DIY Doseing Pump

[Belac]

First off, this is not a new idea, I originally ran into them for dosing fertilizers on freshwater planted tanks. I am sure it has been done before on here before. But I thought I would document my build of a second one, mostly because people might not have seen it before. I have had one running in on my freshwater planted 20 gallon for about 3 months now with no real complaints about the system. It works, it is really cheap, it is fairly quiet, and parts are easy to acquire. I decided I was tired of dosing phytoplankton to my reef tank every day manually so I decided to build a pump to dedicate to that task.

 

Note on reading: Information on the picture will go after the picture.

 

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- Step one: Go buy an Air Wick Freshmatic air freshener. You need to make sure it is the one that has time intervals. I have seen them in only two colors white and textured brown stone.

Note: Do NOT buy one that is autosensing, or that reacts to people being in the same room. Those two will do you no good as a dosing pump.

You will also need a pump of some sorts. A lot of the builds I initially saw when first researching the pump used soap dispensers that had been thoroughly washed. I wasn’t about to do that with my freshwater tank and defiantly not going to do it on my reef tank. Buy an unused pump of some sort. I bought the smallest one I could find for this build. The size of them pump will be the biggest influence on how much the doser will pump out per dose. My original model used a small empty soap dispenser I found at dollar tree and it dispenses about 1 ml a pump if I remember right.

 

Note: The container I bought for this one pumped about 0.15 ml as you will see in a bit. Which is actually close enough for what I was planning on dosing at about 4ml a day. Eventually be building another with a pump somewhere in between for something else.

 

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Total cost about 6$ and a bit of tax, a bit more if you get something to drink or if you get a bigger pump. (The drink doesn’t count in this case because I ended up drinking it days before I got around to building the pump...)

 

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-Step two: Take your new prized possessions home. Set the bottle out of the way and open up the Air Wick. (Hey look a coupon, on the packaging, for something I am never going to buy! Time to hide it at Wal-Mart for some lucky person…)

 

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Pull open the front cover of the Airwick, there is a little tab on the back that you have to depress, without depressing it the front will fall down. I still have issues with that tab every time. I don’t know why it just doesn’t work well for me.

 

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Take out the batteries and set them aside for later.

 

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Now pull the bottom hinge apart, it takes a bit of tugging but it does come off.

 

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Laugh at the sticker that we are totally ignoring. (Mine is totally dispensing phyto I don’t care what they say!)

 

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Now I personally always cut the back off even with the bottom of the top mechanical portion of the device. I think it just makes putting a bottle in there much easier. You can leave the back intact if you wish. It is up to you.

Note: Pruning shears make excellent scissors to cut plastic with. Just an FYI.

 

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Note: You might want to pop the batteries in and turn it on at this point and see how it works if you have never used one of these before. It will make things a bit clearer in a bit.

 

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- Step three: Now that you have a dismembered Air Wick set it aside for later.

 

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Take your bottle and remove the dispenser from it.

 

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You should also be able to remove the straw from the dispenser. ( Most dispensers will let you separate the two , some may not come loose, use your judgment here.) Most soap and spritzer containers have a separate part from the pump that I am going to call the nozzle. This usually comes off with some amount of tugging.

 

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You are most likely going to need to modify the head some so it will fit up into the slot for the Airwick can tab goes when this thing is functioning as an air freshener.

 

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Cut it up as needed and trim it down as small as you can.

Note: The smaller you can get it the less cutting you have to do to the Airwick later to make things fit.

 

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- Step four: Now you need to figure out how you’re going to attach your hose that will dispense into the tank. I had a little spritz bottle this time so I was forced to drill it out until I had a way to insert some rigid tubing for the airline to hook onto.

 

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Drilled.

 

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Here is the rigid tube test fit. (It came out of some mechanical pencil I think it was in the parts bin and fit the bill. I used a short section of a crazy straw last time.) Just need something to hook that airline tubing to.

 

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Glue the rigid tube in place

 

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Put the new head back on.

 

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- Step five: Now check to see if your modified head will slide through the slot. You probably will need to shave down the slot to allow the head to pass freely.

 

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Shave as needed

 

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- Step six: now hold the head in place and put a battery in with the pump on. After a few seconds the pump should go off and you can see if it completely depresses the head and then returns to the top.

 

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Make adjustments as necessary. (The more completely the pump depresses the more it will dispense. This is the other way you can adjust how much the doser puts out.) It needs to be able to travel back up to near the top. Otherwise the Airwick will stop firing. It does that so when using air freshener it doesn’t try to dispense a can that is empty.

 

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Note: Compress the pump and mark that spot. It helps you tell how close to full compression you are getting when the motor depresses it. It is the black dot in that picture of the whole assembly.

 

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- Step seven: Glue the pump to the Airwick. I use hot glue so it’s not super permanent if I screw up. (Or something needs to be replaced later.) Make sure you do not get glue on the pump neck or the pump won’t work. Do not drop it after hot glued I did that with my other doser and I popped the glued cap off.

 

 

Apperntly I can't make a post furhter with images untill some one comments.

Can some one comment so I can finish posteing the rest of the build?

[xxbrianxx]

looks interesting, following along

[louy99]

Carry on...

[Belac]

Thank you xxbrianxx and louy99

 

Carrying on!

 

 

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- Step eight: Install the pump tube and then screw on the bottle.

Test it. Buy putting the battery in. The red lever should depress the pump and then return to the top. At this point it is best to say “It is alive!” (Feel free to laugh your best mad scientist laugh at this point that always helps.) Congratulations it works!

 

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- Step nine: Calibration time! Fill the bottle up with water. Screw the bottle on.

 

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Prime the pump. The easiest way you can do this is putting a screwdriver in there and using it to pump the pump until water comes out. You could turn the pump on and off tell it was primed on its own, but it takes a long time. I couldn’t take a picture of it being compressed because it took more hands then I have to compress it and take the pictures and hold the tiny cup.

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Get a measuring device to catch the water in.

 

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Turn the pump on and wait for it to dispense, catch the dispensed amount and check for a measurement of how much it dispenses. Repeat until your positive it is dispensing that much. (Pulling a battery end out and putting it back in is a quick way to turn the pump on and off for this test.)

 

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Now you just need to see how long each of the settings are. Time from the pump you get when turning the unit on to the next pump (If you want you can only do the short one. It’s up to you. ) The settings are roughly 10 minutes (big flower), 28 minutes (medium flower) and 32 minutes (small flower). But those numbers are my experience. Use them at your own risk.

 

Now figuring how much you dose is simple as doing the math. Sorry you are going to have to do some of the math yourself this is an example. Italics are the variables.

24 hours in a day * 60 minutes in an hour = 1440 minutes in a day.

1440 minutes in a day / setting time span[/] (in this example 32 minutes) = 45 pumps in a day.

145 pumps in a day * 0.15 ml (volume of my pump) = 6.75ml dispensed in a 24 hour period.

Note I screwed up the math here when I first wrote this. Make sure you read your numbers right on your mesuring cup. If your doseing something that has the potential to damage your tank you might want to let it run into the mesureing cup for a few hours to make sure your math matches reality. One misread number could have dire results. My stuff was fine, it was just phyto after all, I caught it fairly quickly too.)

 

If you want or need less pumps then your slowest time setting you could run the whole device off an inverter and plug that inverter into a wall timer to control how long the pump is on or off. You can take advantage of the fact that each time you turn the power on to the Airwick you get one pump within a few seconds before the timer kicks. Set the timer to only provide power for 30 minutes straight and you will only get one pump from the timer in that time span. (At 32 minuet interval it will never fire again before the power to the unit gets cut.) This was my original plan but this pump puts out so little it isn’t an issue. On the next version of the pump I plan on having to go this route. It allows for a bit more precise dosing in my opinion. No need to dose phyto at night in my case.

 

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- Step ten: Fill it with your desired liquid and run the tube off the pump head to where ever you want. ( I put it by a power head for good distribution. Make sure you prime the pump and the air line before leaving it to run.)

 

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Final thoughts: You do not have to run out of the bottle you bought. Just put some air hose on it and you can run out of whatever you wish, even if the cap won’t fit. These pumps probably have a limited head but I haven'’t done any testing yet to confirm it. I will probably test it the next phyto doser I build because I would like to dose out of the 2 liters that come from my phyto farm. All of those are located inside the sump area.

 

Also f you are going to wire in an inverter make sure you CHECK IT WITH A METER FIRST! I put a 3v inverter on the one I built before this and fried out the chip that is inside the Airwick when I plugged the inverter into the wall. Turns out they are fairly sensitive to over voltage. The inverter read at 4.7V on my meter when I checked it, I figured I would be ok which turned out not to be the case. I got magic smoke and everything. Chip was ruined.

 

Good luck on your own builds!

 

I would be happy to help with any questions.

 

P.S. – You might keep an eye on the spring in your pump, I am not sure if it will rust with time or not.

[Veng]

I think I love you.... Seriously this is amazingly simple, awesome, and cheap! Combined with a controller would give you a VERY VERY fine adjustment of anything you want to dose!

[Belac]

I think I love you.... Seriously this is amazingly simple, awesome, and cheap! Combined with a controller would give you a VERY VERY fine adjustment of anything you want to dose!

 

That was pretty much what I said when I stumbled across them a few months ago. I was so stoked to not have to dose ferts any more. I kind of forget to refill the doseing bottle (lasts about 8 days) I keep meaning to hook it up to a bigger bottle. But it totally beats trying to dose ferts or what ever else every day.

 

The biggest irrtation is there really isn't much you can jack around iwith circut wise. It is all surface mount components. Your controller could countoll power flow that would kick the pump on and off at will. Please let me know how that goes if you get around to building it.

[jlbzixxer]

Nice DIY write up can get much easier then how you explain it

Will be trying this out in the near future.

[VeganBrian]

This may be in my near future Thanks

[Belac]

I just relized I had an problem with my math. Well the math was right, just didn't use the right decimal. Turns out it is doseing 0.15 ml. I apperently cannot read a graded metric scale when I am tired. Which means it is pretty close to what I wanted to dose if I bump it up to the longest timer period.

 

Let this be a reminder to make sure you do math with the right numbers.

 

P.S. - Going to go back and fix the wrong number(s) in the build steps.

[TeflonTomDosh]

Can I achieve the same results should I decide to gank this from the bar bathroom tonight?

[Jneighbors]

Can I achieve the same results should I decide to gank this from the bar bathroom tonight?

Hahaha I just died out laughing

[TeflonTomDosh]

Hahaha I just died out laughing

[Belac]

Actually that style unit was the first thing I thought of useing when I saw the original build. We used to have them at the place I worked and they had far more timer settings.

 

They work the same way as the airwick if I remember the insides correctly.

 

Not that I am suggesting you takeing them... Well just don't get caught doing it at least.

 

Actually that style unit was the first thing I thought of useing when I saw the original build. We used to have them at the place I worked and they had far more timer settings.

 

They work the same way as the airwick if I remember the insides correctly.

 

Not that I am suggesting you takeing them... Well just don't get caught doing it at least.

[Veng]

I wonder if there is one of those in my bathroom at work.....

 

 

Please let me know how that goes if you get around to building it.

I think I'm going to have to ask for a Full Apex controller for xmas the rate things are going. If I do, then this will probably be added on to it. I've got lots of stuff planned for my 20L build to be used as a DIY platform to some extent so keep tabs on my thread. I'll try to remember to come back and post here though.

[Belac]

I wonder if there is one of those in my bathroom at work.....

 

I think I'm going to have to ask for a Full Apex controller for xmas the rate things are going. If I do, then this will probably be added on to it. I've got lots of stuff planned for my 20L build to be used as a DIY platform to some extent so keep tabs on my thread. I'll try to remember to come back and post here though.

 

 

Probably is one at work I see them just about every where. I only notice them when they go off and I am standing in the same room, the noise is reconizable to me haveing had to mantain them for a few years. Most of the commerial ones require keys to even get them open to the can and the timer controlls and the mounting screws are behind the can you are not going to be able to get it off easily. They are built to keep people out of them.

 

I got looking at the airwick circut a bit last night. I think you could totally remove the switch from the circut and hook in some leads to run on a controller. The tricky part about totally shorting out the switch and just using power regulation only is that the motor also draws from the power lines on the battery posts. So you would have to figure out if putting a jumper in place of the switch would effect the motor.

 

I keep telling my self I am going to wire up a controller or a wave maker. Eventually I will get around to it... I will keep tabs on your tank. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[MeepNand]

Incredible! I will use this as soon as I start to dose.

[SDartifex]

Great writeup! I saw someone doo something similar with a sprinkler timer and spray bottle, but the form factor on this is much better.

[Belac]

Great writeup! I saw someone doo something similar with a sprinkler timer and spray bottle, but the form factor on this is much better.

 

If you look around long enough you can even find despnesers that will fit the API bottles, the one I mentioned from dollar tree fits the API perfectly. I acutally have that set up on my fresh water planted. Washed out an old API bottle and am useing that for a holding tank. Much less refilling needed. Speaking of which, I need to remember to refill both tank's pumps tonight.

[Sub]

Neat idea! If its not strong enough for someone, I bet those soap dispensers would work!

 

 

They sell them at grocery stores for like $12. You could probably hack the switch to use a controller with it and the container is large enough (once empty totally of soap) to carry a decent amount of liquid. Because its pumping soap, the dispenser is probably pretty strong. The batteries last about 8 months for me for soap.

[wombat]

Great idea. Maybe I missed it, but how are you dosing phytoplankton and keeping it cold?

[MeepNand]

Probably this:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=268468&hl=

[Belac]

Great idea. Maybe I missed it, but how are you dosing phytoplankton and keeping it cold?

 

I am not chilling it, it goes in at room temp still alive It probaly is kicking and screaming all the way to the tank, if it knows it is going to its death.

I figure if I am cultureing it at room temp then it will keep room temp for a long time. I haven't had any culture go bad yet. I just swish the bottle around from time to time to put the heavier bits back in suspension. Eventually I am going to plumb the pump to one of the farming containers so I don't have to swish it about.

 

Probably this:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=268468&hl=

That is intresting. I just saw some one else mention that in another thread. Maybe when I start doseing some meaty foods some day.

[Birdfeather]

Belac, you sir are the man.

[VeganBrian]

I just bought everything today to make two dosers

[Belac]

Belac, you sir are the man.

I try.

 

I just bought everything today to make two dosers

Good luck! Make sure you post the end results. If you have any questions I will try to answer them for you. I may not be able to right away, seeng as it is Christmas eve, and I am busy today and tomorrow. But I will be on here some.