Doser or Submersible Pump for WC

[CMMorgan]

So, I've seen systems set up a few ways and I'm curious about the thinking behind different mechanisms for pumping fresh salt water back into a tank during a water change. This is not referring to an ATO. Specifically, if you have a DIY WC system or you siphon water out manually to remove detritus, how are you returning the salt water to your system? Who has come up with something reliable and simple? Is there a good reason to use a $100+ dosing pump versus an inexpensive bottom drawing submersible?

 

[danimal1211]

So far I’ve been using the old elbow grease to do it. If I had a large system I’d probably pump into sump to return line. The benefits of dosers is to do auto water changes which I’m in the process of setting up. I already have a 4 head dose and am only using 2 heads currently.

 

[CMMorgan]

So far I’ve been using the old elbow grease to do it. If I had a large system I’d probably pump into sump to return line. The benefits of dosers is to do auto water changes which I’m in the process of setting up. I already have a 4 head dose and am only using 2 heads currently.

So that's 1 vote for the bucket brigade.

I do agree that using one dose pump to remove water and another to replace is a viable option and certainly an endorsement for using that over a submersible. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Evil1]

I mix my salt water in 5 gallon buckets then drop a cheap pump I bought from Amazon to pump water from buckets back into tank. Just make sure the pump you purchase had ample head height to pump from floor to tank. It was like 30 bucks and has bottom intake to suck all the way to bottom of bucket.