Dosing setup

[tazman71]

I am checking here with you guys, because I have never had a dosing setup.
A friend of my has a 135 setup with mostly SPS now, and he has dedided that he wants to run automatic dosing since he doesn't have room for a reactor in his stand.
What are you guys running, and would you reccomend them. Ease of setup, replacement parts, etc.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Urchinhead]

After looking at the various options out there (roll your own with aqualifters, Litermetre, GHL, etc) I opted for the GHL 4 pump. It had the highest resolution of all of them as well as good marks for reliability and price.

 

[mojo~]

I run 2 drews pumps on timers from my controller. But you can use a timer from walmart as well. Just get the cheap digital ones that can time down to the minute.

 

[tazman71]

What controller are you using to control your pumps?
Also, he wants to control 3 chemicals.

What is GHL.

Price is not as much of an issue as is the size, and reliablilty/ease of setup.

 

[Urchinhead]

The unit I use has a built in controller and its a GHL Profilux and the catalog # is PL-0503 they are a sponsor here. Mine is a 4 pump independent unit so dosing three chemicals is not a problem. They also have a 3 pump model.

 

[mojo~]

Well you can go that route. But since I have a controller for my tank already there was no sense buying a seperate stand alone doser. I use a RKE, a RKL would work fine as well. I just like having all my control in one place. just my preference.

 

[Urchinhead]

I am not sure you can without allot of fudging with things. Reason being is that as I recall the RKE/RKL only has resolution down to 1 minute intervals which means the pump is on for 60 seconds.

So you would either have to dilute your solution to allow for a concentration that meets your needs over 60 second pump time constrict things so the head height allowed you to dial in the amount of solution you are targeting for the tank to flow out within that 60 second period.

Frankly *FAR* more trouble than its worth in my book. Better value of time/money to just buy a controller that can handle the variable dosing needed. When I say variable I mean that you are going to have to be dialing it in regularly to account for growth spurts, new additions, removals, and wear and tear on the dosing system.

That said I think I remember hearing the new Apex has sub 1 minute resolution so you might be able to do it with that.

 

[mojo~]

I can dose down to 1 second on my RKE. But i only dose two part. If i have to dose less than one minute of something. thats only 1.5 ml and well I can do that once a week.

So I just adjust by the minute. If you are dosing down to the second. quite frankly you are way to into it. lol. Or you have some seriously concentrated stuff. Now if you are talking Zeovit I could understand the less than sub minute dosing. but otherwise it waste.

 

[Urchinhead]

Thank you sir. I stand corrected.

Admittedly I am a tech head.

I dose by ml not by time because that's how the unit I have functions. I do use Zeovit but I do that by hand. Automating it just scares me!

 

[mojo~]

At the moment on my 57g I think I am at 20 min on my alk and 14min on my CA. so 30ml a day alk and 21 ml a day CA. ITs all good yea zeo on dosers in kinda scary. you would have some $$ wrapped up just in filling the lines too. lol

 

[Urchinhead]

I use two part from BRS. I put in 40 ml of CaCO3 and 60 ml of Ca over a 24 hour period.

Not a big fan of kalk because my 4 year old likes to "help daddy with the quarium chemicals" and I don't want him to burn himself.

No kidding! That stuff is expensive!

 

[Gondore]

I also run two drew's dosing pumps from my ACIII. Before I owned the ACIII I ran the pumps with two digital timers. This system seems to work very well for me.

 

[tazman71]

Would the RKL be a good source for controlling the dosing pumps?
I am curious about this, because of the cost of the digital timers, the RKL is not much more with the option to upgrade as his needs progress.

 

[Gondore]

Would the RKL be a good source for controlling the dosing pumps?
I am curious about this, because of the cost of the digital timers, the RKL is not much more with the option to upgrade as his needs progress.

Yep, the RKL would control the pumps with no problem.