Tunze Osmolator 3155 + Peristaltic pump = frustration

[DonF]

Hi, everyone.

We recently moved our ATO reservoir to the basement and needed a pump with more head pressure to move our Kalk/RODI mix up to the sump. Truth be told, we never tried the pump it came with and, instead, invested in the Osmolator Switched Socket and a Milwaukee MP810 Dosing Pump.

The setup works, but the pump is so slow that we often hit the 5 minute built-in timeout of the Tunze. It got so annoying we had to disable the audible alarm. Under ideal conditions we go many days in a row of smooth operation, but then some small change occurs (e.g. skimmer gets fresh and decides to run a little wet) and then we hit the timeout.

A Kalk reactor is not feasible right now for... reasons. So, we're after a pump that has enough head pressure *and* can deal with pumping Kalk.

The Neptune PMUP v2 seems to fit the description, but I see tons of "it failed!" reviews that I'm very hesitant.

Any recommendations? (Or hacks to disable the 5 minute timeout on the Osmolator?)

 

[csund]

Spectrapure ATO is flawless

or buy a faster peristaltic pump

 

[DonF]

Spectrapure ATO is flawless

or buy a faster peristaltic pump

The former is out of our price range, but I'd love recommendations for the latter!

 

[csund]

Amazon.com

this one is 4x the volume of Milwaukee pump

Google high volume peristaltic pump

 

[DonF]

Amazon.com

this one is 4x the volume of Milwaukee pump

Google high volume peristaltic pump

I must be misunderstanding the specs... I was scouring Amazon for that search string, specifically, but:

MP810: Max. Flow: 0.6 L/min or 0.16 GPM

That's 600ml/min, right?

And the one you linked is 40-210ml/min.

I don't doubt what you're saying, but help me to understand? A $78 solution would make me a happy guy.

 

[KStatefan]

You can change the jumpers so the warning is just for the high level or off completely.

You could add a second pump like you have now.

 

[csund]

I must be misunderstanding the specs... I was scouring Amazon for that search string, specifically, but:

MP810: Max. Flow: 0.6 L/min or 0.16 GPM

That's 600ml/min, right?

And the one you linked is 40-210ml/min.

I don't doubt what you're saying, but help me to understand? A $78 solution would make me a happy guy.

Whoops I was looking at this

 

[csund]

Maybe measure the output to know for sure?

Theres also this beast

Amazon.com

 

[DonF]

You can change the jumpers so the warning is just for the high level of off completely.

You could add a second pump like you have now.

Unfortunately that jumper only controls the audible alarm.If the pump runs 10 minutes it get shut down.

2 Pumps is an interesting idea. That might be viable, assuming the switched socket works fine with two things plugged into it. (I don't see why it would matter.)

 

[DonF]

Maybe measure the output to know for sure?

Theres also this beast

Amazon.com

Woah, now that looks promising! Let me dive into the rabbit hole of "stepper motor peristaltic pump needs to be used with the driver board."

 

[csund]

Let’s first jump down the rabbit hole of verifying how many ml/min your Milwaukee is putting out. Maybe their website is wrong, it could be .15 gph instead of gpm. Other websites list it as gph.

 

[DonF]

Let’s first jump down the rabbit hole of verifying how many ml/min your Milwaukee is putting out. Maybe their website is wrong, it could be .15 gph instead of gpm. Other websites list it as gph.

Well, well, well… why didn’t I think to start here? I tested three times to be certain, and it’s only putting out 25ml/min. Perhaps due to the 10’ of head pressure or somewhat viscous nature of kalk?

.15 gph would be about 9.5 ml/min, so it’s not that slow… but it’s a far cry from advertised output!

 

[KStatefan]

Well, well, well… why didn’t I think to start here? I tested three times to be certain, and it’s only putting out 25ml/min. Perhaps due to the 10’ of head pressure or somewhat viscous nature of kalk?

.15 gph would be about 9.5 ml/min, so it’s not that slow… but it’s a far cry from advertised output!

As long as you are not above the max head for the pump it should not change since this is a positive displacement pump.

I did look at the manual and it show 25ml/min https://milwaukeeinstruments.com/content/manuals/MP810.pdf if that is the right pump.

 

[csund]

Well, well, well… why didn’t I think to start here? I tested three times to be certain, and it’s only putting out 25ml/min. Perhaps due to the 10’ of head pressure or somewhat viscous nature of kalk?

.15 gph would be about 9.5 ml/min, so it’s not that slow… but it’s a far cry from advertised output!

That first Kamoer pump should work fine then. If/when you get a kalk reactor you could still use that as the feed pump.

 

[DonF]

As long as you are not above the max head for the pump it should not change since this is a positive displacement pump.

I did look at the manual and it show 25ml/min https://milwaukeeinstruments.com/content/manuals/MP810.pdf if that is the right pump.

Ha! So the manual is not at all in sync with the product description. I’m inclined to write them to complain.

Basically, then, any number of the pumps readily found on Amazon will do better. I’m thinking I’ll get a cheapish one and add it so that I have two working in parallel. No need for a beefier stepper motor that requires a driver board… plenty of all-in-one options that do way more volume (so they claim) than 25ml/min.

Thanks, everyone. This was an enlightening exercise. If only getting rid of my Dinos was this easy! ;-) (I do think I’ve won that battle, though! Jinx.)

 

[csund]

Ha! So the manual is not at all in sync with the product description. I’m inclined to write them to complain.

Basically, then, any number of the pumps readily found on Amazon will do better. I’m thinking I’ll get a cheapish one and add it so that I have two working in parallel. No need for a beefier stepper motor that requires a driver board… plenty of all-in-one options that do way more volume (so they claim) than 25ml/min.

Thanks, everyone. This was an enlightening exercise. If only getting rid of my Dinos was this easy! ;-) (I do think I’ve won that battle, though! Jinx.)

I always go lights out for a few days and use an in tank power filter stuffed with floss. I have a port in my return plumbing I use for multiple things but in this case I hook up a some tubing with a acrylic rigid tube shoved in the end. I use it to “pressure wash” all the Dino’s into the water column and use the power filter to remove.

I don’t know what type I’ve had but this has always worked. I even attached a 200g frag system to my DT and it got them. I covered this tank so it would get hit with light from the other tank.

 

[DonF]

I always go lights out for a few days and use an in tank power filter stuffed with floss. I have a port in my return plumbing I use for multiple things but in this case I hook up a some tubing with a acrylic rigid tube shoved in the end. I use it to “pressure wash” all the Dino’s into the water column and use the power filter to remove.

I don’t know what type I’ve had but this has always worked. I even attached a 200g frag system to my DT and it got them. I covered this tank so it would get hit with light from the other tank.

I followed advice on this forum and did a 5 day full blackout, power washing and suctioning not unlike what you describe, and dosed hydrogen peroxide for 5 days. I also raised the water temp to 82 and dosed nitrate and phosphate (nutrients completely bottomed out).

It’s been a few weeks and not any sign of them! Invested in Hanna testers to keep a more accurate eye on nutrients and ditched the chaeto, for now… it was working too well!

Anyway, in emailed Milwaukee to let them know their website has misinformation. Even if they meant to say 0.16 GPH it’d be wrong - that’s 10 ml/min. Let’s see if they reply.