Gravity/Drip dosers

[DaveS]

Hi guys,

 

Any thoughts on the gravity/drip dosers like this:

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=KM2513

 

I'm looking for an alternative to the 2 part stuff to keep my Calcium and Alk up and this seems to be a small step up from going in every day and adding stuff manually. What are everyone's thoughts on this? If you like it, what do you use in the mix? The Kent brand stuff?

 

Yes I know it's not as good as a reactor/stirrer but I'm not sure I'm ready to go that route yet. They seem alot more complicated, expensive and gear intensive. I'm not sure my sump area is big enough for the extra equipment.

 

I'm also thinking that instead of just dripping, I could Tee the output of this in with my auto-top off so that it gets dosed during top off but even if the container runs dry, there will still be fresh water going in and I don't have to worry about my water level going too low if I forget.

 

Thoughts?

[phisigs79]

They clog, you would need to shake it everyday and once it runs low it drips slower because it doesnt have as much pressure. Look at a dosing pump , feeding pump or perilistic pump on ebay.

Edited June 20, 2007 by phisigs79

[phisigs79]

Ok i thought of a better idea that would be pretty cheap. Get two of the smallest pumps possible and get two rubberman containers(1-2 gal with lid). Run RO or airline tubing to both pumps, through the container lid and attach each pump to your controller (if you have one) and set for one minute and measure how much comes out in one minute. If its too much you could add a splitter on the RO tubing where it connects to the pump to blead off some of the pressure and that way you will get less pumping out and also mix the fluid in the container. This would be very cheap and would work alot better. anyone have thoughts?

[phisigs79]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fountain-submersable-p...1QQcmdZViewItem

[Almon]

I use a small pump to auto-top off with kalkwasser and I reduce the volume of flow with a simple valve.

 

Dave, I just started using a DIY kalkstirrer and so far it is sufficiently keeping both the Calcium and the Alkalinity levels up and stable. You may want to consider a Dan's newest kalk stirrer which I believe is gravity fed and continuously drips. Looks to be very easy to use.

[YBeNormal]

I have the original non-stripped down version of Dan's kalk stirrer and it' one of the best investments I've made for my tanks. OK, I won it in a WAMAS raffle but it is well worth the price that Dan is selling them for.

[phisigs79]

I use a kalk reactor and still dose.

[Almon]

I use a kalk reactor and still dose.

 

 

 

Do you dose just bicarbonates for Alkalinity or do you dose for calcium as well?

[phisigs79]

1/4 cup of each everyday. My alk stays around 10-11dkh and calcium at 380ppm which is alittle low. My ph stays around 7.8-8.0 in the summer and 8.0-8.2 in the winter. My kalk is hooked up to a dosing pump which maxes out at 3gpd which isnt enough. I am going to try to hook it to my float switch top off and see if that helps with my ph. My tank is SPS and LPS only.