Gravity fed ATO

I have one. The only negative is you have to clean it with vinegar every few weeks otherwise the end gets blocked up with kalk. Also if kept under your stand you have to elevate your top off reservoir, which makes filling it slightly difficult.

I should add that in my experience the kalk blockage restricts the flow, does not cause the sump to overfill.

 

Ive been using a gavity fed ATO for over a year now with no issues. I take apart the float valve and clean it up once in awhile and thats it. The resevoir is in a room a good 15 feet away.

 

I use one on my 180. Have a 15 gal reservoir that I refill about once a week. Has worked pretty much flawlessly. I use an Eshopps float valve.

 

I also use the eshopps float valve. I'm if I would go with a 65 gallon tank for top off. If something did happen that is a ton of water. My reservoir is about chest height

 

I know a Litermeter III is expensive, but compared to the cost of a failure of a float valve, it is cheap. I was very happy with running one for ATO.

 

I only run a 8-10 gallon resevoir, so a failure would not be catastrophic, it lasts about a week. I just refill it when I clean my algae screen. Although I've never experienced it, failures are reported on the Internet. For me the valve is more likely to clog shut, than clog open.

Mine is also an eshoppes.

The upsides to using gravity are:
Cost
Dead silence

Downsides are
Needs gravity, limiting resevoir size in a confined space
Not pressurized so can clog shut more easily.

I think any ATO system has the potential to fail, I've read just as many posts about pumps not shutting off as I have about gravity fed floats getting stuck on. I've personally known people who had pumps get stuck on, but can't name a single person I know, whose gravity system failed.

 

How big of a tank do you have that requires a 65 gallon resovoir? Just curious.

I agree with the float valves having the lowest risk of failure. I have one going from my RO to my resovoir, but I have a ATO that I designed and built using a solenoid, relay and float switches. That I would say is the higher risk.