Would this work?

[LatinP]

I'm setting up my second tank and I need to setup another ATO unfortunately I won't be shelling out another 200 bucks for a Tunze ATO. It's DIY time, now I have all the items arriving in the mail within the next 48 hours my question is would the wiring described below that's going into the reservoir work correctly? I'm not exactly an electrician and pardon my lack of MS paint skills .

 

[BLAKEJOHN]

YEah I think so, except your diagram is a direct short. The float swtch would be connectecd in only one line, not both

 

[LatinP]

YEah I think so, except your diagram is a direct short. The float swtch would be connectecd in only one line, not both

So it would be better to have the float switch cutting off the circuit on one line only? Also would it matter which?

 

[BLAKEJOHN]

Yes the switch will open and close the electrical circut, thus only being in one lead. I would use two as float switches tend to fail. And no, it does not matter which lead the switch is in.
I would also run a fuse incase of a short ( fuse would be in the hot lead).

 

[Orcrone]

Check out Aquahub. They sell float switches & have some very good DIY guides.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

It would work, I would recommend against it though. When you have a 5 gallon RO reservoir for topoff, if something went wrong the worst that could happen is 5 gallons worth of mess. When you have an endless supply of water hooked up to your tank for topoff, the situation can get real messy real fast.

Everyone deals with risk in a different way, but my biggest factor when evaluating risk is worst-case scenario (it usually ends up coming true). Sure, most parts are reliable and the chance of failure is not too high, but if the "perfect storm" occurs (you're away from your tank, solenoid fails, nobody's around to turn off the water), you could be looking at a very large amount of water and a very substantial amount of damage. To me, that's too great a risk. An old salt bucket and pump work just fine.

 

[LatinP]

It would work, I would recommend against it though. When you have a 5 gallon RO reservoir for topoff, if something went wrong the worst that could happen is 5 gallons worth of mess. When you have an endless supply of water hooked up to your tank for topoff, the situation can get real messy real fast.

Everyone deals with risk in a different way, but my biggest factor when evaluating risk is worst-case scenario (it usually ends up coming true). Sure, most parts are reliable and the chance of failure is not too high, but if the "perfect storm" occurs (you're away from your tank, solenoid fails, nobody's around to turn off the water), you could be looking at a very large amount of water and a very substantial amount of damage. To me, that's too great a risk. An old salt bucket and pump work just fine.

Huh?

would the wiring described below that's going into the reservoir

This circuit goes into a 20g reservoir before going into any tank and is controlled by a digital timer which is allowed to be on the on position for 20 mins at 6 hour intervals (4 times a day), meaning at the very worst it would go on for 20 mins someone would definitely notice within 6 hours and someone is always home here. However I did add a second float switch to the job and it's been working beautifully since I got it installed. From the reservoir it then goes to a ReefKeeper which controls another series of float switches which activate a aqualifter to actually pump water into the tank, I'm just not very good with wiring electrical circuits so I thought I'd ask.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

This circuit goes into a 10g reservoir before going into any tank and is controlled by a digital timer which is allowed to be on the on position for 20 mins at 6 hour intervals (4 times a day), meaning at the very worst it would go on for 20 mins someone would definitely notice within 6 hours and someone is always home here. However I did add a second float switch to the job and it's been working beautifully since I got it installed.

Just curious, why would you go through all this trouble to keep a reservoir full? A Kent float switch or something of the like does the same thing as what you're describing.

 

[LatinP]

Just curious, why would you go through all this trouble to keep a reservoir full? A Kent float switch or something of the like does the same thing as what you're describing.

I live in a VERY small apartment and NYC isn't exactly rent friendly so my water resoviour at times needs to double as a quarantine tank sad as it is true a float switch would essentially work but I'm worried fish or snails would switch on and accidentally turn it on (leave it on).

The only other tank I'd have room for in this apartment would literally be a 5-10g and new fish would be a heck of alot more comfortable in a 20G holding container (a rubbermaid brute container) than in one of those. My old quarantine tank just got converted into a seahorse tank (which is what I'm building this ato for) price I pay for even keeping fish it keeps my wife happy and a happy wife = a happy husband. Right now I'm more than happy giving up the 29g I had as a quarantine for the SH tank if it puts a smile on her face. This resoviour wouldn't house fish at all unless I get something new in or in the case of an emergency but I need to to be fish friendly that's why I chose something other than a float switch and covered up the electric float switches with snail/fish guards. The container/holding tank switches operation depending on my needs but usually it's just a water holding container unless I need it to be a holding tank.