Dosing pumps run time

[misu]

What's a good interval to run dosing pumps at a time? I remember reading that too many short intervals are bad so is 10 minutes 4 times per day ok?

 

[gnashty]

what is the rating of the pump? 1.1 ml/minute?

I run mine to go for 2 minutes each hour, 24 hours a day. For me running only 4-6 times a day was giving me wild PH swings and this keeps it pretty steady.

I havent read that small intervals are bad for the pump, only too long.

 

[misu]

I got the 1.1 with this group buy, I figured 4 times / day would be better than all at once like I'm doing now, the ph spike is just when the solution hits the probe and in my case it goes away in 30 seconds or so

 

[jef4y]

Depending on the brand, the manufacturer may give you a rating on how long it can safely operate at one time.

From my understanding though, if it's a peristaltic pump, they're mostly designed for many many short operations per day, instead of constant 24x7 operation. (yes, you can buy ones that are rated for 24x7 but plan on dropping $400 or so for a USED one)

 

[mvm]

I have mine running few a few minutes every 30 minutes. I only run ALK at night to offset falling PH.

 

[misu]

Cool so I should be fine if I stay around few minutes on/hour cycle. BRS recommends "on/off cycles under a few hours to maximize life span".

I know about Alk being better dripped at night but what about calcium, is there a better time do do it or just divide that by 24 and do it every hour around the clock?

And yes I will try to avoid dripping it at the same time with Alk and Kalk... this is getting hard...

 

[gnashty]

If its teh BRS 1.1/ml pump there should be no limit to the number of times you run per day, I wouldnt run them for more than say 10-15 minutes at a time.

 

[budsreef]

I have the 1.1ml/min Drew's Doser connected to my Apex and run it for 5 minutes every other hour at night for the same reason Matt said. I also put a line in the code to shut it off if the PH goes above 8.4.

 

[gnashty]

Budsreef;607173 wrote: I also put a line in the code to shut it off if the PH goes above 8.4.

same here

 

[enderg60]

My system doses each of the 3 part solutions twice a day. Mag on the 12's, calc on the 4's and alk on the 8's

I may up the alk dosing to 4x a day but its been pretty stable so we'll see.