Dosers, Controllers, and Obsessive Worry

[BestMomEver]

I am a worrier. I can't help it. I also have my two year old granddaughter living with me so nothing happens on a predictable schedule. I try to dose my tank on a set schedule, but its not in the cards. So when I do get to dose, I have to test first, which is costly (Hanna tester components) and time consuming, and time is not plentiful at my house. So, I bought a gently used Jebao doser from my LFS. Guess what? It doesn't work! So, I need to get another. There are a lot of dosers out there so I have plenty of choices, but I also understand how devastating it can be to have a doser malfunction. Which leads me to a controller. The idea of having a "master" keeper take care of things for me and alert me when something is wrong, is simply amazing. I can't imagine how peaceful it might be. (I worry when I leave the house because of what might happen if I have a power outage and then have the skimmer go crazy when the power comes back on!) So I think a controller is the way to go. Which leads me to the decision of what to get. If I get an Apex and Apex doser (which I would love!), everything will fit together without extra components or hassle. But.....the cost makes me catch my breath. I also understand that if I get less expensive components from different manufacturers, I might have to add more equipment to make them work together, which might end up costing the same as the Apex. I'm so confused!

So... for those of you that have controllers and dosers working together, please tell me what you have and why you chose the system you chose. Thanks so much!

Elizabeth

 

[TheEngineer]

I use a Reef Angel controller and the BRS dosers. It works well for me. Unfortunately, all electronic systems are prone to break down and not always in a safe way. One way to avoid catastrophe is to limit the amount of chemicals available.

If you only keep a few days worth in your dosing container you won’t have to worry about nuking your tank if the doser sticks on.

I believe GHL makes a stand-alone doser you can program.

 

[n2585722]

Only problem is a controller can also fail. It probably will in some fasion. Most common is programming mistakes. I would run you programming by people that have used the paticular one you get. That way any errors will most likely be pointed out and can be avoided. Make sure you have some kind of automatic backup in case the controller fails. I use my MP10's as the backup since they will run if something does happen to the controller. This would be a temporary backup as the return pump is controlled by the controller, but the tank should be good for a few hours without the return. The MP10's also have battery backup power in case of a power failure. I have been without power for a period of 4 hours without any ill effects on the tank. A controller should help with some of you concerns, but these can also be done by other means. A good thing about a controller is being able to access it from anywhere via the web to check on things. Make sure the one you get has that ability.

Have fun with the granddaughter. I have 5 grandkids. They can be a lot of fun.

 

[FugeTown]

Hey man you could put a gravity water topoff (floating bobber style) with kalkwasser like I do and not worry about alkalinity/calcium/ph
It's definitely making things easy for me and it's a super cheap setup including kalkwasser and all.

 

[reefwiser]

I use GHL dosers way more adjustable and come in 2 3 and 4 head varieties. I have 13 dosing heads total doing a varied tasks as I need them. You can use a master doser to control up to 18 dosing heads if need be.
Very reliable and can be programed from a smart phone . Processors are handy as you can run slave dosing units too

 

[JoshH]

I use GHL dosers way more adjustable and come in 2 3 and 4 head varieties. I have 13 dosing heads total doing a varied tasks as I need them. You can use a master doser to control up to 18 dosing heads if need be.
Very reliable and can be programed from a smart phone . Processors are handy as you can run slave dosing units too

Another serious benefit to GHL vs Apex which @reefwiser lightly touches on is the fact you do not need a controller atall to run them vs the DOS. Not only that they are substantially cheaper for a 4 head setup.