Dosing pump

[coral_diver]

I came up with an idea at work tonight for a dosing pump let me know what you all think. I work at a hospital and it was a bit on the quiet side tonight so it gave me time to read more of my sw books and was reading the importance of calcium an thought humm I should monitor that more often maybe. I keep hearing people speak of Kiliwaser sp? and was thinking of starting to dose it and came up with this. Everyone is familiar with IV's so I was thinking why couldn't I hook up a bag filled with whatever it was I want to dose and drip it in with a IV bag and tubing? There are bags used for tube feeding that had an adjustable drip line and the bag is empty and steril. No problem so far right? So I am going to try this with just plain water and see if I can adjust this to an acceptable amount per day into a bucket. Now since I do not have Kiliwaser I need someone to tell me what kind of drip rate I am looking for per day and if this would be a acceptable way of adding to the tank. I hope my thoughts did not go to waste here:)

[Condiman]

Sounds like your plan would work quite well. As for a drip rate I used to dose about 10 - 15 dpm.

[cich1]

what is kiliwaser?is it the same thing as kalkwasser? if so an IV bag wouldn't work because it drains from the bottom doesn't ?

[Ghosty]

what is kiliwaser?is it the same thing as kalkwasser? if so an IV bag wouldn't work because it drains from the bottom doesn't ?
As long as he doesn't have the precipitate settled at the bottom. So if he pre-mixes in another bucket, then only fills the IV bag with the clear top-water, should be fine...?

[cich1]

so the kalk once settled does not continue to seperate?

[coral_diver]

I am not sure about that I didnt think so as long as it doesnt sit for a long time week or two? I will let you all know how just water works first off then I will think about adding other stuff to drip. Hope it works...

[Angelscrx]

It should work with a two part Calcium additive like B-Ionic right? Two IVs. No settling there unless it crystalizes from being in a cold place.

[MikeS]

My kalk doser is nothing even so elaborate.... :D

I have a couple of them....just got a few 1 gallon rubbermaid jugs (the kind with lids...drilled a hole about 1/2 inch from the bottom, siliconed an air line adapter in it, run airline to the tank, and control the drip rate with a plastic air line t-valve....works great!

Mike

[Angelscrx]

My kalk doser is nothing even so elaborate.... :D

I have a couple of them....just got a few 1 gallon rubbermaid jugs (the kind with lids...drilled a hole about 1/2 inch from the bottom, siliconed an air line adapter in it, run airline to the tank, and control the drip rate with a plastic air line t-valve....works great!

Mike

Picture please.

[cich1]

My kalk doser is nothing even so elaborate.... :D

I have a couple of them....just got a few 1 gallon rubbermaid jugs (the kind with lids...drilled a hole about 1/2 inch from the bottom, siliconed an air line adapter in it, run airline to the tank, and control the drip rate with a plastic air line t-valve....works great!

Mike
i was thinking of using a 5 gallon bucket the same way for water top offs, i don't need any kalk because i don't have any corals yet, i tested calcium on 5/23 and it was at 450ppm

[FishinInTheDark]

Mike,

This sounds like a DIY project that even I can handle. This takes care of your top off and kalk dosing, right? Can you explain to me what a plastic airline t-valve is and where I can get one? Also, you use a pickling additive instead of actual Kalk from the LFS, if I remember a previous post correctly. What is that called: Mrs. Something-or-Other, I think? I'm getting ready to step up my coral stock, so I think it's time to start dosing.

As always, thank you so much for your patience and good advice.

TC,

Conni

[MikeS]

Sorry the pic took so long....

Conni...I use Mrs Wages pickling lime....you can get at any grocery store in the canning section. (Albertsons usually has it)

The T valve is just a plastic air line flow valve....common at any LFS....

[FishinInTheDark]

Thanks, Mike. The pic really helps, too. Looks like I'm off to Lowe's, Petco and Albertson's today!

Hope you enjoyed the lake!

Conni

[Taxman]

I use a 5 gallon water bottle with tubing and tie a knot in it to control flow. Very crude but works. As far as drip rate, you can actually drip to make up all your topoff water. Thats what I do. Works fine. But the only thing I dont like about gravity dripping is getting a 5 gallon bottle full of water on top of my 7 foot tall canopy.

Another thing a couple of guys have done is use a float valve in the sump and an air pump to supply the pressure to a bottle, jug or bucket. When the sump level goes down the pump will kick on and pressure up the bucket which will then force the Kalk out of the return line into your sump. Then the topoff is done and the pump turns off. Works pretty good actually.
Just a couple of ideas. :)

[FishinInTheDark]

I've got the gravity drip just going now. It sits on a wall sill behind the tank. I'm going to have to refill it with a one gallon pitcher, because there's no way for me to lift that five gallon sucker over and behind the tank while full! I guess I'll have a couple days to tweak the drip rate before I start playing with the kalk. My levels are good right after a water change now, anyway.

Thanks everyone for the help!

Conni

[upstoday]

Mike do you have your dripper hanging above tank at all times? Just trying to get an idea of what I would need to do to go this far.

Got my tank in an office in the house, I like to keep as much hidden as possible. Only thing is I wasn't really thinking when I bought the stand, the one I have has almost next to none hiding space in it.

I'll have to look around and see what I can come up with.

[MikeS]

I mix the kalk before I go to bed, then set the doser on top of of the tank. When I get up in the morning (3.5 hours before the lights come on) I start the drip. I take the doser off when I get home from work, and start all over again.

Mike