A discussion on the merits of a dosing pump v. cheaper alternatives

[Carlo]

Not bad, but for less then $25 locally you can get the pump, timer, tubing and valve. Almost everyone has a bucket laying around and many will already have a valve, tubing & timer laying around and will only need to buy the cheap $10 pump.

BTW, I'm not saying this is the best way to go, just a cheap way to put a pretty good kalk drip unit together.

I've thought about upgrading mine to use a LitreMeter but in the end "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" has prevailed in my system (at least for now).

 

[mott768]

Re: Best way to drip Kalk?

The price also included a 32 gallon rubbermaid ;D... I don't trust the pump with valves I have seen people have problems with it putting too much kalk at once in the tank, that's why I went with the dosing pump. yeah it cost a little more but in the end it was worth it to me cause now I pump from the basement over a 30 foot run to the tank upstairs about 9' up and 23 feet across. the $10 pumps wont pump that far, the sp3000 is rated at 30' head and works great for my application.

 

[Carlo]

Re: Best way to drip Kalk?

I agree the aqualifters aren't going to push water that far. They aren't designed to do that. I believe they have something like a 2.5 foot head height but most of mine have easily done 5' head heights. When I recommended the aqualifter I wasn't thinking he would install it on another floor of the house or across the house. Granted if that is the need then it's going to take more then a $10-$12 pump like an AquaLifter.

The valves I'm talking about are the same type you would typically use on your skimmer airline or calcium reactor. There is really no difference between using them on that equipment or on a kalk drip. There isn't enough pressure to cause problems.

If you're not using some type of valve on your sp3000 I'd think you're pumping way to much kalk in to fast a time period. 0.8 gallong per hour is a lot of kalk to add that quickly.

I'm still not sure what you get by using a Aqua Medic SP 3000 over an Aqualifter in this type setup. The "Aqua Medic SP 3000 Dosing Pump" isn't really a dosing pump at all. It's just a peristaltic pump just like the Aqualifter. The only difference is that one can push 0.8gph while the other can push 3.5gph. Either is TOO MUCH for a drip and both should be cut back with some type of valve or flow reducer IMHO. Both should/can be controlled by a timer or pH controller and both could be connected to a float valve to make sure they don't drip more then the sump can hold.

I do agree a good quality dosing pump is optimal for this purpose if the person doesn't mind spending a few extra hundred bucks. But at that point I'd just recommend staying with the AquaLifter and controlling the whole thing with a Neptune (put the dose pump money towards a good multi-controller). It would be really nice to have a completely accurate dose but for many people it's an overkill. By dosing pump I'm referring to a "true" dosing pump where you can control how many cc or ml is dispensed over X period of time.

I myself would still prefer the use of an Aqualifter over an Aqua Medic even though the Aqua Medic is 8-9 times more in cost because the latter is notorious for continuing to "dose" after the pump is turned off if there is a siphon effect going. (I'm sure you don't see this in your setup because of your head height.)

Carlo

PS This is just my oppinion for a cheap DIY. Doesn't make it the right way or only way to do it.

 

[mott768]

Re: Best way to drip Kalk?

Well like I said I've been using it for over a year and it's setup the same way on all my tanks, never had a problem. I also like the fact that if they run dry it won't damage them. There has been times when my container ran dry and the pump was running a day or over night with no problems, the only thing you should use with them is the check valves that come with the pump especially if your pumping over distance, I have never had them continue sipone after the pump turned off. They are a good dosing pump for what I use it for and that is top off water with kalk, yeah the sp3000 is little pricey but I learned my leasson in this hobby buy cheap get cheap run into problems....And it will break when you can get to the store...lol... I'm not saying my way is the best or cheapestest but it has been a reliable way for me.

 

[Carlo]

Re: Best way to drip Kalk?

Yes that one of the good things about most peristaltic pumps, they can run dry with no problems.

mott768, I'm not trying to argue a point. I probably wasn't clear in my explanation of the "siphon problem/issue" I was talking about and in your setup you won't have this issue because you're pumping up 9' or so. Imagine having a trashcan sitting next to your sump. You have one end of the pump in the trashcan and the other in the sump. At best they are even roughly even water level wise, but chances are the water level in the trashcan/kalk can is higher then the sump. In this situation there is more pressure (higher water level) on the input side of the peristaltic pump. So when the pump is turned off the pressure still forces water through the pump. Typically the "stronger" the pump the less this becomes an issue. Because you have such a high head height you won't have this issue.

I'm not knocking YOUR choice of the sp3000. For your setup it's probably the perfect pump that has low flow with great head height at a very reasonable price. I would whole heartily recommend the sp3000 for anyone with say 4' head height or more as the Aqualifter wouldn't even be able to push the water reliably at that head height! But for those with a head height of say 30" or less the AquaLifter would be a better choice IMHO.

I don't think it's a matter of what pump is better because they are built to handle different situations.

Does that make better sense?

Carlo

 

[mott768]

Re: Best way to drip Kalk?

Carlo, I know what you mean, but continuous siphones can go for anything with the line below the water source. On the 46 gal tank I had it setup with a 5 gal pale next to the tank, the pump on top of the bucket, it was maybe a 12" run, it was setup this way for over a year and never had any issues, when I setup the bigger tanks I need more storage and moved everything into the basement. Like I said my way isn't the best or the cheapest but it work great for me

 

[Phyl]

Split to new topic to preserve the intent of the original thread.

 

[lithivm]

Hve you guys seen the $12 liquid pumps, I have two to dose the two part calcium system, they are connected to a timer and they run for one minute every three days, they can be controlled via gang valve.... I think its a very cheap solution

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=OE1137

 

[Carlo]

lithivm, that's the pump "AquaLifter" I've been talking about in the Kalk dose thread and now this thread since it was split.

You're right, it's a cheap pump and they work super well. Prices seem to range between $9 and $14 depending on where you get them from. I recently bought a 4 pack for $36 on sale.

Carlo

PS to the Mods: It can sometimes be confusing the way the threads get split (splitting is fine). When splitting threads in the future could you please have the first message indicate it's a split with a reference (thread title and/or hyperlink) to the thread it was split from with a simple explanation (IE. off topic from main thread / "Shift from Kalk dosing to pump doser talk") and a "marker" message in the thread it was split from (with new link). This is customary practice on most systems. It's not a biggy but would help (if can be done easily) especially for new threads because the first few messages sometimes don't make "full" sense if you didn't read it in the context of the thread it came from.

 

[lithivm]

I got mine from Dr Foster Smith... they work really good the only problem is that is you have to dose equal parts of liquid you have to calibrate them.... One of mine was pumping a bit more than the other so I used a gang valve to equalize them.

My setup is milk gallon bottles, with a 1' lenths of hard airline tubing then silicone from them to the pumps and silicone tubing to the sump.

I really like these little pumps!