Hey guys..I havent been too active in this community lately. Ive been moving to a new place and been really busy. I just got moved in and am working on rebuilding my tank. I need some float switches and was wondering if you guys have any recommendations for good ones that are reliable and relatively inexpensive. Ive seen the ones on ebay where they come with bare wires. Ive not put one together before and wonder if you have had any experience with these. Or should I just pay more for the complete ones??

I would need the switch to detect a level of water when it gets to high and turn off a pump.

What do you think?

I like the ones from autotopoff.com .
Given the time and money needed to make a cheap one work, the prebuilt units aren't really all that expensive.

Welcome back!

They really aren't that tough to put together. I bought two float switches and a relay from what's now www.aquahub.com. I put everything together in about an hour.

I recommend using two float switches in series with a relay, then use a slow top-off pump like the Tom Aqualifter. If you put the whole thing on a timer than the system is as fail-safe as it gets.

Dan

I've seen some good ones for bilge pumps in sailboats, although I don't know if they're aquarium-safe for cephs w/ regards to copper. I think they were at West Marine-- there's one in Mountain View, I think but there might be one closer to you, too. And I have no idea if they'd be more or less expensive than "official" aquarium-oriented ones, but they're certainly reliable and tolerant of salt water.

http://autotopoff.com/products/DS1/thumbnails/DS01_JPG.jpg

Double for 50 bucks. Adjustable hanging unit, cord, relay, snail guard, cord. Everything you need out of the box, no assembly.

http://autotopoff.com/products/DS1/index.htm

Thanks for the suggestions, theres definitely something there I can use.

Although my initial feelings were to throw my tank away when I first began the move, now that its coming together again, I feel re-inspired about the whole hobby itself. Oh course its great to have the reliable support of this community. Its great to be back!

Now I have to choose what kind of ceph I want next!