I was asked how I made mine so I though I would do a how to guide for anyone that wants to save a lot of money by doing it them selves. its easy and cheap as hell. I was to address one question right off the bat about if you need to run it through a relay... the answer is NO. you only need a relay if you use a pump other then the aqua lifter. the reason for that is because the float switches I used are good up to 1 amp and 50 watts, the Aqua lifter is well below that threshold. it very low current and safe. using a more powerful pump will need to have a relay installed to keep the current from directly passing through the float switches. I don't know how to do that anyways so im not going to talk about that. the key here is the low current of the aqua lifter and making sure that all wired connections are kept up and out of the sump. water proof with shrink tubing or silicone as desired. the switches them selves are already water proof and are safe in your sump even if fully submerged. sorry for crappy pics. I know this has been talked about already but just putting it out there again for those that want it.
ok here is a fast how to guide. first buy these items:
-2 float switches: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Horizo...273?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a49dcf6b1
-1 aqua lifter pump: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-A...427?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f461f2b23
-a few feet of air line for the pump.
-1 jug of top off water.
-1 small house hold extention cord you can cut into without much trouble to splice into the wires.
-some wiring and soldering will be required, so stuff to do that.
ok here we go. first take your aqua lifter pump and mount it somewhere in your sump area. like this:
then rout the water-in line from the jug of RODI water like I have here:
then come the tricky part. make a bracket out of some clear acrylic. HINT: bends can be made with no effort by heating acrylic with heat gun or hair drier. mount the switches on newly made bracket. make sure the one is a little higher up then the other. both switches need to be wired in series and spliced into the extension cord wire (does not matter what side of the wire. as long as you only use one wire.)
When the lower switch drops it will turn on the aqua lifter and add water until the float is again in the top position and then shut off. the higher switch acts as a safety. if something happened to the first switch like it gets stuck in the on position by a snail of something, the water will rise until it hits the second switch which is not normally kept under water thus should not have any snails on it. the second switch will now rise and turn off the pump just as the first one normally does. by keeping it above water it should stay clean, and it will always be in the on position allowing the first switch to act as the mast on/off switch. it only takes one of the switches to be in the up position to turn off the pump. here is some pics. sorry I don't have any close up of the wiring but trust me they are wired in series, I just did the connection up out of the way so it will never be in the water area of my tank.
this pic show the water lower then it should be due to my top off water running out while I was away for a few days. need to add some more but that's regardless.
the last step is to plug your aqua lifter into the newly modified and spliced extension cord. the whole point of the extension cord is so you don't have to permanently cut the wire on the aqua lifter.
I hope this helps someone with a DIY ATO. It works great for me and have not had any issues with it for over a year now that iv had it. just keep you water jug full.
ok here is a fast how to guide. first buy these items:
-2 float switches: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Horizo...273?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a49dcf6b1
-1 aqua lifter pump: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-A...427?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f461f2b23
-a few feet of air line for the pump.
-1 jug of top off water.
-1 small house hold extention cord you can cut into without much trouble to splice into the wires.
-some wiring and soldering will be required, so stuff to do that.
ok here we go. first take your aqua lifter pump and mount it somewhere in your sump area. like this:
then rout the water-in line from the jug of RODI water like I have here:
then come the tricky part. make a bracket out of some clear acrylic. HINT: bends can be made with no effort by heating acrylic with heat gun or hair drier. mount the switches on newly made bracket. make sure the one is a little higher up then the other. both switches need to be wired in series and spliced into the extension cord wire (does not matter what side of the wire. as long as you only use one wire.)
When the lower switch drops it will turn on the aqua lifter and add water until the float is again in the top position and then shut off. the higher switch acts as a safety. if something happened to the first switch like it gets stuck in the on position by a snail of something, the water will rise until it hits the second switch which is not normally kept under water thus should not have any snails on it. the second switch will now rise and turn off the pump just as the first one normally does. by keeping it above water it should stay clean, and it will always be in the on position allowing the first switch to act as the mast on/off switch. it only takes one of the switches to be in the up position to turn off the pump. here is some pics. sorry I don't have any close up of the wiring but trust me they are wired in series, I just did the connection up out of the way so it will never be in the water area of my tank.
this pic show the water lower then it should be due to my top off water running out while I was away for a few days. need to add some more but that's regardless.
the last step is to plug your aqua lifter into the newly modified and spliced extension cord. the whole point of the extension cord is so you don't have to permanently cut the wire on the aqua lifter.
I hope this helps someone with a DIY ATO. It works great for me and have not had any issues with it for over a year now that iv had it. just keep you water jug full.
