Your preferred doser... need suggestions

[BigJohnny]

I have been using a 2 head jebao dosing pump for over a year, and it works just fine and it's super cheap. This was the single biggest improvement to my overall coral health (consistent alk.)

I've been hearing good things about the Coral Box Wifi Dosing Pump. That's probably what I'll buy next.

I'm sure the super expensive dosing pumps work great, but so do the cheap ones...

They work great sometimes, until all of a sudden they dont. Then your alk aint so consistent. Good luck

 

[Gungo]

Have had my jebao since sept 2017, calibrated and installed it and not a single problem! I won't give my word on the accuracy of the pump because it's not, but it will do the job. Exactly what I expected from a 60$ dosing pump on Amazon.

 

[Joe Rice]

You also can check out the CoralBox that reefbreeders sells. I have one coming in the mail today to check out to see what it is all about. I have read good things about them.

https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/coral-box-wifi-dosing-pump/

I have one of these and it's running like a champ. For me, it's huge that I can program it from my smartphone rather than pushing tiny buttons like on the cheap Jebao. I also like that it's smaller, much more solidly constructed and can easily be mounted to the wall. Reefbreeders even included 2 templates to make it easy get the right spacing on the mounting screws. Very well thought out product.

 

[madweazl]

Dosing pumps require a lot of faith and that isn't something I have a whole lot of. The multi-head single units have always worried me; I look at it as putting all of my eggs in one basket. Because of this, I went with individual dosing pumps from BRS. I still have a single point of failure in the controller but I trust the Reef Angel exponentially more than most of the cheaper all in one units. When it comes down to it, I dont trust any of them much further than I can throw 'em.

 

[mitch91175]

Dosing pumps require a lot of faith and that isn't something I have a whole lot of. The multi-head single units have always worried me; I look at it as putting all of my eggs in one basket. Because of this, I went with individual dosing pumps from BRS. I still have a single point of failure in the controller but I trust the Reef Angel exponentially more than most of the cheaper all in one units. When it comes down to it, I dont trust any of them much further than I can throw 'em.

Even with the Apex you do run the risk of it going nuts on you (just part of introducing technology into our aquariums). I just purchased a new PM1 module that started out reading temp correctly then quickly stopped doing so. I am glad that I didn't set my heater to use those measurements or I would have torched everything in my aquarium. I confirmed it was the PM1 by moving my other temp probe to it and the one that was in the PM1 module and it definitely wasn't the temp probe. Apex can also get a mind of its own and keep ports turned on. I would trust a standalone doser than anything that is controlled by the Apex (besides just on/off).

Also had a PM2 module that took down my entire Apex system.

 

[andrewkw]

Dosing pumps require a lot of faith and that isn't something I have a whole lot of. The multi-head single units have always worried me; I look at it as putting all of my eggs in one basket. Because of this, I went with individual dosing pumps from BRS. I still have a single point of failure in the controller but I trust the Reef Angel exponentially more than most of the cheaper all in one units. When it comes down to it, I dont trust any of them much further than I can throw 'em.

You do realize you calibrate each pump individually on multi head dosing pumps. I certainly agree they can be scary to put faith in but monitoring them is not too difficult.

Nothing against the brs pumps, I have some that are really old, I even have one of the old style ones that likely still works. I recently used one as a semi ato when I was away for a small tank that doesn't have a proper ato. That being said the multi head dosing pumps with brains are much easier to adjust and you will have to adjust them even if you don't get new corals since as they grow your needs change. I broke down the Kamoer F4 pretty well here : https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/kamoer-f4-dosing-pump-unboxing-and-initial-impressions.351840/

I never have to physically move the pumps, obviously eventually the lines and probably even the heads will need to be changed but other then that everything is controlled via app. Stand alone dosing pumps like BRS cannot be calibrated other then by timing them and adjusting your timers accordingly. With the F4 I got everything bang on and after checking after a few months they were still bang on. I'm at the point where I trust the doser but there is nothing stopping me from running a weekly calibration other then I feel it's not necessary anymore.

The absolute safest thing you can do with the most expensive to the cheapest dosing pump is limit how big your dosing containers are. If you have a suspect unit start with 3 or 4 days worth of liquids in your reservoirs. The pumps can't dose 1 gallon of whatever if you don't feed it with 1 gallon containers.

 

[madweazl]

My comment had nothing to do with calibration, only that you're reliant on the "brain" which becomes a single point of failure. I transferred this risk to a controller which is also a single point of failure but with a pretty good track record when it comes to reliability. I'm not sure how increasing or decreasing dosing time is easier on one platform over the next but if that was the case for you, great.

 

[pelphrey]

I am running the coral box WiFi doser currently. It's done its job so far with no complaints. My original goal was to get the GHL2.1 when the coral box went on sale for black Friday I couldn't pass it up. I am still eye balling the GHL though!

 

[fijiphil]

GHL dosers are rock solid. I have 4 x 4 head on my 4 x 3,000 liter displays. No issues...

 

[PaulS]

I have a jabeo 4 head that was like $60 running for six months now with zero issues. It's programmable and accurate. Dosing calcium and alkalinity on a 24 hour schedule on a biocube 32.

I have a jabeo 4 head on my 90 gallon that has been running for over a year. I only use two pumps and figure when they go bad I can use the other two pumps. I figure none of the brands are going to last forever and at that price it will not be to painful to get another one. It seems dead on as far as accuracy.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I have a ghl doser on my tank. It’s been rock steadily and issue free. However it can be a little tricky to setup. However the tec support is second to none. If you get one you will be glad you did.

 

[Blz14me1]

I was scared to death of getting a cheap doser and have something go wrong and nuke my tank. I sucked it up and bought a ghl 2.1 and I absolutely love it.

 

[jason]

I’m surprised I haven’t seen a litermeter 3 posted. That’s what I’m running with for my next setup.

 

[mitch91175]

My next doser will be a Dosetronic once it is released to go with my Alkatronic (since it has been soo freaking awesome on my DT). I setup my CoralBox yesterday and setup was a breeze. Love the smartphone setup and monitoring.

 

[martin]

Ghl 2 WiFi ready

 

[Scott chilton]

the footprint of the coral box wifi doser is unbelievably small. i love mine!

 

[reefaboo]

if you have a controller ..id go with the brs doser pumps and hook them to the controller .. those are the best ones i ever used .. very reliable and keeps the dose constant

 

[d2mini]

GHL Dosers. Available as a stand alone unit or as a slave if you have their controller, and available in 2, 3 or 4 pumps (2 and 3 are upgradeable) and two different color options.
Easy as pie to set up and calibrate, and the build quality (both hardware and firmware <---- super important!!!!) are outstanding.
Can be accessed/programmed on your pc, in the cloud, or via an app.

 

[PhreeByrd]

Aqua medic doser use it on my 180.

I second this. I use an Aquamedic Reefdoser EVO 4. It's solid, versatile, rock steady reliable, and reasonably priced.
I had a potential problem with one pump head and sent a question to Aquamedic USA support via email. They overnighted two replacement pump heads to me without question.
Hard to beat that level of service.

 

[NickK]

Business Idea: Start a company called Balling on a Budget and sell low cost dosing equipment.

*nerdy aquarium joke*