Dosing pump recommendations for a sumpless system

[CC26]

Hi guys, I'm looking for a single-head dosing pump to dose Tropic Marin's All-For-Reef in my pico. The D-D H2Ocean P1 dosing pump seems to be exactly what I'm after, but I have some reservations. What initially caught my eye was the fact that it is advertised as being able to dose as little as 0.1mL at a time, which is perfect for a 20 litre pico like mine. According to Tropic Marin's dosage calculator, the recommended dosage for my tank (I estimated 10 litres of actual water volume) is 0.5mL daily, and I always prefer to dose less than recommended and scale it up if/when necessary. So at a glance, this pump would get the job done. On closer inspection of the pump's features on the product page I linked earlier, however, I saw this:

 

Quote

• Add multiple P1 pumps to control
• Flow calibration setting
• Operational modes (Manual, Auto Quick Setting)
• Easy setting - Set dosing start and stop time (does not have to be 24 hours)
• Enter total number of ml to be dosed over the time period
• Enter the number of times to dose each time period (up to 12 times)
• User can even choose dosing every 1 - 31 days or certain days per week
• Adjustable dosing volume Auto Mode: 1.0 - 6000.0ml
• Adjustable dosing volume Manual Mode: 0.1 - 6000.0ml
• Delay setting between channels prevents chemical interference

 

 

The instruction manual elaborates a bit on that, but I'm still not really sure what it means. Does it mean I can dose to a precision of 0.1mL only when dosing manually, but for automatic dosing the lowest it can go is 1mL? That doesn't make sense to me, as I don't see a point in having such a restriction artificially put in place if the pump is clearly capable of dispensing smaller dosages. Am I misunderstanding something here?

 

The other reservation I have is that on the instruction manual, it says:

 

Quote

2. Choose a position for your P1 with easy access; it should be close to an electrical power source, close to sump or location where the dosing tubing will be installed and also have easy access to dosing containers that will hold the solutions. The unit should also be installed higher than the sump but not directly above water - this is to prevent siphoning.

 

Like I said before, this is a sumpless system. I have no room to mount this thing above my tank, and I was actually planning to place it somewhere below my tank and have it pump upwards, which, according to what I've read, most dosing pumps are more than capable of doing. This line, however, seems to imply that this pump can only pump downwards.

 

I would love to hear from anyone who has used/is using this pump. In fact, I'd be happy to hear from anyone who understands the instruction manual better than I.

[burtbollinger]

i cannot offer advice on that pump, so i apologize, but i have to ask...why go thru all this? I'd strongly recommend manual dosing for a pico UNLESS you are traveling a lot ETC.

 

I would not let a dosing pump anywhere near a tank that small...AND i think what's going on with that pump is that unless you are babysitting it in manual mote, it's going to dose out the 1 ML.

 

Unless you are obsessed with automation, this is just not something i'd do.

 

good luck 🙂

 

 

 

[CC26]

13 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

UNLESS you are traveling a lot ETC.

That's exactly it. I will be going home (from university) for a month or perhaps longer during the coming summer break. I already have an ATO and a large reservoir to handle evaporation but I will definitely need a dosing pump to replenish my Ca, Mg, and alk (which All-For-Reef provides) to make up for at least four weeks of no water changes.

[CC26]

16 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

I would not let a dosing pump anywhere near a tank that small...AND i think what's going on with that pump is that unless you are babysitting it in manual mote, it's going to dose out the 1 ML.

Just thought of something. I could dilute the supplement with RO water by exactly 50% so that a 1mL dosage of my diluted solution would be the equivalent of 0.5mL of the original solution. Like I said in my original post though, isn't it a bit daft of the manufacturers to put in this restriction for automatic dosing, since the pump is clearly capable of dispensing smaller volumes?

[jservedio]

How much alk are you using up?

 

If it's not a ton, just use kalk in your ato. Evaporation in a climate controlled room is going to be way more consistent than a consumer pump trying to dose 0.5ml.

 

My 20g which is full of pretty big SPS is only dosed with kalk in the ATO and I still have a bit of headroom.

[CC26]

3 hours ago, jservedio said:

How much alk are you using up?

 

If it's not a ton, just use kalk in your ato. Evaporation in a climate controlled room is going to be way more consistent than a consumer pump trying to dose 0.5ml.

 

My 20g which is full of pretty big SPS is only dosed with kalk in the ATO and I still have a bit of headroom.

At the moment not a lot, but I've recently added two M. capricornis frags and I've heard that they're notorious alk sinks. I will continue to monitor my levels as they grow.

[jservedio]

7 hours ago, CC26 said:

At the moment not a lot, but I've recently added two M. capricornis frags and I've heard that they're notorious alk sinks. I will continue to monitor my levels as they grow.

You aren't going to max out Kalk saturation from 2 monti cap frags in a little over 5g for a really, really long time (like several years). I had 1 cap and a digi in my 2g pico for well over 2 years and didn't need to dose at all. Even after adding a 2nd digi, a birdsnest and small acro, all of which I had in there for for 8 months before consolidating it into my 20g, all I did was put a little kalk in my RODI jug that I used to manually top off.

 

In my 20g my caps are bigger than a 5g cube is across and the tank is packed with montis and acros, yet my kalk is only at 45% saturation. You can go way further with Kalk in your ATO than you might think. I have a doser, but it's sitting in my garage because I just don't need it...yet.