Most Accurate Continuous Dosers - for Auto Water Changes - Your Ideas and Suggestions

[nomsmon]

What duty cycle are these pumps people are recommending rated for?

Typical peristaltic pumps should be rated for the duty cycle you intended to use. A pump that can run for multiple hours or more doing a continuous water change is general not the same as one for dosing precise amounts of additives.

Lab and industrial grade pumps publish information on the supported duty cycles and whether it is approved for continuous duty.

Not saying it won't work, but you're definitely shortening the lifespan of your pump.

I'd also look at a unit with dual heads on a single motor where you can configure the direction of each head. Then you can have one draining and one filling at the same rate.

I would also recommend thinking about accuracy as a relative measurement of confidence. If you are doing a 3gal water change you probably don't need a pump that is accurate to the tenth of a milliliter. Think about it terms of percentage; generally 1% is a very acceptable error margin.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Literneter 3 and water exchange module from spectrapure.

Waiting to get these and they are nowhere to be found. It's been months that they have been out of stock.


FYI, with an LM3 and remote pump, you are limited to exchanging about 26 gallons of water per day because of how these pumps sequence between pump 1 pumping water in and then pump 2 pumping water out. Then there is a pause and the cycle starts again.

If you want to change up to triple that amount (approx 75GPD) you'd need to get 2 of their LM3-MPM @ 175 each and after calibrating have them controlled via timed outlets via apex or GHL.

 

[t5Nitro]

Most people using awc pumps are doing 1% daily. Unless you have a system larger than 2600 gallons you don't need more than 26 gallons daily. However I wasn't aware theyve been out of stock. Worth the wait, IMO.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Most people using awc pumps are doing 1% daily. Unless you have a system larger than 2600 gallons you don't need more than 26 gallons daily. However I wasn't aware theyve been out of stock. Worth the wait, IMO.

Do you use their system? How much do you change per day?

 

[t5Nitro]

I'm using one to change 1 gallon daily. My system is only 85-90 gallons total.

 

[mattdg]

Afraid I can’t help with your question as I am new to reefing ( patiently waiting for Cade to arrive). Where did you purchase water storage units? Looking to purchase something similar for salt water mixing station.
[/QUOT

I purchased them from a local reefer, who was taking down their tank.

These particular vats can be found new at Tractor Supply Co, the 65 gallon liquid storage containers. I believe they are around $200 each. Cheaper options are available, if you do your homework.

 

[Kyl]

Afraid I can’t help with your question as I am new to reefing ( patiently waiting for Cade to arrive). Where did you purchase water storage units? Looking to purchase something similar for salt water mixing station.

Check out any local farm supply chains you may have. Or google Norwesco dealers.

 

[mattdg]

Thank you everyone who has replied so far. Keep your suggestions coming. I'll be researching each and every one of your recommendations.

Has anyone used the BRS 50 ML ATO dosers for AWC? Wondering how accurate they will be over time, since the slower 1.6 ML dosers tend not to back siphon.

It's worth mentioning, given the numbers being discussed above, that I plan on changing no more than 2 gallons / day on a 120 gallon system.

 

[mattdg]

I have decided to commit to the BRS 50Ml/Min dosers, for the time being. I figure I can always task them with something else, if they don't work out. There are plenty of options in this thread to choose from, thanks to all who have replied.

I've mapped out how I am going to use them, up to the point of my, in tank, float switch.

Here is my plan and hopefully one of you can help me with a suggestion for specialized timers that will make this all possible.

The water will be removed from the lowest point of my sump, which will mitigate any issue where the timer or doser gets stuck on. So no float switch here.

I'd like to use my ATO's float switch to act as an auto shot off for the doser, that will be adding water back in to the sump. This will insure that the water always matches that, of the top off system. No variation, is good.

The current plan is to split the AC output of the ATO to two timers. One for the ATO pump and one for the Peristaltic AWC doser. The ATO would switch off, at the ATO AC output, for the duration of the water change and the AWC will come on, at the ATO AC output, during "fill".

My issue, as you have probably already guessed, is that the plug in timers are powered by the AC outlet to which they are attached. That means the timers will be switching on and off constantly, as the ATO does it's job. I don't exactly know how to word this, to even search for such a device, but I need a timer that is self powered, independent of the AC outlet to which it is plugged in, to make this system a reality.

I realize that many timers have a battery backup built in, but worry that the constant on and off would make them unreliable. The ideal solution would have a second source of power, for the digital timer only. One thought is to modify an existing timer, by adding an external power source to it.

I should probably start a new thread for this topic, but will see what sort of replies I get here first.

Thanks!

 

[Servopkg]

Following- let me know how you like it. I am on a similar journey, tank is a year old (small nano 13 gal) and built a 40x2 gal mixing station in my basement so I can have good quality water for my reef tank. I bought a BRS 50mL/min doser to supply fresh water to my ATO container without needing to lug a bucket. I will turn it on an off by a Wifi APC power strip and app and just watch the level rise...so a manual fill.

I also don't want to invest in Neptune but feel Ecotech marine is the best solution when they become available so I will just wait. In the mean time, I'm using two small 2 gal buckets in my tank stand, one fresh salt water filled manually from mixing station and one empty to collect waste water. I'm using two pumps on my Jaebo DP4 machine for the last few weeks and it does keep the tank parameters very stable (1/2 gal change out daily).

Covid has really messed up supply of some hardware to this hobby. I'll just be patient and wait for the Versa pumps to fill in the last remaining puzzle piece to not move water manually with buckets.

 

[DangerDave]

I use a dos for AWC. They work well. I’m doing about 10 gallons a day. I have different length tube for the waste vs the new water. Make sure to calibrate the units with the full tube length installed. It was off just a little bit at first, just enough to give me salinity issues until I figured it out.

 

[mattdg]

Update

I have had the two 50ML/M BRS dosers installed for a month now. I am pretty impressed with their performance and reliability, so far. I would still like to figure out a way to run the return doser in conjunction with the ATO's float switch, but have temporarily installed a second float switch in the event the system gets stuck on. Still waiting for the Versa's to come available, but becoming more and more comfortable using the BRS dosers, the longer I wait. I may just purchase two more for the frag system and be done with it.

I basically hooked up both BRS dosers to a simple timer. They perform a 1 gallon water change daily. 1 gallon a day perfectly matches my total previous water change volume. I do notice a slight variation in input/output, due to the mix station being 8 feet below the tank. The peristaltic pumps are positioned next to and 3/4 up, behind the 120 gallon mixed reef. So far, I am compensating for the variation by increasing the SG in the new water reservoir to 1.030. Fingers crossed, but this is working perfectly. Display tank is stable at 1.025 and I can adjust downstairs SG as needed. It also has the added benefit of adding a bit more salt mix to the system, than the actual 1 gallon water change.

As far as the health of the system, there is a VERY noticeable difference in the health and color of the coral. Now that I have implemented AWC, I will never go back.

I wonder how many are dosing their trace and aminos, mixed into the AWC tanks new SW? Let me know if that is something any of you are doing, or if there are know issues with precipitation or anything of that nature.

 

[Servopkg]

The BRS pump is a good one. Mine moves water quite well and its a good 45 foot horizontal run and has a rise of 10'. I did have a slight issue where I had a water leak at one of my 45's but that was my fault as I didn't push the RO tubing in securely enough.

 

[mattdg]

Posting another update on the BRS dosing pumps, 50ml / minute version. So far, 2 months of success running these.

The coral are looking better and better, benefiting from the increased stability. Specific gravity remains stable at 1.025.

Given the flexibility of the daily water change, I now feel comfortable switching from the red sea to coral pro salt, which should save me a little bit of cash in weekly trace and alk/cal requirements.

I no longer feel the need to wait for the Versa's to come available, which is nice. Instead, I am going to invest in a couple more BRS pumps, for the frag system and backups.

Please post if you are using these, any other pumps mentioned or something else. I think it's important to share our experience, given what is currently available and affordable.

 

[Adamantium]

I use the pumps below in the photo as my ATO and AWC pumps. I don't have an upstairs in my house so the pumps are on the same level as the tank. They are however in the garage and the tubing runs through the attic to the room with the tank. The tubing is in PVC conduit with insulation though. I paid around $26 a piece for them. I have used the ATO for around 3 months and the AWC pumps for a little over 2 months. So far no issues. I do control them with a controller. The AWC pumps are on for 15 minutes 3 times a day. The ATO pump can come on once an hour for up to 5 minutes if needed. There is a control to adjust flow of the pump and also 2 tubing sizes included. I got them from Amazon. The only problem I can see is if the tubing springs a leak which can happen on any of these types of pumps it will syphon water out of your tank system unless you can mount the pumps above water level in your tank. That would solve the issue with the pump tubing leaking. At the price you can always get one and try it out. You will need some way to control the power to the pump though. There are no timers on the pump itself.

I can’t seem to find these on Amazon. I know this post is from September, so were they perhaps discontinued?

 

[n2585722]

I can’t seem to find these on Amazon. I know this post is from September, so were they perhaps discontinued?

Here is a link

 

[Adamantium]

Here is a link

Thank you! I wonder why it wasn't showing up in my searches. Appreciate it! I think I'm going to use some smart plugs and give this a shot.

 

[Jim Fox]

I'm using a DOS for a Continuous Water Change at 2 gallons per day which occurs from 12:00 noon to 8pm. Been doing it this way for years. In my opinion the water parameters are more stable doing continuous over a spread of time. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Adamantium]

Here is a link

I just noticed the tubing is a weird size. Are you using something other than RO tubing with these?

 

[n2585722]

I use RO tubing but I had to use the barb fittings from my DP1's the barb fittings are a little small for the RO tubing. It comes with two sizes of tubing. The larger size is what is installed in the pump head. I also have sump low and sump overfull sensors just in case I have one pump fail for some reason. I run them for 15 minutes at a time three times a day. They are set for around 60ml per minute. What I did was calibrate the fill pump for 60ml. To calibrate the drain pump Iset them up for normal use but had the fill going to quart size cup and the drain pump removing from the cup. The cup was at the sump. It was about 1/2 full. I had a scale to measure the water before and after. I adjusted the drain pump so that it had the same weight after as before. It took a few tries to get it close enough to satisfy me.