Alright, All.. Quick update:
I have put another order in; this time with Bulk Reef Supply.
1 x Float Valve
1 x 55g Red Sea Coral Pro Salt
1 x 4 Stage Plus 75gpd RO/DI unit
So, needless to say, it was an expensive visit to their site, but I can't wait for it to get here. The pico tank is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and the BRS order is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday! A very good week if you ask me...
On another note, I figure that I should be thinking about an ATO, but I want to do a DIY one for now. Maybe in the future I will go with a Tunze ATO that uses an optical sensor, but at this point in the hobby, that's an arguably unnecessary expense. So I wanted to run an idea by all of you so as to get an idea if this would work.
Items I presume I'll need:
1 x air pump
1 x jar with a "drillable" (plastic) lid
1 x Float switch
Enough airline tubing
I would first connect the float switch to the air pumps power wire and mount that, etc. I would drill two holes in the top of the plastic lid for the jar, put the airline tube from the pump through one hole down into the jar, maybe a half an inch or so, and silicone around the tube so as to seal it. Then I would take another piece of airline tubing and put it through the second hole in the jar all the way down to the bottom (so as to get the best use of jar space for water), silicone around the airline tube on the lid to seal it, and then mount the end thats coming out over my tank for the spout of the ATO system.
Once the float switch is triggered, it would turn the air pump on and push air into the (presumably air tight) jar through the first tube, and as the jar fills with air it would push water out of the exit hose into my tank. This sounds as though it would work. I saw this on a youtube video, but the individual didn't go in depth at all about the system so this is my best guess at recreating a similar system.
Side note: I've read a lot of posts where people complain how float switches are "unreliable" and such so don't use them. I've read that plenty of times and know that. My main question is about the other aspect of this DIY ATO and not the float switch.
Thanks, All!