marine magic dosing pump review

This unit looks interesting. The price is right for a 3 pump unit and many of you are having success. May I ask those of you who have purchased this unit, how do you have it installed in your aquarium? The controls sit perpendicular to the pump heads, so it seems that the unit has to lay on its back for it to work? Unlike the BM unit where the controls are inline with the pump heads, it seems kinda of awkward to use this unit if the control are not facing you. I may be incorrect in what I see. Can someone chime in? Thanks.
 
I purchased a two pump unit which I'm using to dose ESV two-part. I have it set to dose 75ml of part 1 over 3 dosing periods of 25mls each at 2am, 2:15am and 2:30 am. I have another cycle for 75 mls of part 2 starting at 3 am. I checked and my pumps are running and running at the correct times but they are not dosing any of the solutions. It seems like they are not on long enough to get the solution up the tube from the bottle. Does anyone have any suggestions? I drilled a hole in the cap of the ESV bottles and I'm running the tubing right into the ESV bottles with the exit tubing from the dosing pump directed in my sump. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.
 
Chooch1 said:
I purchased a two pump unit which I'm using to dose ESV two-part. I have it set to dose 75ml of part 1 over 3 dosing periods of 25mls each at 2am, 2:15am and 2:30 am. I have another cycle for 75 mls of part 2 starting at 3 am. I checked and my pumps are running and running at the correct times but they are not dosing any of the solutions. It seems like they are not on long enough to get the solution up the tube from the bottle. Does anyone have any suggestions? I drilled a hole in the cap of the ESV bottles and I'm running the tubing right into the ESV bottles with the exit tubing from the dosing pump directed in my sump. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Click to expand...

I don't own one (thinking of getting one), but to answer your question, did you connect the check valve to the input side? I know for aquamedic dosing pumps, the check valve must be connected to the input side for the suction to work, and most people forget to connect it then immediately conclude the pump is bad.

how long did it take from the time you ordered to when you received it?
 
Thanks doughboy. I did not connect the check valve to the input side. I don't recall the directions mentioning doing that but I could be wrong. I will try that.

I think it took about 10-12 days from the time I ordered it until I received it. I was pleasantly suprised it arrived so quickly.
 
I installed the check valves and it made no difference. The pumps work but I'm still getting no suction. Does anybody know if the seller has a support site? The directions say nothing about the check valves. Frankly, I haven't used a dosing pump before but I found the directions poorly written and confusing. So far I'm disappointed.
 
I know you installed the check valve in the correct direction, but just wanted to make sure (I don't know if the direction label may be incorrect). If that did not help, then perhaps the rollers are not sitting properly on the hose. The mechanism is really simple, and that would be the only other reason there is no suction.

did you test the pump say on a cup of water?

valve.jpg
 
or you could contact the seller via ebay and get this replacement part. (didn't it come with one extra?)
I assume the motor rotates clockwise, so you install the check valve on the left side, with the check valve output connected to the input hose on the head.

pump_s_head.jpg
 
Doughboy,

Yes. I installed it just like you show. The only thing is the check valve to too large for the pump tubing so I used a small length of the regular size tubing to link them together. The pump heads were working fine when I tested them using water to calibrate the dosing rate. I'll play with it some more then report back in a few days.
 
I was finally able to get my pump working properly. I just had to "prime" the pump by getting the fluid into the tubes. I did this by running the pump on manual and fiddling with the tubes until suction started and filled the tubes and started dosing into the sump. Once this happened I placed the pumps back into auto mode and it works great. This seems like a good product. I hope it holds up over time.
 
I am about to purchase the Marine Magic today but have one question. Is there any problem so far? Thanks for your help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
Which sump would you choose?
Replies
5
Views
372
Devilphish
D
S
Novice Aquarist - Sump & Equipment Questions
Replies
9
Views
388
wvned
wvned
F
DYI Perestaltic Pump Kit
Replies
0
Views
2K
Fishkin
F
TheCoralGarage
Marine Source / Reef Star DSP-1 Dosing Pump help
Replies
3
Views
502
TheCoralGarage
TheCoralGarage
T
TM Trigger Systems Platinum V2 Controller
Replies
0
Views
368
tmann51
T
Back
Top