I need a top off pump. High head, lower flow, on the cheap.

[Jesse]

Not sure if this is possible, but we'll see. With my small stand footprint I have no room for an ATO reservoir upstairs. At the moment I don't have an ATO set up and I'm topping off manually 1 to 2 times a day. I'd like to get this a little more stable and eliminate carrying a gallon of water upstairs twice a day.

My idea: Set up a container in the basement on a shelf probably within 5 feet of my sump. Get some sort of pump that I can set up on a timer to run for 15 mins at a time for whatever it takes to top off my tank. I'll throttle down the tubing to 1/4" so that I can get it through the floor with the smallest hole possible (probably utilize an existing hole).

I could probably also, get a ATO kit and wire the float switches downstairs to the relay and use that to operate the pump.

Anyway, I found this pump: http://autotopoff.com/pumps/FT300/

Any other ideas? That one fits the bill pretty well, just curious if anyone has a better idea.

[scooter]

I had a float switch hooked up to a Mag drive pump in the basement. Some of the best money spent not having to manually top-off twice a day.

Scooter

[Funky187]

if you go down to 1/4" you will have issues getting the water up that high. i would look into a dosing pump if it were me. something like the brs dosing pump, i know they arent that cheap but they will pump up that high and really slow too. you could always check fleabay and see if you can find one cheaper.

[McLoki]

I put a 15 gallon container next to my tank and threw piece of red felt over it. It looks decent and works really well. (BTW - I use an aqualifer pump, but it is not worth much over about a 3' head.)

[Jesse]

I ended up with an aqualifter that I ordered with my top off kit. It says 30" of head but I've seen people say that it's good up to 60". I've really only got about 20" once it's all said and done, I think. The top of my resevoire is just even with the bottom of my floor joists and my sump is 4" off the ground so I should be good. If not I'll find a new pump and use the aqualifter for something else.

[Jesse]

Success! I was able to keep the pump on the main floor and just run a 1/4" line down to my tub. It's not super fast but I'm fine with that, it'll keep what little swing there is a very slow swing. :P

On a related note if you're looking for a float switch operated top off system I recommend aquahub. I ordered Monday and had it today (they ship from Chicago). Was super silly easy to put together if you can read instructions. I got their 2 switch DIY kit and you can plug any pump you want into it, you'll need an extra extension cord and you'll probably want some 1/2" tubing for the tubing adapters. I got lucky and had some laying around from one of my other countless hobbies.

[Fieroguy19]

I have been running one from them for about 2 years. I did have one float switch fail but it was because I didn't use tubing to cover the wiring from the saltwater. Haven't had any problems since covering the wiring for the floats with tubing.

[Jesse]

Also they ship so fast that I got my product before I got my shipping confirmation e-mail! :P