Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

easy, inexpensive DIY dosing pump


glennr1978

Recommended Posts

At first glance, this looks like it might work on the same principles as this DIY of yours:

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/m...ory_Code=Dosers

It's just more expensive!

 

Also, it looks like the dosers like Litermeter, etc. work with peristaltic pumps.

I don't know a lot about this kinda stuff, can you explain to me how an Aqualifter is different from a peristaltic pump?

Link to comment

So here I go off on a tangent, but it is related. Your plastic tabbed timer gave me an idea for how I can add my top-off lime water. Correct me where I am off please. Using your setup I could theoretically take my gallon jug of top off lime water and in multiple 15 minute increments add it to my tank. I could dial in and meter the half gallon that I need on a daily basis using the valve. My concerns are:

1) Is there too much back pressure in the line using the valve to meter the flow?

2) What type of fail safe could be installed?

3) Valve metering ability over time?

 

Anybody?

Link to comment

Is it working better for you now Nosey?

Have you been able to overcome the issues you were previously having, and if so, how?

I'm really interested in doing this, but am nervous about having it not always be consistent about dumping in the same amount of Alk component.

I will be going away on vacation for a few days over spring break and I will need to have some kind of reliable dosing set up.

Link to comment

It’s working now, I had several problems at first. If you look at my pic of the two part, you can see that both of my bottles were in the same spot, on the right side of my tank. I was calibrating with a glass of water, and every time I ran a test I would take the hose off the back of the tank, and bring it down to waist level ( I don’t know what I was thinking) Of course when I got it calibrated at waist height, then brought it up that extra 1 ½’ to put it on the back of the tank, It wasn’t working anymore. The next problem that I had was that my part “B” ( I think) of my two parts, had a heaver viscosity than that of the water so you can see the problem with that. My 3rd problem was that I had to move my pump with the part “B” to the left side of the tank stand to shorten the hose length, and give me more drip volume. 4th problem was that I was getting a creep back of the fluid in the part “B” hose, so that when the timer kicked in for a minute, it had to first move the fluid back up the hose before it started to drip, so it would shorten the volume by about 10sec. I fixed this unknowingly when I moved my pump to the left side of the tank. Before that I had the hose stretched across the back of the tank, making the hose line strait with no dips. After moving the hose over, It put an elbow or loop in the line , that stopped the creep back ( Well I think that’s what was causing it). Last but not least, there seems to be a sweet spot with the ball valves that I’m using, and I couldn’t find it. It was either too much flow or not enough, so what I did was just dose a little more ( 1/2ml) than what is recommended on the back of the bottle per Gallon. Not the end of the world, but only time will tel. I’m also going to plug my digital timer into a serge protector for peace of mind, as this is the weak link IMO…As you can tell most of my problems were common sense issues, but I’ve never really had much of that in the first place…..Sorry for the novel!

Edited by Nosey
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Is it working better for you now Nosey?

Have you been able to overcome the issues you were previously having, and if so, how?

I'm really interested in doing this, but am nervous about having it not always be consistent about dumping in the same amount of Alk component.

I will be going away on vacation for a few days over spring break and I will need to have some kind of reliable dosing set up.

 

If your going to be dosing for Alk, it shouldn't be a problem if your a little short or over. The variations I was seeing were small. Your best bet would be to set everything up, then test with everything in place.

Edited by Nosey
Link to comment

Looks like the same thing, just a store bought version. If your using it to dose your 2 part buffer, then your going to have 2 get a second one!

 

IMO save the 25.00 and do it yourself!

Edited by Nosey
  • Like 1
Link to comment

Well my new timer just failed and now i have a clowdy mess in my tank. I'm going 2 do an emergency water change of about 20%. It's so clowdy that i can't see anything. This was exactly what i feared might happen. The only good thing was that i'm at home. This is my third digital timer to fail, and this one didn't even last a week!

Link to comment
Well my new timer just failed and now i have a clowdy mess in my tank. I'm going 2 do an emergency water change of about 20%. It's so clowdy that i can't see anything. This was exactly what i feared might happen. The only good thing was that i'm at home. This is my third digital timer to fail, and this one didn't even last a week!

 

 

what brand of timers are you using?

Link to comment
The Propagator

Yeah if you use cheap timers from wally world, or big lots you run the risk of getting cheap crap that will fail easily. ( tell the truth ! I know you did ! :P )

I have always had the best luck using digital HD out door timers used for flood, and Christmas lights and such form Lowes or HD.

Edited by The Propagator
Link to comment

I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t the most expensive timer. I went to lowes looking for a digital timer. All they had was what I picked up. When I get home tonight I’ll have a look at the brand name. Trust me It’s not the money thing that’s making my decision for me, it’s choice. I’m looking but can’t find a good one. For those of you that are using the digital HD timers, are they a power bare type of timer, do you have any pic’s etc. I NEED A GOOD TIMER!......It might be too early to tell, but my tank is looking better apart from the white film, everything is still alive. On a side note, My female clown isn’t picking on the male anymore. They were actually swimming with each other, I think it was them, it was kind of hard to tell with the white out conditions.

Link to comment
I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the most expensive timer. I went to lowes looking for a digital timer. All they had was what I picked up. When I get home tonight I'll have a look at the brand name. Trust me It's not the money thing that's making my decision for me, it's choice. I'm looking but can't find a good one. For those of you that are using the digital HD timers, are they a power bare type of timer, do you have any pic's etc. I NEED A GOOD TIMER!......It might be too early to tell, but my tank is looking better apart from the white film, everything is still alive. On a side note, My female clown isn't picking on the male anymore. They were actually swimming with each other, I think it was them, it was kind of hard to tell with the white out conditions.

 

 

i just thought of something else that may be relevant. I know that even the timers on ACJR's sometimes may not work correctly if they are controlling something that runs at a very low wattage. And IIRC the problem was not with the ACJR being able to turn the low wattage device on, it was turning it off that was the problem. That's why they recommend using plugs 4 and 8 for low wattage devices (apparently those two are designed for lower watts).

 

I'm pretty sure aqualifters run at a low wattage so you may be having a similar problem. You could try hooking something else up to the timer too, like a small alarm clock etc. The two combined should draw enough current for the timer to turn on and off properly. I hope that makes sense.

 

Or just buy a better timer, lol.

Link to comment

I would love to buy a better one, but what kind and from where?.....My first timer that packed it in for me had a mj1200, 150w sunpod, 100w stealth heater(i think). The last one to quit on me had 2 aqulifters plugged in

Link to comment

wow! I'm definitely interested in trying this out. I'll try this out tomorrow and see how it goes! Where did you guys get the aqualifters anyway?

Link to comment

This is such a cool DIY.

 

I set one of these up today on my BC29 -- I'm currently testing it with RO water. Seems to work pretty good ... I've been using this digital timer on my submersible fuge lights for a year, so I'm not too concerned about timer failure.

 

I think I'll let it run in the morning, before my lights turn on, but also while I'm awake, for a week with RO water. That way I can test it fully before I let it loose with the Alk dose.

 

Edit: Just wanted to add that I found the Aqualifter in the used sections at my LFS for $10 - I had the airline tube, valve and timer - so this was a great, CHEAP, way to dose my tank daily. Thanks!

Edited by Bonsai
Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

Ahh Good idea!

 

Basically, I can run 3 aqualifters one for Cal and the other 2 for ALK and MAG :) I have an aqua controller and could run the pumps with that.

 

your a genius!

 

PS

I also been using these aqualifter pumps for quite some time for top-off and they work flawlessly.

Edited by Kevin McG
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...