Dosing 2 part with pumps

[rusty97]

I've been dosing the BRS 2 part manually for quite some time now. I just picked up 2 dosing pumps and have a question.....I currently dose the Alk and wait for about 5 minutes and then dose the Cal. Is it okay to dose both Alk and Cal at the same time? I'm thinking of having both pumps run off of the same timer. I don't think it would be a problem since it would be introduced slowly into my system. Just curious to hear what other people are doing out there.

Thanks for the time,
Steve

[Jim_Dont_Care]

shouldnt be a problem i dont think especially with a slow drip whats 5 minutes anyway in between lol

[rusty97]

That's what I was thinking as well but, just wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be some issue with it.

[rmalone]

Make sure the two lines introducing the chemicals are not right next to each other. Separate them by at least 8-12" so as to avoid precipitation of your calcium.

[tdb320reef]

You need to put them on a timmer. On my Apex on the frag tank my CAlc runs for the first minute of every hour and my Alk the 1minute at the half of every hour. I just swap the bottles about every three weeks... perfect.

[cmaxwell39]

Just make sure whatever timer you put them on can be adjusted in at least one minute increments (1 second increments would be better). If it is a cheap timer that you can only adjust in 15 min increments you will not have enough control over your dosing even with the slowest pumps. Good luck.

[McPuff]

Avoid dosing them at the same time. I've heard it can lead to "cementing" your substrate. This would probably only be the case if you fully dose all at once versus using a dosing pump.

[rusty97]

Thanks for all of the replies.

How are you guys scheduling the dosing with your controllers? Is it just a basic on/off or are you using the PH probe to control it?

Thanks,
Steve

[mfishhead]

I dose both at the same time but each line goes to a separate chamber of my sump. With the slow amount added (1 ml per minute), I don't see an issue. I do have a controller to monitor ph. If it gets to 8.35, dosing shuts down.

I dose 2 ml over two minutes, wait one hour and repeat through the night. A lot will depend on how much you need to dose throughout the night.