TheRealRuk
New member
Great, thx for the reply. I'm not to worried about it myself.
Matt
Matt
Bubble Magus BM-T01 and BM-T02 doser review
- Thread starter pascal32
- Start date
jimrawr
New member
Can you explain to me what the cycles means? Once I program in the amount of ML I want to dose, does the cycles just mean how many times it will take to dose that through the day?
For example, if I set 100ml and cycle 2, will it dose 100ml twice so 200ml total, or will it dose 50ml once and then 50ml again for 100 total?
For example, if I set 100ml and cycle 2, will it dose 100ml twice so 200ml total, or will it dose 50ml once and then 50ml again for 100 total?
apayan
New member
Great review and instructions, it's great that we get such long term product reviews in the reef hobby. I am looking to get one of these, but was wondering about how often you had to replace the tubing and/or the heads. The head runs for around $20, not sure how much the tubing within it runs, but if it is like other then it is equally pricey. Thanks for the info.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Peristaltic pumps in general have absolutely no problem handling head height. They operate by displacing a fixed volume per revolution so head height doesn't affect flow rate until you get to really huge extremes (i.e. to the point where you're deforming the internals). I have no personal experience with this exact brand of pump but I have similar pumps running on 10 - 12' of vertical through maybe 50' of airline hose without missing a beat. They provide the same flow rate as I get from them with 1' of hose.
jeremyjoslin
New member
What a coincidence that I posted yesterday about my dosing pump needs. Thanks for the info.
SaguaroSteve
Moved On
To the OP, thanks for the most well-written, informative, and logical thread I've ever come across! Cheers!
No, there is a start time, Number of times to dose and amount.
I've never played with the start times, I have mine set up as 24/7
TripleToe
New member
So given all of this discussion, would the following statement be true:
The doser can be set to output as little as 1 ml, but physically, it can output as little as half of a milliliter since the table from the instructions indicates it can split the minimal 1 ml into 2 cycles per day. You just cannot select half a milliliter per day. Is that correct?
I just found it confusing that the manual says:
1. it can only dose as little as 1 ml per day
2. it can output that 1ml dose in either 1 or 2 cycles
Given statement 1, at first I determined that it meant it would output 1ml two times a day because is could not output less than 1ml. However, I believe you have to assume there is a distinction between the minimum amount that it is capable of dosing and the minimum amount it can be programmed to dose. Correct?
The doser can be set to output as little as 1 ml, but physically, it can output as little as half of a milliliter since the table from the instructions indicates it can split the minimal 1 ml into 2 cycles per day. You just cannot select half a milliliter per day. Is that correct?
I just found it confusing that the manual says:
1. it can only dose as little as 1 ml per day
2. it can output that 1ml dose in either 1 or 2 cycles
Given statement 1, at first I determined that it meant it would output 1ml two times a day because is could not output less than 1ml. However, I believe you have to assume there is a distinction between the minimum amount that it is capable of dosing and the minimum amount it can be programmed to dose. Correct?
As part of my new build i order the new Bubble Magus Doser pump. During the summers weeks the flexibility of spending some time at the local parks camping is a big part of our family life. The other part of this is my wife - she is wonderful and will do anything to help - with that said I think she would be permanently traumatized if the tank crashed while I was on travel for work - with a dosing system she is abstained from any liability which is good for both of us! Unfortunately the reef tank can be a bit of a ball and chain - primarily for top-off and dosing. For peace of mind and the well being of the corals this is a must have in our household!
Currently I keep it simple and dose KH, Alk, Mg, and KoralKolor. As time goes on I might look into more advanced dosing such as Strontium.
I have an RKE and was planning on dosing using the 1.1ml pumps from BRS. To do this I would have to use one power port on the RKE. This equates to about $20 for the power port + $90 for the pump, totaling at about $110 per dosing pump. the BM-BT01 is less money overall and makes dosing.
The BM-BT01 is under $300 for three pumps showing a $30 savings which is increased by adding the BM-T02 add-on of 4 pumps at about $65/pump.
The price price difference in addition to the dedicated unit was enough to make the splurge worth it.
The unit arrived nicely boxed. Setup is as easy as it gets, plug in power and wait a few seconds for it to load.
I forgot to take a "normal" picture of the doser, so here are the pictures from the BM site:
primary unit:
secondary:
To setup:
(1) set the time
- press escape
- use the up/down buttons to select set time, press enter
- set the time using the up/down buttons for each digit and press enter
(2) connect lines
- I used standard air line tubing which seems to fit nice and snug
- input is on the left, output on the right
(3) prime the pump
- press escape
- use the up/down buttons to select manual control, press enter
- select the pump using the up/down button - pump 1,2 & 3 are on the primary unit, 4,5,6 & 7 on the secondary (I'm guessing an additional add-on would continue the trend)
- press and hold enter to manually run the pump till the air bubbles are out and the line is full
(2) configure pump for dosing
- press escape
- use the up/down buttons to select setup program
- use the up/down button to select 1-3 for the primary unit, or 4-7 for the secondary
- use the up/down to select the pump number
- set the ml/day using the up/down buttons for each digit and press enter. you can select from 1-1999 ml.
- set the cycles per day and press enter. these are based on the following table:
Dose amount (mL): Cycles/day
1: 1,2
2: 1,2,3,4
3: 1,2,3,4,6
4-5: 1,2,3,4,6,8
6-11: 1,2,3,4,6,8,12
12-160: 1,2,3,4,6,8,12,24
161-319: 2,3,4,6,8,12,24
320-479: 3,4,6,8,12,24
480-639: 4,6,8,12,24
640-959: 6,8,12,24
960-1279: 8,12,24
1280-1919: 12,24
1920-1999: 24
- set the start time (take note you can only select the start hour, press enter. the minutes are pre-determined based on the pump number). for example P1-:00 P2-:05 P3-:10 and so on.
*** NOTE - the pumps are forced to run one at a time to prevent mixing of chemicals.
-press esc to return to the main screen
testing:
To test I used a cup of RO/DI and a BRS 250ml flask. For each channel I put a 100 ml single dose and set the time so that it would run a minute after programming.
results for 100 Ml test on each pump:
1- 111 ml
2- 99 ml
3- 109 ml
4- 110 ml
5- 99 ml
6- 100 ml
7- 100 ml - 102ml - 102ml
* as a side not I found it interesting that the pumps are either 100 ml or 110 ml - I was expecting more of a distribution.
as you can see there is variance with each pump, though they seem to be fairly consistent between runs as noted with the multiple runs on pump 7. I have not tried a "head pressure" test, though I suspect the values will not change.
Overall impression:
The unit seems well made, though I'm not a fan of the buttons. Then again, hard to press buttons are a pet peeve of mine. The unit is very easy to use! The pumps are not quiet, but not overly loud either. I'm not sure I would want this in my bedroom, but in the living room with the TV it wouldn't be an annoyance like the automatic cat litter box by the kitchen is. The accuracy seems to be on par with the hobby pumps I looked at, though I'm not expert and have not seriously researched accuracy of dosing pumps. consistency is most important to me.
I also ordered the bracket and line holder - both are fantastic quality and are show-case worthy! WARNING - apparently when buying Bubble Magus pumps it is assumed you have a rimless sump - the bracket will only fit facing down, compared to the horizontal it is made for. this will not impact usage, just something noteworthy.
The only downsides are:
(1) although you can select cycles per day (within the limits of the table above) - you can NOT do a number of cycles within a time frame less than 24 hours - for example you can NOT say dose 100 ML 4 times between midnight and 6 AM. You have to spread the split doses of 24 hours
(2) my grip - calibration tables are not hard to implement - it would have been nice to allow the user to dose a set amount such as 100ml and put a correction value in to increase the accuracy.
overall review:
highly recommended!
English manual: www.fish-street.com/downloads/bmt01.zip
connecting the two units is a single wire for signal and power:
installed in new sump:
Bracket to hold dosing pumps:
Line Holder:
So the number of cycles is the number of times that the pump will kick on and dose the amount selected? Example: if I chose 10ml at 8 cycles, it's gonna dose 10ml for each cycle?
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