Does Viscosity Matter?

[john.m.cole3]

Just bought a doser and was calibrating it with water. Hooked up to the dosing container, bled the lines, and programmed the doser. Is there a difference in how viscous water is vs alk, calc, or mag liquid elements? Am I ok calibrating with water or should I calibrate with the additive itself?

 

[Breadman03]

I'd use the additive itself with the tubing run in your final configuration. I used a cup to collect my fluid without putting it in the tank while purging the lines.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Viscosity will matter, but not too much. As the tubing wears, that will matter more.
It's best to do your calibration, but test every week or two and adjust accordingly. The tank will react to the compounds as well, thus "changing" how much you'll need to put in.
The time put in to analyze things from the original calibration will be negligible.

 

[jenreefer]

Calibration matters, but not as much as close monitoring of each thing you are adding to the tank and adjusting doser to match tank needs. For example, cheap dosers may give 6ml instead of 4 when you program them, but if tank is stable at 6 ml (say of Alk) daily, then who cares if it is 6 or 4 as long as it is consistent.
the main thing is that you monitor closely and adjust doser during the first few months of use to match tank needs.

 

[BlueCursor]

+1

We really have no way to calculate exactly how much Ca/Alk/Mg our tanks will consume. We just pick a setting and adjust from there. Then we know how much our tanks consumed. Calibration is only really beneficial for automatic water changes, so that we export and import the same amount of saltwater.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The answer to the OP question is no. Also, the viscosity is not much different when salts dissolve in water. A 10% by weight sodium carbonate solution doesn't even double the viscosity, which is a small change. A truly viscous solution, such as glycerol, is 1,760 times as viscous as water.

 

[john.m.cole3]

The answer to the OP question is no. Also, the viscosity is not much different when salts dissolve in water. A 10% by weight sodium carbonate solution doesn't even double the viscosity, which is a small change. A truly viscous solution, such as glycerol, is 1,760 times as viscous as water.

for once the easy way is the OK way