OMG! ATO got stuck on!!! Almost had a flood!!

Talk about timing! I was sitting watching tv, and was hearin a funny bubbling noise for a while, figured my skimmer was full. So, I go check before bed, and my 55 sump is 1/2 from overflowing!! The DT is fine, overflow workin, I was like HOLY CR@P!
My ATO was stuck on and the float and electric safety failed! Thankful everything in the DT is fine, but my salinity is down to 1.021! So, thankfully, had a new SW mix that I was going to do tomorrow, removed water, did a WC tonight instead, and now at 1.022. Will add more salt tomorrow.
But Holy Cow! If I didn't check it before going to bed, what a disaster I woulda had! I just needed to vent. Now, I need a beer..bandana:

 

hence the reason I do my own water top offs. I just don't trust electrical based top offs. I would trust a toilet valve before I left my set up to ANY electrical top off- SW has a crazy way of creating electrolysis, which in turn creates voltage bleed- this plays havoc with many low voltage devices.

glad ya caught it- what brand BTW?

 

Close call there! As you said Talk about timing!
JJL

 

wow! do you have your ATO set on a timer or a controller? i've read those are good ways to help limit how long an ATO can run at one time.

 

I can't remember its been soo long. Whats funny, is the olther day i was thinking, Its been a while since I cleaned/maintained the unit. It was in my plan tomorrow when I did my WC. But of course, when you think it, it happens.


It has a float shut off on it too. the electric was the backup to the float.

 

which failed according to what you have described.

 

Whats funny, is I bought a ReefKeeper lite, but only have the PH probe and temp working on it right now, its not even mounted yet, its sitting on a chair on the side of the tank!-haha I havent gotten around to mounting it yet.

Currently the ATO is on a dial timer set to go on 2x a day for 20 minutes.

 

Both! I havent taken it apart yet, I just shut off the rodi water going to it for tonight. Since everone is asleep, i'll do it tomorrow. If I wake the wife, it would not be a good thing.

 

Certainly no reason to not run a ATO. All things fail... that is why proper maintenance is important. If you have fail safes in place then it is important to test them. I always tested my overfill when ever I did a water change. Equipment is only as good as we operate it.

Another thing for sure is that is a very good reason no to connect a RO/DI to your tank. I used a 7g jug... changed it every 3-4 days, my sump could comfortably hold it and my salinity would not be severely impacted. That is fail safe.

Glad you caught it. clean stuff up, replace what you need to, test things out from time to time. Now that you have a cool new controller, don't be tempted to hook up your RO/DI to your tank.

 

I don't have a tank, it runs straight from the RO/DI unit under my sink. With the 55 under the DT, I don't have any room left for a tank. I know, if I had a tank, it only woulda added 5-7 gallons instead of about 15.
But your right. the equipment is only as good as the maintence you do. Thats where I screwed up. Waited too long.