ATO question....

[mister crabs]

So I am going out of town for a week and need to get an ATO. I am ordering the JBJ unit and it says i need a pump to run it. anyone running one of these? what pump do I use? I got to pump up about 4-4.5 feet into the tank. I was thinking a maxijet 900. will this be ok? thanks! (scratch)

[andy]

An aqualifter would work fine. I used one for my kalk ATO.

[wegotjs]

Here is a cheap diy

http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/auto_topoff.html

[mister crabs]

how far will an aqualifter pump? I need to go from the floor up into the back chamber of my biocube thats on a 36" stand. total height would be like 5 ft.

[spectra]

Not exactly sure but I saw a bio cube 29 with 3 aqua lifters on it. 2 were used for the two part dosing and they were in the stand going to the rear compartments. The third was about 6 feet away on the floor with a five gallon bucket for top off. So I think you are pretty safe to use them. I know they are real slow but work good for what they are intended for.

[andy]

I have one on each of my tanks; the one on the nano is almost exactly like you describe your would be.

[mister crabs]

ok sweet. i will order one then. Im going to use a rubbermaid container that I can put 10 gal in. thinking about tossing a mj1200 in there to mix up some kalk in the future too. but my 2 part has worked well so far. Just too much evap for me. I evap a gallon or a gallon and a half every day. but theres 0% humidity here and its 108 degrees this time of year. plus halide with open top doesnt probably help. lol

[andy]

For kalk in the ato, you don't want to continue mixing it after you add it. You only need the periodic mixing on a kalk reactor. Just add 1 - 2 tsp kalk per gallon of top-off water, mix it up, put on a lid and you are good to go. I'm not sure I'd use kalk on a sumpless system though, the drip is really high pH.

[mister crabs]

i will probably with the 2 part as it has worked so far.