be getting all the way to the bottom. The whole would go on the outlet tube?

Thanks

[Cammed_02]

The hole would go on the container itself to break the siphon when the pump is not on.

[avilamillar]

but the reservoir isn't sealed.

[Cammed_02]

Hmm that's weird, explain your setup a little more.

[avilamillar]

I have a reef fanatics ATO with an aqualifter pump. My reservoir is a big trash can.I thought the aqualifter was not working right or something but it could be that the tubing inside the reservoir is not low enough. I didn't put it all the way down because there's kalk on the bottom.

Here's how it looks:

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn167/avilamillar/photobucket-45514-1334195907593.jpg

[avilamillar]

Would it work if I put the aqualifter on the floor instead?

[CoryDude]

It's the pressure of the water inside that trashcan that's doing it. Used to happen with my tunze osmolator all the time. I'd get home and find an overflowing sump and an empty resevoir container.

You've got a sealed piece of tubing that starts near the bottom of your trashcan, goes up to the lift pump and then travels back down to your sump. It doesn't matter that your output line is above the water, it's still lower than the water level in the trashcan. So what happens is that the weight of all that water in the trashcan continues to force water through the tube. I'm betting the siphon finally stops when the water level in your resevoir drops below the output level of your feeder line.

The best fix is to place your output line up in the display tank, preferrably in the overflow box. That way your output will always be higher than the highest level of the make up water resevoir. The other option would be to use a smaller resevoir container. Either way, just make sure the output level is higher than the water level in your freshwater container.

[avilamillar]

I think I'll place the output line up in the overflow. That should fix the problem completely right?


In my other tank with no sump I have an osmolator with the outlet on the main tank and o have never had any problems.


Thanks for the help. Now that I now what's wrong seems too obvious Haha.

[CoryDude]

On the other tank, is your resevoir below the display tank? Also, that trashcan resevoir holds a lot of water so it has a lot of pressure inside of it.

Try placing the output in the overflow. I bet that will solve your problem. Just curious, when the siphon didn't stop, how low did your salinity get?

[avilamillar]

Got the output on the overflow and has been working perfect today. On the other tank the reservoirs top water level is below the DT water level thats why I never had any problems. It actually didn't get that low, I think I had it a little high before. It was at about 1.024