Nano Ato Cheap And Effective

[scubasteve]

well after remembering my old style auto fill dog water bowl i realised it would work perfectly for a nano ato its as simple as an upside down water bottle just touching water surface as water level drops air gets into the bottle releasing water till its submerged then it stops.... wonder how well a 2 litre works on bigger systems. i justneed to rig a holder as right now it sits on a cross peice of plexi and leaning on skimmer but is working very well hope you guys like the idea

 

[KBennett]

I would use a small tube to stop salt migrating into the bottle...

 

[TORX]

I toyed with this idea on my nano, my only concern was when it sucked air...tank water would also be drawn in and mixed with the fresh water as the bubble stirs the water in the bottle. Maybe I am over thinking it though.

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[yveterinarian]

I think it's a great idea. You certainly wouldn't have to worry about too much water going into the tank if it failed for any reason although I don't see how it could unless it tipped. For the small tube idea would you drill a hole in the lid and silicone a tube into it then have the tube touch the water in the same fashion that the mouth of the bottle is? For a bottle with that small of a volume of water would it really matter so much if salt mixed? I understand that it would with a 2 L bottle for sure but would it matter with a 500 ml bottle so much?

 

[KBennett]

I guess you would need 2 small tubes, one a little lower than the other so air would go up the short one when the level dropped, and water would travel down the still submerged one. Siliconing them to the lid would be easiest. Whether it would affect salinity depends on rate of evapouration and bottle size to tank ratio.

 

[scubasteve]

well no salt migrates into bottle i watched it closely and just seems to let it out only a tiny bit plus my 45 gal nano goes through a 500 ml bottle a day so even if it did suck any up it would be so minute and re introduced by end of day im sure a grain of salt worth isnt going to affect anything plus air only goes in while fresh water comes out there is no vaccume to pull up water (physics)

 

[yveterinarian]

That's the way I thought of it as well. That small volume of water wouldn't make much difference even if a bit of the salt water mixed. My tank goes through more than that in a day right now due to a fan to keep the water cooler (my chiller died) so I could even use a 2L bottle with no issues daily. When I get home I'm going to look into creating one of these (or more since I have a few tanks!). Thanks for sharing the idea.

 

[scubasteve]

if the 2 litre works for you yvette i got some scrap plexi i could rig a holder for you.... im making one formy 500ml bottle will send some pics when done

 

[yveterinarian]

Sounds great. Looking forward to seeing the pictures

 

[sunnykita]

a very interesting concept ! I'll be watching too

 

[scubasteve]

has been a little heptic as im just starting at a new company but promise pics soon lol

 

[sunnykita]

we aren't going anywhere LOL - we'll be here, good luck with the new company !

 

[scubasteve]

thanks for once the grass is greener on the other side lol

 

[sunnykita]

thanks for once the grass is greener on the other side lol

now that sounds like good news ! congrats !

 

[scubasteve]

great went to cut them out and broke my last fine tooth jigsaw blade.... guess im off to the hardware store