Dosing Pump - A Dumb Question

Mark Taber · Apr 15, 2017

Sorry the dumb question but I have never had a dosing pump but can they pump upwards? I don't have a sump and I want to put the pump and the liquid in the cabinet below the aquarium and pump it up into the aquarium about 1.5meters.
Is this possible?

Dilan Patel · Apr 15, 2017

Yes it is possible. they do pump upwards.

reefwiser · Apr 15, 2017

Yes they do I do it everyday. [emoji3]

Mark Taber · Apr 15, 2017

Thank you, sounds a stupid question but never owned one! I only dose Redsea N0304-X so was going to go for the Jebao Record DP-2 to dose 3ml a day.

Salty1962 · Apr 15, 2017

Just make sure it's able to pump up that far

Pedr · Apr 15, 2017

My LFS uses some of the Jebao dosing pumps and they have said good things about them and some of their setups have a uphill pumping setup

Mark Taber · Apr 16, 2017

reefwiser said:
Yes they do I do it everyday. [emoji3]

How far is will it pump upwards, i was thinking about 4 ft

reefwiser · Apr 16, 2017

GHL dosers pump 50 feet max. So four foot up is no problem. Mine pump up 2 and 1/2 feet up. An I have had them pump from out in the garage 8 feet then up 2 1/2 feet into the tank.

JamesP · Apr 16, 2017

Its actually better to pump upward as opposed to downward. If you pump downward and the pump wheel pinches less that perfect you will slowly siphon everything from the dosing vessel into your tank. If you pump upward make sure the end is not underwater in the tank as you would then run the risk of a reverse siphon pulling tank water into your dosing vessel.

In theory, the pump wheel is perfect and this cannot happen. In practice it happens from time to time, especially as the pumps age. I say design your system where a siphon is physically impossible to avoid any issues.

Mark Taber · Apr 21, 2017

Thanks for all the replies. I have just ordered a Jebao DP-2

Vmpgrl · May 12, 2018

Definitely not a dumb question as I was going to ask the same thing!!

KCSUMPS · Oct 28, 2018

Did you get it working? I am hoping to use a 4 pumo system to dose 2 things and do manual water change from mt fish room about 15 feet away and 8 feet below

reefwiser · Oct 28, 2018

I standard dosing pump is not suited for water changes as it is made for small doses in the ML size amount and not in the gallon amount a water change would require. It would require a larger dosing pump like a Apex DOS or GHL Maxi doser.
You can use them at that distance thou as they will be louder than a normal dosing pump.

KCSUMPS · Oct 28, 2018

Excellent info. Thank you!

BonelessEvil · Nov 13, 2018

okay, I'm wanting to put my salt mixing station in the garage, then use a dosing pump to push/pull an automatic water change from there. I'm guessing that I'll need about 50 feet total, including 8 feet up a wall into my attic, then down another 8 feet into the sump. Does that sound legitimate? Am I going to break my dosing pump over and over?

reefwiser · Nov 14, 2018

Dosing pumps are not made to move large amounts of water. They do make larger volume peristaltic pumps such as the Neptune DOS or GHL Maxi Doser
I have also used a Stenner dual head pump to do this also.

IslandLifeReef · Nov 14, 2018

This may be obvious, but I would make sure that the tubes don't touch the water in the tank above so that you don't accidentally syphon water out of the tank.

BonelessEvil · Nov 15, 2018

IslandLifeReef said:
This may be obvious, but I would make sure that the tubes don't touch the water in the tank above so that you don't accidentally syphon water out of the tank.

is back siphoning a problem with many dosing units?