Who uses dosing pumps?

[Reefer Wannabe]

Just curious who has experience for using medical or scientific dosing pumps for top off in their aquariums?

My wife wants to get rid of the Kent aquadoser next to the reeftank.

Specifically looking for what has worked well or hasn't worked out when it comes to dosing pumps. Oh, and also--I'm not gonna shell out $300 for litermeter, so I'm specifically looking for experience with the medical dosing pumps or scientific (masterflex/parmer-cole) pumps.

Thanks.

 

[panaboy95]

I have been doing a little research on this topic and I too do not want to shell out a bunch of money for a dosing pump. I am wanting a dual pump for two part. This is a thread I have ran across I think it is a pretty good idea if you could get something better than a cheap timer to control them. I did not know if an aquacontroller would do something like this or not. Just some ideas.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1266571

 

[frenchie]

cheapest way to go was 20 gallon tank with jbj ato and maxi jet 1200 works great had everything already and jbj ato controller was 89.99 online

 

[Reeferhead]

I use 2 Drew's Dosers from twopartsolutions.com for dosing 2-part. I just use a Kent Float valve for topoff. I control the peri pumps with my ACjr but you could use any timer.

They seem to work well but I'm still dialing them in. Also, they seem to pull a little air from time to time. I've been using zip ties to try and rectify this but have got it completly figured out yet.

 

[!wrass!]

I am running a Cole Palmer scientific paristalic pump. It was an old spare from work so it was the right price (free . It runs 24/7 at a set rate to keep up with evap. It is computer controlled and fully adjustable. The only issues are: if there is a major change in humidity I have to adjust the speed or the power goes out it has to be restarted manually. Mine does not have the auto-restart function. This also means that I have to have it set pretty close because I don't have a float switch. I could wire around it but just have not messed with it. I have been running the same tubing for over a year with no issues. It doses kalk, or RO topoff. You can expand it to pump several liquids at once at the same rate.