Ok I tried, I need help. RKL with BRS dosers?

[Aquaph8]

How do I set up my 2 part dosers with my RKL? Please help.

 

[Bandomo]

Copied this from a different forum, hope this helps....


I was asked in a PM for an example of my dosing setup. This is it. It was derived from previous threads in this forum, and is a fairly simple multi timer example.

My Setup for Alkalinity Dosing in myReef 2.0:

ALK DOSING CHANNEL
Channel Override Mode - Auto
Function - Multi-Timer
Multi Timer 1 - 4
Multi Timer 2 - None
Multi Timer 3 - None
Multi Timer 4 - None
Standby Delay - 0:00:00
SureOn - NOT Enabled
Default - Off
Alarm - None
Standbys - None

MULTI TIMER ID 4
ID - 4
Start Time - 12:00:00 AM
On Duration - 0:05:00
Off Duration - 0:55:00
Repeat Count - 23
Day Of Week - All
Oscillate - NOT Enabled
Random - NOT Enabled

The Alk Dosing Channel is the outlet on the PC-4 that the BSR Doser is plugged in to. My particular doser doses at a rate of 1.1 ml per minute - you should confirm your doser's actual rate. Multi Timer 4 is set to turn the channel on at midnight for 5 minutes and then turn it off for 55 minutes. It then repeats this cycle 23 times (hourly) and then repeats the entire cycle again, starting at the next midnight, untill hell freezes over...

In my setup this equals a daily total dose of 132ml (1.1ml*5min*24 daily cycles) of Two Part Alkalinity Supplement. This is no doubt way too much Alk supplement for your system. Start small, test, and and ramp it up as needed. You tweak the amount my changing the On and Off Durations. In this hourly setup, the On and Off Durations must total one hour (5 On minutes plus 55 Off minutes). There are obviously lots of other variations on this theme. If you're dosing Calcium too, you should probably start at 12:30:00 AM so you aren't dosing both Ca and Alk at the same time.

You need to test, test and test again. When you think your setup is right, run it off line, moving plain water from one container to another for several days and measure the amount moved to see if you are actually dosing the amount you think you are dosing.

Hope this helps...

 

[Aquaph8]

Yes, this helps a lot. Thanks I appreciate it. So glad I didn't try to figure that out on my own though, LOL.

 

[mojo]

use outlets 1 and 4. they are mechanical outputs. They deal with more current and items with very little switching current.

 

[Aquaph8]

Alright Im still not getting this. I gotta regroup and try again. Im not old enough to be this bad at tech stuff. MOJO, thanks for the tip.

 

[Aquaph8]

I think I almost got it. One question. Why is there a timer A and a timer B? Why would I want to trigger the on state twice? Help me!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mojo]

ill have to get on mine and look at it. I have done it before. Just havent done it in a couple years now. I ll have to refresh my memory. pretty simple once you have it.

 

[Aquaph8]

I got it but I still dont know what the A and B are for.

 

[Bandomo]

Not exactly sure, I too thought the timer B was a little odd. I just ignored it and solely used the timer A function. Did you get yours to work properly? Heads up on connecting the doser on channel 3. For some reason the doser would switch on (as it should) but wouldn't switch off after the time was up. It was extremely weird, the RKL display said off, the blue led light that indicate if a channel is currently on was also off, but when I look at the actual doser, it was still ON! The only way I could get it to stop was by actually unplugging it from the PC4. I would have totally wiped out my system if I wasn't careful. Anyways, I switched it to channel four and all worked well. Also, make sure you check how much your doser is actually dosing. Mines was off by almost 2ml. Let me know if you need any more help. Cheers,

 

[Aquaph8]

Thanks Bandomo, I did the same thing and just ignored timer B. Thanks to MOJO ^^^ I used channel one and four but thats a little scary.

 

[el richie]

Timer a and b I believe are for wavemakers (powerheads) at least thats what I use them for

 

[Aquaph8]

Ah that makes since, thanks richie

 

[mojo]

outputs 1 and 4 are mechanical relay's. 2 and 3 are triacs. They need a current load to be able to switch them off. The dosers dont pull enough current to allow the relays to switch off. Glad you got it working the way you like.

 

[tinctorus]

I know this is old but I will be using the same dosers and also wanted to use the wavemaker functions of the RKL, The one I am getting comes with 2 PC4's, Is it simple enough in the programming to see which PC4 you are controlling so taht I can setup the one PC4 to control the dosing pumps and the other PC4 to control wavemaker functions
From what I have read the dosers and the pumps need to be on channels 1 and 4 because of some power issues with channels 2 and 3 and not shutting the dosers off

 

[Aquaph8]

I ended up using a Tunze controller cause I already had it and I was too cheap to buy another PC4, LOL. The dosers have been great though.