BRS Doser apex question

[zack801]

So I've been using the BRS doser with my apex for the last month or so. Things seem to being going well. Currently im dosing 24/7 alk with a dose every hour. Im using a calculator online for dosing but i'd like to actually split dosing into to 12 hour cycles. I've noticed alk dipping lower than i'd like during the day and I want to increase my dosing during those hours. Does anyone have an example program for doing this?

 

[Crabs McJones]

#apexusers
I'd like to know this as well, right now my daily consumption has me dosing 70 ml, I made it so that my dos doses alk one hour and calcium the next at 5.8 ml per hour back and fourth

 

[zack801]

I have the dos as well. It recently started having issues and it's out of warranty so im not sure i even want to fix it. That's why im trying out this BRS pump. Though for the problem im trying to solve the DOS would be a lot easier since you can set up different times for each dose

 

[DLHDesign]

The method I used to tackle this problem back when was via the "OSC" command. You can read about that on Neptune's forums here, but for a brief overview;

Set OFF
OSC 000:00/010:00/050:00 Then ON

This would turn ON the dosing pump every hour, on the hour, and run it for 10 minutes (giving a dose of 11ml/hr, or 264ml/day).

Set OFF
OSC 030:00/010:00/020:00 Then ON

This would turn ON the dosing pump every hour, on the HALF hour, and run it for 10 minutes.

Using the two above programs, you could dose your Alk on the hour and your Ca on the half-hour. You can adjust the dosing time (and thus volume) up or down by changing the middle number to match the time to have the pump run AND also adjust the third number by the same amount in the opposite direction. For example; if you wanted to double the volume dosed in a day, then you would change the first one to:

OSC 000:00/020:00/040:00

And the second one would be:

OSC 030:00/020:00/010:00

 

[DLHDesign]

Sorry; just re-read your question. The above didn't answer it fully (though the link did). That's what I get when I get caught up in my own head explaining something, sorry...

The above is still true, but you'll also have to turn OFF the plugs during the night. To do that, you would add a "TIME" instruction - which needs to be _after_ the OSC instruction line. Like so:

Set OFF
OSC 000:00/010:00/050:00 Then ON
If Time 18:01 to 06:00 Then OFF

The "Time" line will supersede the OSC command between the times given (in this case; 6:01pm-6am), giving you a 12hr window during the "day" where the OSC command turns the pump on every hour, on the hour, for 10 minutes, but then keeps the pump off the rest of the time. (The extra minute on the front of the time command is to allow for 12 on/12off. Without that, you would have 11 on/13off.)
Note that this extra "Time" line will also cut the dosing volume in half (the code works on time; not volume). To account for this, you would need to double the time calculated for a 24hr period. Or, more specifically;
Daily volume desired / 1.1 gives "minutes per day" to have the pump on
"minutes per day"/12 gives you the middle number for the OSC command (keeping in mind that it's a minutes:seconds format; not a decimal)
Subtract that middle number from 60 to get the third number of the OSC command line (this is where the "every hour" part comes from; change this number to anything else to get a different interval)
With the first number at 000:00, that will give you the "on the hour" command.
To get the "on the half-hour" command, subtract 30min from the third number and set the first to 030:00

To use @Crabs Mcjones target of 70ml/day, then:
70 / 1.1 = 63.63... (63min 38sec per day)
63.63... / 12 = 5.30... (5min 18sec per dose)
Assuming we do Alk at the top of the hour, that command would be:

Set OFF
OSC 000:00/005:18/054:42 Then On
If Time 18:01 to 06:00 Then OFF

For Ca, we would offset the above by 30min, giving:

Set OFF
OSC 030:00/005:18/024:42 Then On
If Time 18:31 to 06:30 Then OFF

Note above that the Time command was shifted the 30min as well. This isn't technically required, but I find it's less confusing for me.

 

[zack801]

@DLHDesign im not sure if I’m following. The problem I’m trying to solve is I’d like to be able to do something like dose 8ml alk during the evening when consumption is lowest; say 8pm - 8am. Then when lights come on have it do 14ml from 9am-7pm. So essentially two different programs. If I read the above correctly it was just dosing during the day and then nothing at night. My current programming looks like this:

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/000:32/059:28 Then ON
If pH > 8.40 Then OFF

This doses every hour on the hour for 32seconds each time which ends up being a total of 22ml for the day.

 

[DLHDesign]

Based on your current programming;
32sec (.53... min) * 1.1ml/min = .586... ml/dose
.586... * 24 doses = 14.08ml/day
Your current programming is shy of the target 22ml per day by ~8ml.

The method I would use would be to use two "virtual outputs" for each additive - one for the nighttime dosing, and another for the daytime dosing. Then for the physical outlet, have it turn ON any time either virtual output is ON, else OFF.

Math bitz for the numbers you desire (22ml/day):
8ml / 1.1ml/min = 7.27... total minutes of dosing at night
7.27... / 12 hours = .60 minutes (36 seconds) per dose at night

14ml / 1.1ml/min = 12.72... total minutes of dosing during the day
12.72... / 12 hours = 1.06... minutes (1min 4sec) per dose during the day

Checking that math;
36sec per dose * 12 doses = 432 seconds (7.2min) of dosing time at night. 7.2min * 1.1ml/min gives 7.92ml total dosing at night
64sec per dose * 12 doses = 768 seconds (12.8min) of dosing time during the day. 12.8min * 1.1ml/min gives 14.08ml total dosing during the day
7.92ml + 14.08ml = 22ml total in 24hrs

So now that we know the times involved*, the programming would be:

CA Nighttime Virtual Output
Label: CA_PM

Set OFF
OSC 000:00/000:36/059:24 Then ON
If Time 07:01 to 19:00 Then OFF

CA Daytime Virtual Output
Label: CA_AM

Set OFF
OSC 000:00/001:04/058:56 Then ON
If Time 19:01 to 07:00 Then OFF

CA Physical Plug

Set OFF
If Output CA_PM = ON Then ON
If Output CA_AM = ON Then ON
If pH > 8.40 Then OFF

ALK Nighttime Virtual Output
Label: ALK_PM

Set OFF
OSC 000:00/000:36/059:24 Then ON
If Time 07:31 to 19:30 Then OFF

ALK Daytime Virtual Output
Label: ALK_AM

Set OFF
OSC 000:00/001:04/058:56 Then ON
If Time 19:31 to 07:30 Then OFF

ALK Physical Plug

Set OFF
If Output ALK_PM = ON Then ON
If Output ALK_AM = ON Then ON
If pH > 8.40 Then OFF

* - The times involved above assume that your dosing pump is actually calibrated to 1.1ml/min. If you've not confirmed this is the case in your system, I would highly suggest doing so. This isn't hard; prime the line and then run the pump for 10min as it is in your system, capturing the output in a measuring cylinder. You should end up with 11ml of fluid. If not, the above times will need to be adjusted to your actual output.

<edit: Shifted the programmed times to match your stated times>

 

[zack801]

I will have to carefully read through and change some of the calculations based off my actual pump dosing. The programming above is based off of 1.7ml instead of 1.1ml/minute because that’s what it ended up being after calibration

 

[DLHDesign]

That should mean 24sec of dosing at night and 41sec of dosing during the day. That will change the OSC commands, but not the rest of it.

 

[Willy315]

Have you tried THIS dosing program calculator?

 

[zack801]

Have you tried THIS dosing program calculator?

Yep that’s the one I was referring to. Good for the one program but I wasn’t sure how/if I could use it for two 12hr day/night splits

 

[Willy315]

Yep that’s the one I was referring to. Good for the one program but I wasn’t sure how/if I could use it for two 12hr day/night splits

I re-read your original post and I am not sure I understand what you are trying to do . Are you wanting to dose more alk during the day and less at night? If that's the case, the virtual outlet programming above will probably work best.

Honestly, I'd just stay your course of dosing the same amount every hour. Before I switched to a calcium reactor I dosed two part for a long time and dosed every hour with great success. Don't chase the numbers. Chasing numbers is endless and will result in problems

 

[zack801]

I re-read your original post and I am not sure I understand what you are trying to do . Are you wanting to dose more alk during the day and less at night? If that's the case, the virtual outlet programming above will probably work best.

Honestly, I'd just stay your course of dosing the same amount every hour. Before I switched to a calcium reactor I dosed two part for a long time and dosed every hour with great success. Don't chase the numbers. Chasing numbers is endless and will result in problems

That was also my thought. I’m just trying to stay as stable as possible. The thing I noticed was my tests are noticeably lower toward the end of my lighting period so I was hoping to stabilize that a bit. Before I only dosed during the night so I’d bet with my most recent findings my swings were larger than I thought. I’m sure everything is more stable doing 24/7 so I’ll keep at this for the time being. Thank you both for your input I really appreciate it @DLHDesign @Willy315