Dosing pump DIY (thoughts)

[Der ABT]

Well ive been weighing the options/funds and looking into a cal reactor or dosing, right now i have a gal of 2 part that i got for free a while back and figured i might as well start using it. Ive been doing find with limewater but im starting to add more and more sps and thinking of trying to make things as stable as possible.

 

here is my thought to not spend the 90-100 a piece on a BRS doser. (with 2 or 3 needed to do magnesium as well especially with a baby coming this addiction will be harder to keep going)

 

In dosing picking lime i used the drip system for a while till i got a kalk reactor that came with a 120 that i had for a very short while a few years ago. Now i just use it to do kalk in top off. (its a maxijet driven one unfortunately). In this dosing a used an air valve to control the number of drips and this has me thinking of using a MJ400 for dosing, wont be as precise but could be done with relative safety i believe.

 

Basically it would invovle taking a mj400 (really any maxijet) and hooking it up to simple air tubing thru a few decreasing tubes. Then use a digital timer as well as the air valve(or the end of a syringe) to control the flow.

So basically have the mj on for a couple of minutes to get the necessary amount of liquid out (obviously you would have to time this prior to use) and then just having the timers control the maxijets.

 

has anyone done something similar (cause a crash, had success etc.) I would only have enough of the 2part to last a day or two but thats all im looking for right now to prevent a crash and make it a little easier then manual dosing.

 

 

Second thought.

Go to hobby shop and pick up a few servo's for RC cars/boats/heli's and rig up a wooden peristalic pump with homemade rolers etc just like the other dosers out there, then either wrap it in fiberglass or learn how to carve plastic to make the final product. (this is going to be the safest method if i can get it to work but also would require some time to get it even close, i just have trouble seeing how expensive these things are, i mean i remember servo's being 20 bucks at most back when i used to fly/have rc cars, and boats. (yes i have alot of hobbies) Havent put alot into this one yet as i havent had time lately with pipes freezing, baby classes, and life in general. But it seems like one could be made for alot cheaper then 90 bucks if your willing to sacrifice the time and have minimal tools

 

anyone else have any good ideas or things that have worked (or used stuff for cheap haha)

[Ryan S]

here is my thought to not spend the 90-100 a piece on a BRS doser. (with 2 or 3 needed to do magnesium as well especially with a baby coming this addiction will be harder to keep going)

 

I just ordered 2 of the BRS dosers, $90 each. I contemplated a 3rd for the Magnesium, but you really don't need one for the Mag I decided. The magnesium gets dumped in all at once after the Alk and Cal jugs empty out. (20z Mag : 1gal Cal : 1 gal Alk) So you don't really need a dosing pump for it; when your Alk/Cal runs out, you just dump the 20oz Mag into the tank and refill all 3 at the same time. Just wanted to point that out. ($180 is still a lot of money though).

[Origami]

Just wondering, have you thought about just manually dosing the two-part until you have additional resources?

[Der ABT]

Just wondering, have you thought about just manually dosing the two-part until you have additional resources?

 

 

Manual dosing is what im going to start doing and hopefully prior to march i can convince my wife to get some dosing pumps or find used ones, (but i want a controller (to control from phone especially with newborn/hospital/ new house etc) and a vortech too, if i can sell a few lights, old chiller and some other stuff i can probably get one or the other and hope selling some frags will cover new coral additions etc. soo many wants too little money.

 

I am just trying to figure out if there is a way to consistently dose without speding 200 bucks.

 

 

I was going to order two BRS dosers but they only had one left when i went to do the bulk order so i decided to leave the fish fund alone and deal with it later. The magnesium dosing does seem like it wouldnt need a dosing pump cept when im travelling or away for whatever reason.

 

Technically im still doing fine without dosing and just adding kalk but i know this wont last.

 

just hoping someone else had some experience with a DIY attempt or success.

[sam75]

I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard of people using aqua-lifter pumps (~$14) and timers with some success. Probable a little more accurate than a maxjet. Just a thought...

[dandy7200]

I don't think a aqualifter will give the precision to use for two part dosing, they are fantastic for top off applications though. It would be nice if there was an affordable true peristaltic pump out there.......hmmm....

[Der ABT]

I don't think a aqualifter will give the precision to use for two part dosing, they are fantastic for top off applications though. It would be nice if there was an affordable true peristaltic pump out there.......hmmm....

 

I completely agree, let me know if you guys need anyone to help test something, GSA has some really nice products and i was tempted to buy SteveM's cal reactor but that stupid money thing is in my way every time, why cant there be a $500 bill efflo.

 

i think this will be a project for me (by good i mean teadious and annoying), if only i still had a roomate with a lathe. well i am goign to try to make a prototype with wood and go visit a hobby store and see what the cost would be.

 

I actually just found a few plans for the air pump driven systems last night, jsut a bunch of check valves and syphons, seems like it could work for a while and as long as you keep cleaning the check vales/or replacing them it may not be that expensive, not as nice as a peristalic but still.

 

ill put up some updates when the time comes, probably be a few weeks as things have gotten busy yet again. If i find any more plans etc ill try to keep the thread alive feel free to do the same as this could be very beneficial to many.

[Ryan S]

I completely agree, let me know if you guys need anyone to help test something, GSA has some really nice products and i was tempted to buy SteveM's cal reactor but that stupid money thing is in my way every time, why cant there be a $500 bill efflo.

 

i think this will be a project for me (by good i mean teadious and annoying), if only i still had a roomate with a lathe. well i am goign to try to make a prototype with wood and go visit a hobby store and see what the cost would be.

 

I actually just found a few plans for the air pump driven systems last night, jsut a bunch of check valves and syphons, seems like it could work for a while and as long as you keep cleaning the check vales/or replacing them it may not be that expensive, not as nice as a peristalic but still.

 

ill put up some updates when the time comes, probably be a few weeks as things have gotten busy yet again. If i find any more plans etc ill try to keep the thread alive feel free to do the same as this could be very beneficial to many.

 

The problem I see with the DIY dosing is that it won't be as accurate or fail-safe as the $90 pumps. I know the pumps are expensive, but with a digital timer, they are extremely accurate and fail-safe. It's worth the money to me over a DIY that might not be as accurate or might be more failure-prone. Imagine a whole bucket of Cal, Alk, Mag, Kalk, etc, getting dumped into your system because some part of the DIY failed. I'd be willing to try lots of DIY things for my tank, but dosing isn't one of those areas. The risks are too great in my opinion.

[paenian]

Another option: Drip system with automated top off?

 

Just set up a slow drip irrigator, and when it gets low, use a normal mag whatever to fill it again. You should be able to do it with a spring switch, too, i.e. switch closes when the drip reservior is heavy, opens up again as it gets lighter.

 

Of course, that's only ever as accurate as dripping, but it should be somewhat lower maintenance anyways. For calc, if you set the pump up right it'll stir everything for you as well.

 

 

Paul

[sen5241b]

Here's an idea: take an auto-feeder and fill it with powdered cal or baking soda. Adjust it to drop just the right amount in. I'll let you know. First I need to determine exactly how much cal my system needs a day and how much the feeder drops in.

[basser9]

Tanksalot's Store on ebay has a dual line for the hospital type pumps

 

you can find a pump for cheap if you check on ebay alot......If you can find a dead one

you can get a cheap motor from the surplus center......

 

The dueal line is the key to saving you money

 

I LOVE THEM and find it very easy to deal with .