22 gallon, $23 from HD and easily drilled. White one on right. 5 days volume
Sits under the bench my 125g sump will be on top of
For extended time away, a 33g brute trash can on wheels gets rolled into room. An additional 8 days volume
Either way, I can add RO to either from my main 55g container via an apex controlled solenoid, via the web
My ATO began it's life as a Soda Ash bucket from my pool, and a water jug. I could not fit my reservoir under the tank, so this ugly setup sat next to the stand.
This setup gave me about ten gallons of water, and a siphon point that was at the level of the water in the bucket. This siphon point was important, because if it was above the level of my sump, the water would have siphoned.
I eventually painted the bucket black, and the water jug on the top made water additions easy....just like an old fashion water cooler. What eventually happened is that the lid of the bucket ripped.
This was fixed by cutting a 1/2 plexiglass piece to fit the lid.
Next came a cabinet that was on four small caster wheels and could easily be pulled out to change the water jug.
However, what this did was now hide the water jug and I wouldn't know when it needed to be replaced. So a horizontal float switch was installed in the side of the bucket.
This went through a relay to an LED that was installed in the face of my equipment cabinet...that green LED between the controllers.
When the water level drops below the float switch, the LED comes on telling me it's time to add a new jug of water.
I have always wondered why people spend so much in plumbing and ATO fancy fancy stuff. I see guys spend up to 150$ + on plumbing when I spent $20. Glad you broke out some DIY skills. I like a clean look but I also like Making my own stuffI have the fanciest ATO container out there.
I pushed my DIY skills to the limit by drilling a hole just big enough for the ATO tube. In all seriousness, my ATO and dosing reservoirs are hidden behind my Apex control panel, so there's no way I'd spend money on something nice that nobody (including myself) will ever see.
I went slightly fancier with my dosing containers, but only because they came with a low level float switch. Between splicing the float switches into my breakout box and using a DIY cable to trick my DOS into thinking a DDR is connected, I now have fluid monitoring and low level sensors in Fusion and saved $170 in the process.
