How you want to use a doser?

[Ranjib]

Hello,
I am seeking some feedback on how reefers would prefer to use a dosing system. This is for the opensource reef tank controller I am building, called reef-pi. As of now it can monitor/control temperature, 24 hour lighting cycle, equipment on/off etc. And currently I am working on the dosing part. This is bit hard for me to imagine, as I am relatively new to reef keeping (maintaining my nano & pico tanks for almost 2 years now), and very new to sps. Unlike lighting, temperature and other parts, I have not really done any dosing , except two parts that I am doing for last couple of months. Hence reaching out to the wider community here.

Technically, all dosing systems uses peristaltic pumps and runs them periodically, for a fixed duration. I can just let the users configure that, i.e. for each dosing pump, define when and how long to run it. But is that all? I am aware of lot of other dosing supplements (custom ULNS systems, aquaforest or red sea recipes, triton etc) but I have never really used any of those. Should there be a easier/better way to program dosing pumps?

Thanks for your time. I do not intend to copy/cat existing dosing system user interfaces. reef-pi uses web based user interface, so think of a internet/browser based system to program a dosing system that can have upto 16 pumps, where you can control speed, timing and direction.

 

[Cory]

Yeah pretty much just dose a certain quantity x times a day. The more the better. My ghl doser can do a max 24 x a day. Which is lots but i wouldnt mind dosing 1ml every 20 mins of vodka for example. :)

 

[DarkSky]

Dose X minutes Y times a day, or
dose A total minutes spread over B times daily.

 

[Greybeard]

Many of the items we're dosing most easily calculate for DAILY usage. 35ml/day, or whatever. There are products, or reefers, that prefer daytime or nighttime dosing, and different dosing products that should not be dosed at the same time. Here's what I'd like to see:

Dose X.XX ML / Day
Evenly spread over XX doses per day
--Check for Daytime only
--Check for Nighttime only
Multiple Dose Offset: Do not dose this product within X minutes of dosing another product

 

[MaccaPopEye]

What Greybeard covered is pretty much spot on.

The only things I would add are to ensure there is an easy way to calibrate the dosages. And let users enter the volume of their dosing container and have automatic reminders when they need to be refilled (possibly after 80% of the dosing container has been used).

 

[Greybeard]

an easy way to calibrate the dosages.

Yup. Enter quantity, dose to that quantity, enter actual dosed measurement.

And let users enter the volume of their dosing container and have automatic reminders when they need to be refilled

Too fancy for me.

I've got a coralbox doser now. Calibration is simple, and seems effective. Control is via a phone app... simple, and clean. You _can_ join the device to a wireless network, but you don't have to. I didn't. By default, it acts as it's own access point. You join that wireless network, and run the app. Of course, you can configure it so that it is linked to your home wireless, and connect that way, but I'm not going to do so. I don't need adjust dosing volume often, there is little reason to attach it to my wireless network.