For those not using a dosing pump, but otherwise automated dosing thingamajig...

[JPotter]

Peristaltic i/v pumps are nice to have...I don't know the cost of the aquarium ones .. but I think one could achieve the same very inexpensively by using a bag such as i/v fluids are packaged in to hold whatever it is you want above the height of drip entry and adjusting the rate by the drip set..most are either 10 or 60 drops/ml. Easy and very inexpensive.I/v fluid bags (you may still be able to get bottles somewhere) come in many sizes..500ml to 20 liters or more. I have used the manual i/v flow controllers to adjust air line flow and it worked well.

[Marlin65]

I have a two part dozer but have not needed it so far so it is not hooked up right now. I am having a problem keeping my alk up and have been adding that to my top off water. It raises my PH too much though running at 8.5 and my alk is at 7.6 Can I go higher on my PH than that or am I doing something wrong?
My Ca and Mag are not a problem I just add a bit per week. I have a Ca reactor as well but not hooked up. I use baked arm and hammer.
Don't want to high jack this thread just wondering?

[fishytime]

What are you dosing for your alk?....If its Randy's recipe then, dont bake the baking soda...add it directly to the water and then heat(so the BS disovles completely)....this way wont increase your ph.

[Delphinus]

You don't bake yours? I agree that the baked baking soda is a huge PITA to dissolve. I end up adding the stuff very slowly and sometimes use a blender. I'm using boiled RO/DI at this point too to make sure it dissolves "easier".

So looking at your tank and then looking at mine .. if you're not baking yours then I might just happily skip that step from now on. How much are you heating your baking soda water solution after you've mixed it?

Originally Posted by fishytime

What are you dosing for your alk?....If its Randy's recipe then, dont bake the baking soda...add it directly to the water and then heat(so the BS disovles completely)....this way wont increase your ph.

[Marlin65]

I thought you had to bake it for an hour at 400 so it does not raise the PH?
I have done this but find it still raises my PH
Maybe I should use a different brand other than Arm and hammer.
What do you guys use?

[Delphinus]

Snapped some pictures last night of my setup. As you can see, it's pretty ghetto.

So: Two timers. I have them set to turn on 8 times per day for 2 minutes.


Schedule - Alkalinity
00:00-00:02
03:00-03:02
06:00-06:02
09:00-09:02
12:00-12:02
15:00-15:02
18:00-18:02
21:00-21:02

Schedule - Calcium
01:30-01:32
04:30-04:32
07:30-07:32
10:30-10:32
13:30-13:32
16:30-16:32
19:30-19:32
22:30-22:32

The reason for the plug splitters is that each timer controls two pumps, since I dose into two tanks, it's easier to control the driprate individually if they're on their own pump. For the cost of an Aqualifter (around $10-20 depending on where you shop) this is an easy way to scale upwards. If I really wanted, ie., if the Aqualifter pumps fail, I could just as easily switch these out for say the "Drew's Dosers" at BRS and just adjust the on/off times to longer or shorter if need be. Or I could just get a Profilux doser (I do admit I like them, I just can't afford one right now).

The pumps and jugs:


I never throw anything out so I had lots of these ARM and carbon containers lying around. They are nicely about 1 gallon each and easy to open up and clean and refill. I drilled two holes in each, have rigid airline tubing through those holes so the pumps pick up from the bottom of the container, and then just standard 1/4" tubing the pump intakes and 1/4" tubing that go to their respective tanks.

The irrigation dripvalves:


Pretty ghetto, I just have the tubes dangling over the sump right over the return pumps intake. I test Ca and Alk weekly and adjust the driprates as needed if there is drift in any of the parameters. You can get away with using a single timer if need be, and thus add the Ca and Alk at the same time, but then don't do what you see here (ie., being added to the same location) - put the drippers in different spots so that the additives don't react to each other.

[Skimmerking]

looks good to me Tony clean your Salt Creep lazy bones

[JPotter]

What type of timer is needed to give such short time intervals..frequent repeats of 2 min and where does one get them? I think the ones I have are from IKEA and have 15 min increments! Also if you use a Ca reactor with CO2 is dosing needed or redundant?
Thx

[findingnemo1]

Where in calgary sells the aqualiftyer?

[Delphinus]

Big Als for sure. Maybe some other stores too, but I'm not 10)% certain which ones.