The constant dose of h2o2 has one problem.
As h2o2 is dosed it lowers ORP. So dosing over 24 hours may not allow the ORP to come back to normal.
Are there other reasons not to dose on a near-continuous basis? I am looking for a way to base dosing amounts and timing on tank conditions rather than on a set schedule. It would be nice to be able to figure out a dosing regimen that would adapt to some extent on what is going on inside the tank. This may give us a means of "sort of" self optimizing the H2O2 dosage over time. Automating the performance of such a dosing scheme may help us with develop and use a maintenance routine after we have gone through an initial search and destroy phase. So I put forth my idea based on using ORP, by itself for now, as the parameter to control to.
Presuming there are not other reasons beyond ORP behavior to dose on a near-continuous basis, then with an ORP sensor and a controller we could adaptively base the amount of dosing per 24 hour period on ORP depression-recovery cycles. By allowing ORP to recover to a more 'normal' level after a dosing has been performed, we could use ORP as an indication of when to dose again ...and when not to dose.
For example, start by slowly dosing an amount of H2O2 an hour or so before the morning lights turn on and when the ORP is above a threshold value.
Monitor ORP for a depression in its values expecting a dip and a return to its initial value or near to it.
When ORP returns to this 'normal' resume dosing. Dose another amount of H2O2 slowly over an interval of time. Then watch for the dip and recovery in ORP.
Repeat this for each 24 hour period.
The number of dosings that would be performed per 24 period would, therefore, follow the ORP recovery behavior of the tank which, itself, may vary from one dosing event to another and from day to day. As a safety precaution we could limit the maximum number of dosings and the maximum amount of doseage allowed during a 24 hour period to prevent a runaway condition. This method, coupled with critter observations, may give us a way to perform condition-based dosing instead of conforming to a fixed dosage scheme. It may turn out that a continued/follow-up lighter daily dosage regimen will be useful for maintenance.
What do you guys think of this approach.
fab
