Dosing with AquaLifter?

[kirkwood]

I will preface this by saying I know this is not a permanent solution, however I am looking for something to get me through the holiday.

It is looking more likely that I won't have someone to watch my tank daily while I'm out of town. I can get a visit every few days to refill my 5gallon top off water but that's about it. I use an aqualifter pump on my ATO and I have measured that it doses about 100ml per minute.... Each night I alternate my dosing of CAL and ALK each at 100ml increments (done by hand)

So I'm thinking I could set up 2 aqualifters with timers and run them for 1 minute each day. I know its not a long term solution but I think it would work.. Much better than not dosing for 12 days which is NOT AN OPTION.

Thoughts or any other ideas? Any 2-pump dosers available to rent or borrow??

 

[enderg60]

they dont work very well for that since their flow rate is dependent on the fluid level in the container

I always recommend you spend the money on a parastaltic pump.

 

[jef4y]

Run some tests with it and I'd set it up to dose sparingly. Better safe than sorry.

 

[kirkwood]

JeF4y;817928 wrote: Run some tests with it and I'd set it up to dose sparingly. Better safe than sorry.

yes I agree. I'm looking to prevent a decline into severly low Alk and Cal parameters. And I can be very conservative with the concentration of the dosing liquid.

My other thought is that I could begin now to start slowly raising my Alk and Cal levels until they are more or less maxed out. Maybe 11Kh and 480 Cal. Then not dose at all over a 12-day period. There would be no crash of system parameters, however I assume by the time I got home my levels would be very poor, like 5-6Kh and 350-380 Cal. My MAG is currently at 1400 so I know I can maintain highly saturated Alk and Cal levels without worrying about precipitation.

 

[djatl]

Maybe you could put kalkwasser in your ATO while you're out of town?

 

[kirkwood]

djatl;817936 wrote: Maybe you could put kalkwasser in your ATO while you're out of town?

i've never used kalkwasser so I don't want to attempt something new while I'm not here to monitor.

 

[ichthyoid]

I posted a DIY mod for Aqualifters so they can more easily be used for dosing.

Also, +1 on adding kalk to your ATO bucket. I suggest pre-dissolving with vinegar though.

You can look both up, or I will post when I get home.

 

[gnashty]

I would go the kalk in ATO myself. At least you know up front the amount of damage that could be done. And have time to get a 5 gal test going before you leave. I would be soooo leary to set up an automated dosing regimen prior to leaving town.

 

[rdnelson]

While I can't speak for using kalk, I would agree with Gary's comment about setting up autmated dosing just prior to going out of town. I used the Mod that Bill mentioned earlier in this thread. I works great but it takes time to get it set just right. In addition, there are things like "I didn't realize I pinched the hose when I put it back in place".

 

[kilralpine]

I use a toms (with a backup of course) for dosing my ATO which is mixed 1 tsp kalk to 5 gallons. Nothing but positive benefits so far, calc stays a little higher than it used to with just WCs using red sea coral pro and RO. Everything grows like mad and I doubt I will discontinue usage of it. I make sure I always keep the bucket more than 1/5th full and I keep my output line above the sludge line. Mine uses 4/5 gallons by about day 3. 1 tsp is pretty conservative and I feel I could easily dose more, apex never reports even an increase in pH after a dose. As long as you closely watch how much your mixing in and have a STABLE pH monitor I see no harm in it.

Edit: To add to this, I dose at night only to help stabilize my still fairly significant ph drops. Another side benefit is it helps the skimmer produce more skimmate.