Red Sea Reefdose from Distance?

[Rewd]

Has anyone used a Red Sea Reefdose 2 or 4 that is not right next to their tank?

I have two tanks that are about 13 feet apart from each other and both need alk/calcium dosing. One cabinet has a TON of open space, the other cabinet has no open space lol. So I'd like to put the doser in the cabinet with abundant extra space to service both tanks. The doser would need to push liquids about 10-13 feet to the other sump.

I've done a lot of searching and even read the Reefdose manual but can't find examples of anyone doing this or any specifications on how far the doser can push fluid in the manual itself.

 

[DanyL]

For what its worth, most dosers in my experience work fine with about 6ft of tubing.

You do need to take into account a few things when using long tubing:
1. Accuracy drops - bubbles are hard to notice, and even harder to remove, I believe pressure will have an affect as well.
2. Greater damage on leaks - tubes sometimes break or disconnect, due to the length of the tube there'll be a lot of liquid that'll get released to either side.
3. Harder to inspect problems - you'll likely hide the tube from sight, but when the moment you'll move the tube to inspect it you'll change a lot of variables, which could potentially affect the calibration.

 

[Rewd]

Thank you! Good suggestions and considerations. I guess the best I can do is wait for it to arrive and test it out.

 

[DanyL]

Worst case scenario, if you don't have enough space for the containers you can also DIY your own supplements at a higher concentration to save some space (and money )

 

[Rewd]

true, although the other consideration is that I don't want to buy another doser lol. I got this Reefdose 4 at a bargain and each tank needs 2 dosing heads. I thought I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone haha

 

[DanyL]

Right, I forgot the point that it needs to be dosed to both tanks.
Another, better option would be to tie them together which'd have even more benefits, but it's not always possible and will indeed have an additional cost to it.

Give it a try first and see how it goes, might not be a problem at all.