Red Sea AB+....dont need a fridge ;)

[DarthChaos]

Stumbled on a few posts.....about Red Sea AB+ and refrigeration.

Here's a tip.....theres VERY simple ways, to keep it cool - without needing a fridge or drilling into a mini fridge.

I'm in Canada (where we don't have Brightwell - which doesn't need refrigeration)...and I didn't wanna stress dosing AB+ manually, or stress it going bad, if left out of the fridge.

I found this amazing, cooling cup on Amazon - now, sadly...the AB+ bottle...is too big. I just went and got a BBQ basting bottle (from the dollar store) - tossed on the AB+ cap - hooked up to doser and away she goes.

* Add some water to the cooling cup (thank you thermal dynamics) - to assist the cooling process *

I tried using an Inkbird controller....to auto turn the cooling cup on, when the water temp, in the cup cooled down - but the way the motor runs on this unit, it won't turn on by itself.

The cup generally runs for sometime...before auto shut off. Thanks to the water in the cooling cup - it extends the cooling time. I just turn it on, once a day - when I'm checking out the tank/sump. Done and done.

Heard of people using wine chillers, as well. There's lot of cheap and EASY options....to keep your AB+ cool & auto dosing - with little stress to the reefer

IF you're thinking "what about the AB+ in the dosing line" - REMEMBER.....AB+ is good for 7 days. I dose my tank...2x a day - so, the most any residual is sitting in the dosing line, is 12 hrs. Never need to stress the AB+ spoiling.

I've been running this little setup for sometime now...and it works like a CHARM!

Work smart.....not hard

 

[Uncle99]

Great idea.
And a DP-4 to send it.
Perfect.

 

[DarthChaos]

It's served me well...lol!

 

[Hincapiej4]

I GOT AN IDEA! For people with an apex, you can set it to turn the outlet off and on if the usage is at X amount. I'm assuming the cooler auto turns on when you plug it back in right?

 

[DarthChaos]

I'm not sure...I tried on the Inkbird - and the unit wouldn't click on, when it "should" (based on temperature).

I don't believe, unplugging when it's ON and then plugging back in - will restart the unit, to ON. That's the only small downside to THIS cooling cup I've found.

I don't mind it turning off on its own - don't need to burn down my apartment....lol - because the cup runs 24/7 and shorts out the motor.

I generally do something in the tank each day - feed, check stuff - so, its no issue to just touch the button and turn it on. It's not a PUSH button - almost a sensor.....so, there's no way to just say, push the button in, to have it "on". I'm guessing, they did this, again - to prevent the motor burning out.

I've found....the water in the cooling cup - helps keep the entire setup cooler, longer...than say just putting a bottle in the cup.

I have heard from others...who use wine cooling setups - same idea. So, maybe something else could be rigged to function off a timer/sensor ‍

 

[simplety]

 

[simplety]

So I found this portable mini fridge on Amazon for 55$ Canadian. Drilled a hole in the top and ran my doser line inside. It fits a 500ml Red Sea bottle with the dosing cap with about 1/2” to spare for height. Currently have a 1000ml bottle and was just using the chiller cup with about 50ml in the dosing bottle. Problem being was the chiller cup would just shut off randomly and let the stuff get warm. So hopefully this little fridge setup will work much better. Just have to give the bottle a shake once before it doses and all will be well. FYI the fridge was 10$ more than the chiller cup which now has become my beer holder