AutoAqua AWC Auto Water Changer and ATO : Stop carrying buckets of water...FOREVER??

[@BRStv]

Quick Link: AWC AUTO WATER CHANGER (PLUS ATO) www.bulkreefsupply.com/awc-auto-water-changer-plus-ato-autoaqua.html

[@CodyFlock]

I love that they have been using that clip of carrying two buckets for years. Haha.

[@Mike__B]

And to be fair, it doesn't look too horrible spilling a little water on a concrete floor is nothing compared to a carpet, or some other flooring that will get damaged by the salt water :D

[@marcelrodriguez2067]

@@Mike__B they make it look so dramatic lmao just walk slowly.

[@joshavila1176]

🤣🤣🤣

[@jhowardsupporter]

It's called recycling and is good for the environment. Now back to watching Our Planet.

[@vsnutz]

Thanks Thomas, welcome to the BRS family! I bought one of these a year ago, may not be for everyone but great little package for the right circumstances.

[@farrukh181]

I bought this a month ago and love it. Just make sure you have a pump as a spare in case of a failure. The pumps are fairly cheap.

[@parthpoo4982]

Do you have to keep refilling clean water with salt?

[@Bryanfuel0]

I’ve had one for about 2 years now. The ATO just how you’d want and the water changing feature is great too. I don’t do auto water changes with it, but it’s still really nice to do a preset water change with the press one 1 button. And you have to have 3 buckets next to the tank which is a lot.

[@locapitano]

I pressed play and heard Thomas and immediately looked to see if I was in the right place... Thomas you are an amazing video host, glad to see you at a better place and better home.

[@aco371]

I was so excited to see Thomas join BRSTV! Welcome!

[@alexguitar841]

So glad you did this for those of us that can't afford an apex yet! Thanks!

[@JeepNReef]

I bought this a few days ago and so far it's been great

[@skitf_001]

I fw his energy, great addition to BRS

[@CaryStein]

I've been wondering where Thomas went. Glad to have found you again.

[@petery.1187]

I've got to say this guy is pretty interesting to listen to. let them videos flow!

[@ikke1970100]

Stop carrying buckets ? How does the water arrive in the reservoirs ? How does the changed water go out of the reservoir ?

[@ThomasBReef]

@@ikke1970100 I'll run lines from my RODI directly to larger reservoirs, and also have the wastewater pump directly outside or to a drain. Otherwise, just pump it out! :)

[@ikke1970100]

​@@ThomasBReef You will have to make saltwater anyway , so if you transport saltwater in your run lines and wastewater directly to outside drain .... What is the use for the "equipment" that you are promoting ??? ( most reefers are not dumb )

[@ThomasBReef]

@@ikke1970100 all your doing at that point is mixing saltwater, as well as being able to schedule tiny hourly/daily water changes etc for stability/consistancy. The right tool for the right job! Not saying every reefer out there should own one, but those who want to try automated water changes will find this a really great value.

[@ikke1970100]

@@ThomasBReef Don't think so ! This is only for making money ! It has almost no use .

[@theriftlakescichlidcity1865]

Way to go Thomas. Thank you for the review. It makes my decision easier on this purchase. Cheers

[@jjlpinct]

I haven't met this guy! I have some videos to catch up on!!!

[@Greego]

Nice video. Looks like a lot of wires and hoses though for that system. To be fair , it will be tough to completely get rid of carrying buckets of water during water changes even with automatic water changes (AWC) as I found out with my own system. You still have to siphon detritus out of the tank and while you are doing so you begin to wonder why not just keep siphoning and do a complete water change since you are already sucking water out of the tank anyway. I look at it more realistically as saving me a couple of water changes per month. So instead of 4 manual water changes per month, I only have do two now with my AWC system..

[@ThomasBReef]

Agreed, unless you run bare bottom, you still need to keep the sand bed clean.

[@SeancGilchrist]

Made the jump from big Al's to brs? Niice

[@simonbouchard8427]

Yea that was perfect flow of informations! almost perfect ( echo sound still there ) , i got a autoaqua and love it.

[@ThomasBReef]

The next vid will be the last with echo, and then we are all hifi 😉

[@tylerclontz]

Great video and great job Thomas! Excited to see you on the team. Just get a mic 🎤. Too much echo!

[@ryanreeves8931]

I'm glad I have my system plumbed into a 300 gallon container hooked into the drain to turn 3 valves to do water changes. If I didn't, I'd probably want something like this.

[@Mike__B]

Yeah, making things easy is a good way to help make sure it gets done. I plumbed piping from my water station area in the garage inside the wall to my tank, where there's a hose coming out of the wall, siphon to a floor drain, then turn a valve and refill.

[@CoralVueTV]

Great job, Thomas!

[@richardgaston1066]

I have one but would like to see a video on step by step how to set up auto water changes. It is really a little difficult to figure out. As a matter of fact I’m only doing manual changes because I can’t figure out the auto.

[@mikeydee7815]

Great video and great job thomas!! 🇨🇦👍

[@oscaranchundia3641]

Wow i see that Thomas made the switch 👍👍👍👍

[@AJ-bi6ns]

Utilize Versas for my AWC, highly recommend

[@DrawerFullofRocks]

Waitwaitwait! Did I hear that this system can be used for us freshwater people, or am I just dreaming? This is soooo cool! I love it! Hi Thomas! Nice to see you again! #NaturalAquaria

[@ThomasBReef]

Hey!!!!!! Hahaha and yeah you could totally use this for freshwater.

[@DrawerFullofRocks]

@@ThomasBReef Oh yeah! I'll be putting it on my list of goodies to buy. Thank you,Thomas!

[@stevew9041]

I'm confused. So I still have to mix saltwater and carry buckets of it to fill up an extra reservoir that I didn't need before and instead of siphoning dirty water from my higher display, now I have to siphon it out of a second extra reservoir that I didn't need before which will flow slower since it's down by my sump. How does this save any time or effort? If you could connect it to a RODI source and have it mix the salt got you and then could hook it up to a drain, it would be life changing. If I still have to carry water and mix salt, I don't get the point.

[@corybutler5261]

Welcome to the BRS. Team Question: when mixing salt water for the refill Reservoir. I’m using the Coral Pro Salt. It says to not mix more then 4 hours before use. So how should I store the salt water for a longer pirerd Of time, before the parameters change in the salt water

[@BRStv]

We've done some pretty extensive testing on mixing and storing salt water where we find that some salts store better than others, particularly as it relates to maintaining the integrity of the parameters. For us, seeing this data wound up being one of the reasons we switched salts...specifically because we rely heavily on auto water changes for many tanks and store upwards of 300-500 gallons of mixed saltwater at a time. You can binge watch some of those tests and episodes on this playlist here. kzbin.info/aero/PLBaMLrfToJyxfkKXnVDCq8wThtrLQlEoQ

[@marsaquariums8843]

Great video, thanks a lot this is my next upgrade

[@lancematheny4151]

way too much echo, you need some acoustic foam in there. Otherwise doing great job. like the videos and think your a great add to the BRS team.

[@ThomasBReef]

Already have a bunch on the opposing wall. One more vid like this and then we switched over to a lav. Golden.

[@jim28fl]

We got one from BRS last year and put it in the Xmas club silent auction, i won it. YAAAH>>>>>> Unfortunately I never set it up though .. I might just go do that now. thanks for the review. Water changes are easy and work.!!!

[@gbj6581]

Awc is the Dream! Great info thanks.

[@nikhilmathew2101]

Good for vacation. But the solution will only be complete if there an automatic water conditioner treatment for the incoming water from tap directly and connect outgoing water to drainage - like a washing machine does.

[@jjj14]

I have been running this system for 6 months. It's all good EXCEPT for 1 major flaw. Hi Autoaqua, will the ato resume it's function automatically if the awc malfunction during operation? In another word, if my ato reservoir is bigger than my awc fresh water reservoir, will ato continue to function after the fresh water reservoir is depleted? Answer: When AWC is working, ATO will be turned off automatically. Therefore, if the AWC alarm goes off, ATO will not work until you dismiss the alarm and complete water change. Doesn't solve your long holidays issues.

[@davidmills1045]

I love this guy!

[@emeryz10]

Love you Thomas.

[@Mike__B]

While I'm not a fan of "auto water changes", I do like the idea of simply pressing a button to do a water change and it does it all by itself, that way I can double check my SW reservior and be one final level of "security" in case anything goes wrong because presumably I'll be near the tank when this change is happening. That said I'm not sure why the narrative is always "lugging bucks of water". You can very easily pump water with a hose into a tank and siphon water out of a tank with a hose as well without having to lug a single bucket around.

[@ThomasBReef]

It's because a ton of people still lug buckets! You'd be shocked. That said you're absolutely right, you can just pump etc. But you still have to stand there and manually do it!

[@derekpalmer8543]

Theoretically could you pipe this into a plumbed system so you don't need a "new water" bucket / container to fill from?

[@Matt-dc8lp]

From the BRS reviews it looks like this thing has a lot of issues. Expect a bit more critical analysis from these reviews. For $100 more you could do auto water changes with 2 versa dosing pumps.

[@volteface69]

Merci pour ta vidéo !!!! 👍👍👍

[@00Mass00]

Great presenter!

[@kalasag9113]

Can this be used to schedule daily water drain and refill?

[@fyaglidere]

How do these auto water changers not burn out the return pump when draining? or do they have a way to shut off the return during the change?

[@ThomasBReef]

The idea is to set the sensors in the sump, so it never drains more water from the sump than is safe for the return pump. Then you do those smaller water changes more frequently.

[@dereks6766]

If you aren’t home and this turns on to do a water change, will it drain the sump too low and burn up the main pump from the sump to the tank

[@ThomasBReef]

Not if you set the lowest sensor above the return pump. You can also have it do much smaller changes more frequently so your return pump is nowhere close to exposed at any time.

[@dereks6766]

But water from the tank will still drain into the sump continuing to pump excess water out and if the pump to the tank pumps more gph than the return to fill the sump then would it suck your sump dry before it has time to fill up is how I should have asked sorry for the confusion.

[@ThomasBReef]

@@dereks6766 No worries! If the sensors are in the sump, just like when water evaporates, the tank remains full and the sump water level changes. You'll want the sensors and drain pump in the sump, rather than the tank. :)

[@dereks6766]

Ok thanks

[@ThomasBReef]

@@dereks6766 🙏

[@kayjoe7237]

Yay new guy !!! I like him

[@m-jay356]

doing research to do this using a raspberry pi and found page lol

[@mattdiscus]

Can you run this on 2 tanks with adding extra pumps? is there anyway to measure the amount of water to be taken out down to 50ml?

[@BRStv]

You'd need two separate systems, one for each tank. This doesn't actually measure how much water is being removed, but rather, relies on optical sensors.

[@spencer5082]

Can the waste water go down a drain or does it have to go into a different reservoir?

[@mikeo9070]

Awesome, love it

[@minecraftcreeper456]

What I never understood is, if you have an auto water change system, what do you do when you need to vacuum your sand?

[@ThomasBReef]

You would still need to clean your sand periodically.

[@hamadah2601]

You vacuum your sand, its a ato/awc not a auto sand vacuum

[@minecraftcreeper456]

@@hamadah2601 But why I'm asking is, if you have auto water changes going, wouldn't then be another water change completely to clean your sand with a gravel vac? Every time I have to clean my gravel/sand, its easily an entire water change on its own

[@tiloalo]

Does this not create a lot of maintenance work? Those pump if not always on tend to get stuck and would have to be cleaned fairly regularly or do I see it wrong?

[@BRStv]

It would be a good idea to clean the pumps every once in a while, but they're small pumps and only take a few minutes to clean

[@amcvay1979]

It seems the ATO runs off of the sensors vs a set gallon measure? If that's the case, most people's sumps don't run anywhere near full and only a few inches variance from full to sucking air from the return pump. Am I way off base or will the controller allow an X Gallon change like the Neptune system will?

[@BRStv]

The AWC will keep the water level at the top sensor, then drain to the low sensor during a water change. Your return chamber size and setup will dictate how big of a water change you can do at any given time.

[@tindalldaniel]

How would I be able to turn off the tank pump seamlessly keep from it sucking in air my pump side of the sump doesn't hold much water

[@BRStv]

You'll only be able to remove as much water as your return section has above the inlet of your return pump. The smaller/larger the return chamber, the smaller/larger water change you'll be able to do, respectively.

[@FungusMan-q7o]

Would this work for freshwater? And do I need to use tanks? Or can I use buckets or bins?

[@BRStv]

You can definitely use this for freshwater. You can use buckets if you like, but keep in mind that the smaller the containers you use, the more often you'll have to refill/empty them.

[@FungusMan-q7o]

@@BRStv thank you! The bins I'd use are about the same size as those tanks in the video

[@timjacobsracing5867]

Anyone have the pump dimensions? Would love to fit these in the back part of a nano tank but cant find them anywhere.

[@mattdavis3448]

Welcome to the BRS team, one quick suggestion. You need a better mic... you sound like your in the bathroom....;)

[@Val_Halla777]

👍I was looking in comments to see if anyone else noticed this..my thoughts exactly. You’d figure Ryan would’ve provided a clip -on mic for him before his 1st vid. Great to see Tom onboard though! Cheers

[@BRStv]

This was Thomas' first round of videos. We only go up from here! ;)

[@aaronfisher8377]

So do you mix the salt in the ATO res when you want to do a water change? I was expecting an ATO res + a mixing tank, but looks like they are combined?

[@BRStv]

You'll need 2-3 containers. One for freshwater (for the ATO), one for fresh saltwater, and either a drain or third container for the "dirty" saltwater.

[@aaronfisher8377]

@@BRStv Awesome, thanks!

[@raviramdoolar2868]

Good day it says Discontinued on the site and out of stock, does that mean you all wont be getting this back this ?

[@BRStv]

This one is discontinued, but here is a link to the V2: www.bulkreefsupply.com/smart-auto-water-changer-duo-autoaqua.html

[@duskosreef4952]

But why only 1/2 inch glass thickness???????????? So it's only for small tanks? Changing water in large tanks (with thicker glass) is where we need this device!

[@BRStv]

Most reefers are going to install this on their sumps, where 1/4" acrylic is the most common.

[@BiologyIsHot]

This is discontinued? :( any alternative?

[@BRStv]

Unfortunately, this was discontinued by the manufacturer. Rumor is that there is a v2 in the works, however, we don't know any more past that. The Neptune DOS is currently the most widely used AWC device, but the downside is that you need to have an Apex in order for the DOS to work.

[@BiologyIsHot]

@@BRStv ah yeah also seems like a much less compact solution. I wanted to set something up for a mid-sized tank :(

[@problemaquarium]

i wonder how i would get this to work with a freshwater rack with plumbing to all 12 aquariums lol

[@BiologyIsHot]

Somebody really needs to release an equivalent product that doesn't require an Apex. I don't want/need any of the other features of an Apex ugh.

[@dropitlikeitshot815]

Is it possible to swap those tiny pumps out with the pmup and run this through Apex Fusion? What would I need to do that?

[@BRStv]

This particular product is not Apex Ready, but there is a way to swap out the small pumps for different pumps. Randy outlines how to do that in this video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJ-cZ4N5e9aho6M

[@dropitlikeitshot815]

@@BRStv Thank you so much, I appreciate the quick reply. Quick question, Is it even possible to use the pmup with this item? I don't wanna purchase it if not. I already have the pumps.

[@Keldrath]

shoot i know for me most of my fish deaths occur following a water change and it baffles me. even after i switched to RO water it actually got worse somehow.

[@jamesweil3470]

Great video, too much echo

[@matthewschwartz9266]

Great except the pumps are not even close enough to be strong enough to pump the water out to most people's drains. I know because I bout it and returned it. It is nice for those who are within 10 feet of a drain. They need to offer 1 with a stronger pump included for more money. Shame they didn't do that. Otherwise, it is 5 times cheaper to just buy the outlet sensor and a pump and tubing and simply turn it on when you are ready to do your water change.

[@ThomasBReef]

Yeah, you need to be relatively close by, or pick up the smart socket for it so you can use any pump you want.

[@Marcoolus1]

You forgot the most important piece of information. $209.99

[@MoonlightX1004]

Discontinued already?!!

[@BRStv]

The AWC system had been out for a couple years, but you're correct, it was recently discontinued.

[@hightechredneck3]

Yeah, ill stick with my mixing station. This setup is just complicating things unnecessarily and only adds to things that can go wrong. Dont be lazy 😉

[@MrBigTexFyre]

Video doesn't show how to incorporate the built in ATO into the system. Since the water level in the sump pretty much remains the same, shouldn't the sensors go into the pump chamber? If you put the sensors in the sump and not the pump chamber the ATO will never activate. And there isn't enough volume of water in the pump chamber to do a sufficient water change. So where do the sensors go? How do you hook everything up. Everyone uses the simple demonstration that doesn't show how the system interacts with a saltwater sump. How about showing an under the tank view of a system that's properly set up and running. I'm depending on you BRS to show me the way because the manual included with this unit is junk.

[@BRStv]

Both sensors go into the return chamber of your sump. The high level sensor doubles as the ATO sensor. Because of that, the size of your return chamber does dictate how large of a water change you can do at any given time.

[@angryheathen3463]

I’m don’t know if I like the new guy. I’m not sure how other people do water changes, but I don’t find it messy or stressful

[@kevinjames1587]

Nice try but you missed a ton of hypotheticals

[@marc_svsengineering4319]

Lame, just provide the remote sensors that control outlets for people who have existing pumps or would like to buy the correct pumps for their application. I have tried all kinds of AWC including the Tunze that everyone raves about. If you have a large tank and your RODi/water containers are in the basement (14 feet) than be prepared to spend some extra money or come up with others creative solutions. I chose a DOS from Neptune which works well with the Apex controller for my situation. You just have to live with the slow water volume and the awful loud noise the pumps make. Who does water changes of any kind without physically monitoring its progress? I’m to paranoid even thou I have never had an issue.

[@li-hong1160]

It draining all the water out and kill all our fish while we were on vacation. Don't take the risk.

[@christopherthomson1978]

this has no benefits at all. and it's 200 to buy is crazy

[@htowner1327]

I use it and it’s been working fine no issues .ive work out of state a lot and it hasn’t failed me yet knock on wood 😂

[@caramelkyd]

This guy needs to chill with his eyebrows/facial expressions lol

[@BRStv]

We like to have fun around here. Hopefully that came across in the facial expressions 🙂