Doser pump for AWC

[Jon Fishman]

Wanting automatic water changes for my tank........ With that said, I have an Apex, have looked at the DOS, like the idea of it, but it’s $300. Seems reasonable for very precise dosing etc, but necessary for water changes? My local shop had a couple cheapies when I went today..... would I greatly regret getting one of these instead?

The one on top is only like $80!

 

[Redfoxtang]

Something cheap and reliable, I recommend Kamoer X1 it’s 60$ and it’s Bluetooth. I have 3 of them and none miss a beat!

 

[Jon Fishman]

Something cheap and reliable, I recommend Kamoer X1 it’s 60$ and it’s Bluetooth. I have 3 of them and none miss a beat!

I will look into it. I will have a cabinet with two 75g or 90g tanks sitting on the floor, so no head-distance so pumps don’t need to go from basement etc...... so I figured it couldn’t be that hard!

Is it possible (and I know i would likely need to manually adjust every week or so for inconsistencies) for me to plug two identical submergable pumps into my EB8 and have one in the sump, with a hose to the empty tank, and one in the fresh SW tank, with a hose running to the sump, say outlet 1, and 2...... Figure out how long the pump needs to run to pump say 2 gallons...... then set the apex to do this every day:

8am Outlet 1, on for 90 seconds (or whatever it takes). then off

802am Outlet 2 on for 90 seconds, then off



would that work? Or am I over complicating it/adding headache that a cheap dosing pump wouldn’t?

 

[Redfoxtang]

I believe that would work and I don’t see why it wouldn’t. But do you want to use up 2 slots on the eb8? If you did go that route though it would definitely be cheaper. As you could grab some cheap pumps off Amazon and do exactly what you said. Or spend $80 on the jebao dosing pump and change 1-2g of water daily

 

[Jeto2004]

Just wondering if the ”cheap” pumps will burn out quicker if you drive them daily to do AWC and in the long run you would have to change them out more frequently spending more $$ than go directly with a DOS. Maybe somebody with actual expertise can chime in?

 

[Daniel76]

.

 

[Jon Fishman]

If I did it via the EB8, I would use a couple small return pumps, and hose, not tiny dosing pumps.


It seems like a dosing setup will be easier anyways

 

[Water Dog]

If you intend on using one of those cheap dosing pumps to do AWC, I’d suggest you have plenty of replacement parts... heads and internal tubing at the ready. Those dosing pumps are not designed for the volumes required for AWC. If you look at maximum dosing volumes per day, were talking at most 150 - 200 ml/day. That’s a far cry from the .5 to 2 gallons per day volumes often associated with AWCs. That’s a lot of wear and tear beyond what those dosing pumps are designed to withstand.

 

[Bramzor]

Just buy 2 24V perilistic pumps (or 1 with 2 heads) and attach them to the Apex on a 24V output of an FMM module.
Figure out the amount of minutes it needs to run and you’re done!

 

[Devaji]

Just buy 2 24V perilistic pumps (or 1 with 2 heads) and attach them to the Apex on a 24V output of an FMM module.
Figure out the amount of minutes it needs to run and you’re done!

have you done this? if so can you give us a write up or video.

I am in the same boat, but I am looking for a cost effective way to set up AWC for 2 largeish tanks 150-200 gal would like to chance out 1.5-2 gal a day.

been researching options.

 

[Devaji]

Something cheap and reliable, I recommend Kamoer X1 it’s 60$ and it’s Bluetooth. I have 3 of them and none miss a beat!

do you know the head pressure on these little guys? can they work in a basement mixing station? of course one would need 2 for AWC yeah?

head life? can they re replaced?

 

[Bramzor]

have you done this? if so can you give us a write up or video.

I am in the same boat, but I am looking for a cost effective way to set up AWC for 2 largeish tanks 150-200 gal would like to chance out 1.5-2 gal a day.

been researching options.

Still have to finish the build but already received 2
€ 22,80 DC 12/24V Peristaltische pumps
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/teFAGYco . Now I have to make sure they both run on one motor. Thinking about either using a dremel or finding a long motor shaft and connecting them both on that one shaft.
Next step is soldering it to a neptune 24v cable and programming but that part is the easiest.

 

[Redfoxtang]

do you know the head pressure on these little guys? can they work in a basement mixing station? of course one would need 2 for AWC yeah?

head life? can they re replaced?

Honestly couldn’t tell you head pressure. But I do know I tried to run it with 150ml and it timed out at 30ml left. So if you going to be doing tiny water changes that would work if not I would go with just standard fountain pumps as they are cheap

 

[soeminpaing]

I think there is a unit made by autoaqua or kamoer that combine ato with auto water change. Basically it use sensor and regular pump to remove the water from the tank and replace with new saltwater and turn off the ato at the same time to avoid adding freshwater.