Show me your ATO storage containers.

@ Jkat21 I have a 72g BF too *

...couple things for you and others regarding some of the questions you've brought up on Storage Containers, RODI TDS, Kalk, Automated RODI, and a badass Top-off pump that many don't know about. I hope this isn't too basic info for you but perhaps another reader can benefit from some of this too

Depending on how serious you feel about quality control you may or may not care to have a container that is NSF certified; this means that it is food grade quality and there is a control used during it's manufacturing. Many use these and there's no questioning it's performance and quality while holding purified water. Some of the mentioned tubs in this discussion actually leave a residue on your fingers just by rubbing the material....e., Rubbermaids; this was a turn off to me; it may have been isolated problem when I looked at them, but once and I was convinced no way was I going to chance an issue. I have too much money and personal attachment to my fish and the corals.*

RODI water is stripped of everything and will have a high affinity for any impurities it can obtain. It is recommended to cover your container and use one that won't leech impurities. NSF meets my requirement for this. If you run Kalk then covering will help slow down precipitation too (a precipitate film will form faster at the surface if left uncovered, my covered Brute barely forms a film).*

Kalk's high pH indirectly helps your water by binding organics in the water and they fallout as the white precipitate in the bottom of your container. This is why it's important to have a container you can easily access and clean out between refills so you don't collect and stock up on these bound organics in the bottom of the top-off container. I have gone two refills between cleaning out but the precipitate cloud gets pretty thick at this point and I don't like to wait for this heavy cloud to settle out...it takes about 24 hrs, maybe a tad more. I prepare my ATO Kalk water in a 20g NSF Brute Trash container, I'm currently using 1tsp/5g's of lime to RODI water respectively. I get approximately 7-10 days using 20g's depending on evap and skimmate. *My tank system has a lot of air exchange as my overflow from my display tank drains about fifteen feet from my Durso to my return pump while gravity carries the water through my refugium, Frag tank, and my sump. My system is 200g's total and my evap plus my skim-mate is about 1.5-2.0 gpd.*

As far as TDS when you start up your RODI unit...I have never seen any TDS on the output side PERIOD. If someone has this problem then the DI resin is exhausted. I have been running my RODI now for 11 months and I am just now beginning to see TDS on the input side of my BRS dual DI resin reactors...I am currently seeing 17 TDS and nothing on the output side of my last DI stage at startup. Within about 25 seconds the input reading is back at zero...so I have to say this is likely a maintenance issue not performing resin changes when used up, etc (my tank buddy has such crappy water...he's on a well, he has to change DI resin after each use!).

My water quality is very good and I'm surprised how much I've made over this past year (I just setup my 72g Mamba Jambalaya system this year and I naturally cured dead coral rock off the coastal shores from my multiple trips to Hawaii).*I flush my membrane after every use. I make 40g's at a time and it's stored in a 44g Brute NSF Trash container purchased from Home Depot. I have the BRS 75 GPD 5 Stage Plus setup that includes dual DI. As you approach the end of your DI resin life you will eventually see TDS and it's time to swap it out. Good to have a backup of everything x 1 if you plan to be ahead of this problem. Good question though

As for my Top-off pump...you'll love this! I have a Reef-Filler 1-7gpd pump...I love my pump! I learned about this while beefing up on my chemistry knowledge reading work by amazing reef chemist (and Pharmacist) Randy Holmes-Farley.*

My ATO pump is a Reef-Filler 1 to 7g/day diaphragm pump; this isn't any average pump. It can pump 150ft in any direction and I get to set it anywhere from 1-7 gallons per day. This pump can also draw from 5ft from the fluid source. The huge benefit I get from this is SECURITY for my system. If my float switches fail...and they will fail sometime!! (float switches as you know are a electronic apparatus, and well...will fail eventually). I don't have to worry about a worse case scenario cause my worse case is at most two gallons added to my tank over a twenty-four hour period I can easily tell how long my pump is running based on my Apex controller and graphs on my iPhone...it's seriously not a*concern for my system to have this worry of overflowing/running etc. If you're running Kalk...which almost everyone should...(almost ) then you definitely don't want a over run situation to stress your corals out cause your pH jumped up I.e., .5 or more; ideally you don't want you're pH to rise more than 0.03 per top-off event, but some systems inhabitants can tolerate 0.20 per event.*

You mention a very valid concern about automating from your RODI unit to your storage container. At most, I suggest you use a float valve to stop the flow should you brain fart as I have and forget to shut off your RODI unit My unit is in my basement and is moderately a PITA to clean up if I forget...but it's not on my polished hardwood floors The more automation you use in your ATO setup the more potential for failures to arise. it's just a matter of time. Another security factor about the Reef-Filler is it's a diaphragm pump and has 4 bearings in the diaphragm...there's no way for this pump to have siphoning issues that you'll encounter with gravity ATO and cheap quality ATO pumps.*

Listen, i'd love to share with you my setup and introduce you to my Reef-Filler. It is an amazing pump! They make a Dual Reef-Filler too! Imagine not having to do water changes The dual pump can be setup to daily 1% water changes and meet your maimtence needs with you only having to empty/fill containers respectively *

Champion Lighting Supply sells the Reef-Filler pumps. The single is around $237 and the Dual is around $315 if I remember correctly.*

I hope this was informative/helpful in some way for you. Take care and I hope you find a happy and safe medium for your top-off needs. FWIW IMHO I would not tap your RODI, ATO, & your DT all together. You need to have a manual control mechanism in there...that mechanism is you my system is extremely automated and my mechanical involvement is brief about every 10 days. I'm a concerned fellow reefer about you automating your RODI to your ATO

I will post some pics of my setup for you in the morning in a few hours...gotta get some sleep. Take care.*

Respectfully,

Brian Davis.*

 

@ Jkat21 I have a 72g BF too *

...couple things for you and others regarding some of the questions you've brought up on Storage Containers, RODI TDS, Kalk, Automated RODI, and a badass Top-off pump that many don't know about. I hope this isn't too basic info for you but perhaps another reader can benefit from some of this too

Depending on how serious you feel about quality control you may or may not care to have a container that is NSF certified; this means that it is food grade quality and there is a control used during it's manufacturing. Many use these and there's no questioning it's performance and quality while holding purified water. Some of the mentioned tubs in this discussion actually leave a residue on your fingers just by rubbing the material....e., Rubbermaids; this was a turn off to me; it may have been isolated problem when I looked at them, but once and I was convinced no way was I going to chance an issue. I have too much money and personal attachment to my fish and the corals.*

RODI water is stripped of everything and will have a high affinity for any impurities it can obtain. It is recommended to cover your container and use one that won't leech impurities. NSF meets my requirement for this. If you run Kalk then covering will help slow down precipitation too (a precipitate film will form faster at the surface if left uncovered, my covered Brute barely forms a film).*

Kalk's high pH indirectly helps your water by binding organics in the water and they fallout as the white precipitate in the bottom of your container. This is why it's important to have a container you can easily access and clean out between refills so you don't collect and stock up on these bound organics in the bottom of the top-off container. I have gone two refills between cleaning out but the precipitate cloud gets pretty thick at this point and I don't like to wait for this heavy cloud to settle out...it takes about 24 hrs, maybe a tad more. I prepare my ATO Kalk water in a 20g NSF Brute Trash container, I'm currently using 1tsp/5g's of lime to RODI water respectively. I get approximately 7-10 days using 20g's depending on evap and skimmate. *My tank system has a lot of air exchange as my overflow from my display tank drains about fifteen feet from my Durso to my return pump while gravity carries the water through my refugium, Frag tank, and my sump. My system is 200g's total and my evap plus my skim-mate is about 1.5-2.0 gpd.*

As far as TDS when you start up your RODI unit...I have never seen any TDS on the output side PERIOD. If someone has this problem then the DI resin is exhausted. I have been running my RODI now for 11 months and I am just now beginning to see TDS on the input side of my BRS dual DI resin reactors...I am currently seeing 17 TDS and nothing on the output side of my last DI stage at startup. Within about 25 seconds the input reading is back at zero...so I have to say this is likely a maintenance issue not performing resin changes when used up, etc (my tank buddy has such crappy water...he's on a well, he has to change DI resin after each use!).

My water quality is very good and I'm surprised how much I've made over this past year (I just setup my 72g Mamba Jambalaya system this year and I naturally cured dead coral rock off the coastal shores from my multiple trips to Hawaii).*I flush my membrane after every use. I make 40g's at a time and it's stored in a 44g Brute NSF Trash container purchased from Home Depot. I have the BRS 75 GPD 5 Stage Plus setup that includes dual DI. As you approach the end of your DI resin life you will eventually see TDS and it's time to swap it out. Good to have a backup of everything x 1 if you plan to be ahead of this problem. Good question though

As for my Top-off pump...you'll love this! I have a Reef-Filler 1-7gpd pump...I love my pump! I learned about this while beefing up on my chemistry knowledge reading work by amazing reef chemist (and Pharmacist) Randy Holmes-Farley.*

My ATO pump is a Reef-Filler 1 to 7g/day diaphragm pump; this isn't any average pump. It can pump 150ft in any direction and I get to set it anywhere from 1-7 gallons per day. This pump can also draw from 5ft from the fluid source. The huge benefit I get from this is SECURITY for my system. If my float switches fail...and they will fail sometime!! (float switches as you know are a electronic apparatus, and well...will fail eventually). I don't have to worry about a worse case scenario cause my worse case is at most two gallons added to my tank over a twenty-four hour period I can easily tell how long my pump is running based on my Apex controller and graphs on my iPhone...it's seriously not a*concern for my system to have this worry of overflowing/running etc. If you're running Kalk...which almost everyone should...(almost ) then you definitely don't want a over run situation to stress your corals out cause your pH jumped up I.e., .5 or more; ideally you don't want you're pH to rise more than 0.03 per top-off event, but some systems inhabitants can tolerate 0.20 per event.*

You mention a very valid concern about automating from your RODI unit to your storage container. At most, I suggest you use a float valve to stop the flow should you brain fart as I have and forget to shut off your RODI unit My unit is in my basement and is moderately a PITA to clean up if I forget...but it's not on my polished hardwood floors The more automation you use in your ATO setup the more potential for failures to arise. it's just a matter of time. Another security factor about the Reef-Filler is it's a diaphragm pump and has 4 bearings in the diaphragm...there's no way for this pump to have siphoning issues that you'll encounter with gravity ATO and cheap quality ATO pumps.*

Listen, i'd love to share with you my setup and introduce you to my Reef-Filler. It is an amazing pump! They make a Dual Reef-Filler too! Imagine not having to do water changes The dual pump can be setup to daily 1% water changes and meet your maimtence needs with you only having to empty/fill containers respectively *

Champion Lighting Supply sells the Reef-Filler pumps. The single is around $237 and the Dual is around $315 if I remember correctly.*

I hope this was informative/helpful in some way for you. Take care and I hope you find a happy and safe medium for your top-off needs. FWIW IMHO I would not tap your RODI, ATO, & your DT all together. You need to have a manual control mechanism in there...that mechanism is you my system is extremely automated and my mechanical involvement is brief about every 10 days. I'm a concerned fellow reefer about you automating your RODI to your ATO

I will post some pics of my setup for you in the morning in a few hours...gotta get some sleep. Take care.*

Respectfully,

Brian Davis.*

 

I use the LLC-UPLC-II UPLC-II ULTRA-PRECISE AUTO TOP-OFF on sale for $199 here.
Untitled Document

They have many other choices on their main website here:

LIQUID LEVEL CONTROLLERS

 

I haven't started with an ATO yet but did get the food grade buckets at Lowe's for collecting some of the waste water in while making RO/DI water. We use the RO waste water in a water cooler off the kitchen. I couldn't see all that "good" waste water just going down the drain when it is still good people water.

I do like the black container anther member pictured early on in this thread, which would work great in my situation since our 110 gl tank is in the nook & no room to put anything under the stand anymore.

 

The waste is not "good" water. There is a reason it is called BRINE in the industry. The waste is 20 to 25% higher TDS than the tap wate rwas to begin with, then you remove the residual chlorine disinfectant so it is no longer protected. I certainly wouldn't drink it and I'm a water treatment professional by trade. Use it for watering landscape, or washing laundry or even filling the toilet tank but don't drink it.

 

Mine is just like Peredhil's its a 18 gallon but I fill it about 15g full. I do not have my RO/DI line hooked up to it just because the fact I add kalk to mine and need to make a new batch each time. I have a 75 and it lasts about two weeks. It is in my closet right near my tank and I just used the tacks that you use for coax cable to hold the top off line along the base board to the back of my stand. Ill post some pictures when I get home from work today.

 

white 5g bucket from homedepot

 

Just to reiterate on what the rat said, that is not good people water. It is concentrated nasty.

 

here are the pictures of mine and how I routed it if you are lucky enough to have a closet close by.