My alk consumption is rising higher than ever

[rock_lobster]

Lol
lol not sure what you mean by that rock lobster. I don't trust them because of the horrible stories of them dumping all the alk in at once. And reef's crashing never to be seen again. I've had a reef crash from not taking care of alk and alkalinity issue's are the number 1 cause of a crashed reef. It's like poring gasoline in your tank lol. Just sketchy!

Yes alk overdose will kill a reef. But it's just a piece of equipment there are many failsafes available. Such as a pH monitor.

 

[Tommy's Reef]

The worst case with your dosing pump failing is that it dumps your alkalinity solution into your tank. Using a BRS doser, that would take 2.5 days to dump a gallon. The side effects would be that it would all precipitate out of the system once it hits roughly 11 dkh ad you'd notice long before. Well right now, you're dumping a large amount of alk solution all at once, something that would take 3+ hrs to do with a BRS doser and you're causing most of it to precipitate out anyways. You have nothing to lose by using an proper automated system and everything to gain.

so your saying it would take 2.5 days to dump a gallon? So there's no way for the brs doser to get stuck and dump it all at once?

 

[rock_lobster]

so your saying it would take 2.5 days to dump a gallon? So there's no way for the brs doser to get stuck and dump it all at once?

No the speed of the BRS pump is 1.1ml per minute. If it were stuck on then it would take 2.5 days to drain a one gallon jug.

 

[amps]

No the speed of the BRS pump is 1.1ml per minute. If it were stuck on then it would take 2.5 days to drain a one gallon jug.

This. 3785ml per gallon = 3441 minutes to pump it at 1.1ml per minute or 57.35 hours. That a large enough margin of error to consider it nearly 100% safe. Any issues would happen so slowly that either they would resolve themselves, be harmless or would give you enough time to react and correct them.

Most dosing pumps use rollers to pinch the dosing tube and at least one is in contact at all times. That should prevent any chance of siphoning. You can make it even safer by making sure the jug is located lower than the outlet into the tank. It's really an awesome setup and pretty cost effective at the same time.

Happy reefing!

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Cool thanks guys!!

 

[jd371]

Yes alk overdose will kill a reef. But it's just a piece of equipment there are many failsafes available. Such as a pH monitor.

Just curious, if the doser was to get stuck and dump too much Alk into the tank, would the pH monitor pick up the rise quickly enough to shut off the doser before anything happened. Is the pH effect instantaneous?

 

[bif24701]

so your saying it would take 2.5 days to dump a gallon? So there's no way for the brs doser to get stuck and dump it all at once?

Still I would not recommended it.

 

[bif24701]

Just curious, if the doser was to get stuck and dump too much Alk into the tank, would the pH monitor pick up the rise quickly enough to shut off the doser before anything happened. Is the pH effect instantaneous?

Yes. If you have it programmed that way.

I use BRS dosers and the relay sockets on my APEX EB8s. Relay sockets are far more reliable and 99% more likely to get stuck in the off position. Pretty fool proof when set up correctly and safe guards programmed in.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just curious, if the doser was to get stuck and dump too much Alk into the tank, would the pH monitor pick up the rise quickly enough to shut off the doser before anything happened. Is the pH effect instantaneous?

Yes, the pH rise is instantaneous.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't trust dosing pumps at all

For people who do not trust pumps, you can still take advantage of them (at least the spread out dosing aspect) without any risk.

One way is to only put only 1-2 days worth of additive into the reservoir, and then your refilling is just like manual dosing, but the pump spreads out the dosing to add it many times per day.

 

[Tommy's Reef]

For people who do not trust pumps, you can still take advantage of them (at least the spread out dosing aspect) without any risk.

One way is to only put only 1-2 days worth of additive into the reservoir, and then your refilling is just like manual dosing, but the pump spreads out the dosing to add it many times per day.

I am doing this lol ( manually dosing your doser)

 

[rock_lobster]

I am doing this lol ( manually dosing your doser)

Your not... You are dumping in 200ml.. The dosing pump does that over the course of hours in small quantities per minute not even close to the same thing.

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Your not... You are dumping in 200ml.. The dosing pump does that over the course of hours in small quantities per minute not even close to the same thing.

No, I'm going to start doing this, its a good idea, manually dosing your doser, brilliant!

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Its the safest way

 

[Robink]

You just have to be home all day long...
Just ordered my dosers.

 

[rock_lobster]

No, I'm going to start doing this, its a good idea, manually dosing your doser, brilliant!

Oh ya thats a good way to do it. I use medical grade dosing pumps that I run 24hours per day 7d/wk. I just put in the amount of 2part for the week and let it run(also serves as a large percentage of my topoff only have to add about a gallon a week). No risk of over filling or overdosing since its already running at 100% 24/7. I've been running my tanks like that for 10 years now with no issues at all. Also works great for nano SPS tanks with high alk needs because its a very small steady drip vs a few small doses per day.

 

[madweazl]

No the speed of the BRS pump is 1.1ml per minute. If it were stuck on then it would take 2.5 days to drain a one gallon jug.

Dont put a lot of faith into the 1.1ml rating and test them as suggested by BRS. The two I have were both 1.9ml/minute and from the reviews I've read, many seem to end up in the same range (1.8-1.9ml/minute).

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Just picked up jebao dp-4. Testing now. 75 bucks not bad

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Dont put a lot of faith into the 1.1ml rating and test them as suggested by BRS. The two I have were both 1.9ml/minute and from the reviews I've read, many seem to end up in the same range (1.8-1.9ml/minute).

I believe it. I read the reviews. I went with this dp 4 even though it has a worse wrap then the brs 1.1 ml. If it falls threw then imma go with the best 1.1 ml. Reviews are coming

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Wow testing the dp4. Flawless so far I've only tested the first 2 pumps but very accurate and easy to set up