ATO Setup

[SyberSects]

I've been having issues with the ATO setup. Originally I had an optical at water level and a float for emergency shut off. this worked for a long time. however when the return pump is shut off this chamber of the sump is then over filled with water.. and per a past conversation this is a big no for the optical sensors. it was fine for several months but finally died, stuck in the "touching water" state. so for a quick emergency setup i took the contact-less sensor i had on the glass of the RODI container and put that on the glass of the sump. this "works" however this chamber gets very dirty at the water line and i think this is causing issues falsely reading. plus id like to have that back on the RODI chamber. SO!.. any suggestions on how i can resolve this and get a stable, reliable ATO system? would 2 floats work? one for "on/off" and the second for the hard cut off?

[Rob F]

Unfortunately I can't find the picture but someone not long ago sent me a good idea for ATO sensor. What he did was got some PVC pipe with an inner diameter to match the outer diameter of the optical sensor. Then fill lower half of PVC with aquarium safe silicone and push the cable through and push the sensor till it sits nicely in the end. Now you've got a nicely sealed sensor.

Two float switches will work as well but the operating window is much larger.

[SyberSects]

Unfortunately I can't find the picture but someone not long ago sent me a good idea for ATO sensor. What he did was got some PVC pipe with an inner diameter to match the outer diameter of the optical sensor. Then fill lower half of PVC with aquarium safe silicone and push the cable through and push the sensor till it sits nicely in the end. Now you've got a nicely sealed sensor.

Two float switches will work as well but the operating window is much larger.

i took this advice. i had some pvc the exact size of the optical sensors. i had a spare sensor. so i shoved it in. sealed it up with silicone and set everything back up again. it actually seems like a nice solution and has been working great so far.

[Rob F]

Great, glad it worked out, I think it's an excellent solution and looks good too.