Quick question on RO/DI connected to a auto topoff

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calivivarium1

calivivarium1

Finished the fight
May 5, 2008
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Fresno, California
Okay, so I am now pretty certain that I am gonna take the plunge back into saltwater and am now actively planning some components for the tank. I think I am going to buy this RO/DI unit with this auto-topoff system.

My question is this: How many lines come off an RO/DI unit? If I use an auto-topoff, how do I get my water to perform a water change? I have never had a RO/DI unit before, so are there multiple lines coming off of them? Or do I have to have a storage tank or something?
 
Ace25

Ace25

www.centralcoastreefclub. com
Oct 3, 2005
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It isn't recommended to connect an RO/DI unit directly to your tank for Auto Top off like your wanting to do.. sure it saves space doing so, but the risks involved far outweigh the benefits. Any one piece fails and you can potentially kill your tank with freshwater going in and not turning off. I know the description on that ATO makes it sound safe to do, but I wouldn't do it. I use a 5G bucket with about 4G of water max that could go into my tank in the off chance I have a malfunction... enough to cause some problems but not enough to kill everything.
 
calivivarium1

calivivarium1

Finished the fight
May 5, 2008
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Fresno, California
That sounds like a valid concern... Okay, well I won't have to worry about splitters or whatever from the RO/DI unit.

Ace:
So I could use the ATS unit like normal, just the source water would be from a bucket/container of some sorts. How often do you re-fill your bucket?
 
dolfans1

dolfans1

I'm a victim of coicumstance!
Jun 15, 2005
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I've had an auto topoff connected from my RO/DI directly to my sump for ~4 1/2 years now. There is one pure water line coming from the RO/DI, but I have it split in a T, with one line from the T going to the auto topoff unit, and the other line connected to a mini ball valve that I use for making SW to do water changes.
 
calivivarium1

calivivarium1

Finished the fight
May 5, 2008
1,432
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Fresno, California
Check. Well, I guess the next step is to plan the rest of my components for inside the cabinet and see how much space I have to work with.

I am going to assume that the bucket/water container has to be elevated to allow gravity to move the water, right?
 
Ace25

Ace25

www.centralcoastreefclub. com
Oct 3, 2005
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No, you use a small pump in the bucket that plugs into the ATO. When the water level in your sump drops it kicks on the ATO which supplies power to a pump that is in your ATO bucket. You just need a very small pump, you don't want or need to dump FW into your sump quickly at all.
 
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