# How do you remember to dose your tanks?



## ale36 (2 Apr 2013)

i'm having trouble remembering to dose my tanks daily once i forget one day then it carries on and i forget to dose for the rest of the week, i'm sure my brain is functioning petty well as i haven't forgotten how to breathe, walk, talk etc.
So what do you guys do to remember dosing your tanks?


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## GHNelson (2 Apr 2013)

Hi
Best if you dose Macros....Monday/ Wednesday /Friday.
							 Trace.......Tuesday/Thursday....T for Trace.
Get a couple of pumps squirt your fertilizer in in the morning when you get up.
If you have fish you could dose when feeding them.
hoggie


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## LondonDragon (2 Apr 2013)

By using a dosing pump  then you don't have to remember and just need to check the bottles once in a while


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## ltsai (2 Apr 2013)

I just follow a routine and after water change.

If you really want, you may want to get those auto dosing pump.


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## ale36 (2 Apr 2013)

i think dosing pumps might be the ultimate solution, as i'm away from home most the day. or maybe have Darren Brown to program my brain so it triggers and reminds me!


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## GHNelson (2 Apr 2013)

Leave them beside your aquarium...........
hoggie


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## Ady34 (2 Apr 2013)

hogan53 said:


> Leave them beside your aquarium...........
> hoggie


...or by your toothbrush


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## LondonDragon (2 Apr 2013)

These work out pretty cheap, wish I had seen these before I purchased my parts to make one!

 Marine Magic aquarium dosing pump - MM01-R | eBay

I am thinking about this one now:

 Marine Magic aquarium dosing pump - Triple | eBay

3 pumps is very flexible for Micro, Macro and Liquid Carbon! Or 3 tanks!






Or one of these:

 Accurate MC-03-M Dosing Peristaltic Metering Pump Triple for Aquarium Lab Reef | eBay

Like the screen being at the front a little better!


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## linkinruss (2 Apr 2013)

How do you set these up? Would it be that it puts in 1ml per rotation?
If it were 25ml, you'd program it to rotate 25 times? or is it timed based?
Apologies if it's been answered already!


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## ale36 (2 Apr 2013)

Ady34 said:


> ...or by your toothbrush


 
i'd probably end up using it as mouth wash if i did that lol


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## Ady34 (2 Apr 2013)

ale36 said:


> i'd probably end up using it as mouth wash if i did that lol



it would make you grow big and strong!


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## LondonDragon (2 Apr 2013)

linkinruss said:


> How do you set these up?


They dose a certain ml per second, you can program it to dose for X number of seconds, you test it first and adjust to your needs. the 3 head pump has 4 speeds of dosing and you can have multiple dosing periods per day per pump, really versatile.


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## stu_ (2 Apr 2013)

Next to your keys


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## ale36 (2 Apr 2013)

LondonDragon said:


> These work out pretty cheap, wish I had seen these before I purchased my parts to make one!
> 
> Marine Magic aquarium dosing pump - MM01-R | eBay
> 
> ...


 
Thank Paulo, how much did it cost you to build 3? i couldn't see on the link if you can alternate the pumps so if i dose micro one day the next day it doesn't hope that makes sence


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## LondonDragon (2 Apr 2013)

It cost me around £50 to build one! I was considering building another, think I will go for one of the £26 pumps to test them!


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## Tim Harrison (2 Apr 2013)

Thanks for reminding me


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## TarkMalbot (2 Apr 2013)

LondonDragon said:


> These work out pretty cheap, wish I had seen these before I purchased my parts to make one!
> 
> Marine Magic aquarium dosing pump - MM01-R | eBay
> 
> ...



I have just ordered a double dosing pump. I was put off by the triple as you can only program them per 24 hours and not by the days. I am planning on dosing one pump Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the other pump Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday which I think you can do going by the instructions for the double.


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## LondonDragon (2 Apr 2013)

TarkMalbot said:


> which I think you can do going by the instructions for the double.


Double?


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## TarkMalbot (2 Apr 2013)

LondonDragon said:


> Double?



This is what I have just ordered:

Marine Magic 1+1 doser - Set

Instructions:
http://www.rrasco.com/downloads/MM-01B_IB_-_English.pdf


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## LondonDragon (2 Apr 2013)

Sounds good, guess I will wait for your feedback before I purchase one then!


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## TarkMalbot (2 Apr 2013)

It will be on my journal as soon as it arrives.


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## greenink (2 Apr 2013)

Is fine to dose micro and macro on same days - just don't keep in same solution bottle.


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## ale36 (3 Apr 2013)

TarkMalbot said:


> This is what I have just ordered:
> 
> Marine Magic 1+1 doser - Set
> 
> ...


let me know when you have tested it and what you think


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## AverageWhiteBloke (3 Apr 2013)

Will be watching this closely to see how it pans out. It may be the answer I'm looking for when I work away. Looks a bit more reliable than my missus  Out of curiosity could you mix the macros/micros/LC in one bottle just for short term use of say a week? I only generally go away for a week every now and again so could switch back to manual while I'm home. Would there be a reaction between the three if I was just to mix enough to dose a weeks worth and switched it on on Monday?


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## TarkMalbot (3 Apr 2013)

Ok my dosing pumps arrived today. Follow the link to my journal for the Aquaone AR850 in my signature. Save me posting all the photos and stuff twice.


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## TarkMalbot (3 Apr 2013)

Just realised if you use tapatalk you can't see signatures and you Can copy posts so here goes:

Dosing pumps arrived this afternoon. I managed to get a free spare pump thrown in too.






There is a master that controls the timers and the slave that just does as its told:





Each pump can have up to 36 timed intervals. You can set the day of the week and how long the pump runs for.





I did a test and set it up to run pump 1 and 2 on alternative days for 1 min at the same time 15:00.





I fitted the non return valve at the end of the hose and fitted to the pipe holder:





I drilled two small holes in the back of the old filter housing and ran in the hoses.





With the pumps in place I used the manual mode to pump the fluid though the pipes until a drop came out. I then filled up 30ml (my daily dose) and timed how long it would take. I did this with everything in place and pipes to the correct length as the height and distance to be pumped will change the pumping speed.

As it happens it took 1 min to pump 30ml on speed 4 (the fastest) so my original guess was spot on.

Pumps in place:





My only concern is evaporation from the bottle but know I must have some hole in the top of the bottle so to not create a vacuum in the bottle. I might just drill a hole in both lids.

Once set up and in auto mode the screen shows your next 3 scheduled doses for each pump and then turns the screen off with just the auto light illuminated.

All programmed in:





I will see how it goes tomorrow at 15:00 and hopefully dose 30ml of micro solution.


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## tim (3 Apr 2013)

how do you guys remember to eat breakfast


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## TarkMalbot (3 Apr 2013)

tim said:


> how do you guys remember to eat breakfast


I can eat breakfast wherever I am but I can't take my tank to work with me for 2 weeks and I can't guarantee the wife will remember so this was my solution.


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## tim (3 Apr 2013)

good solution


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## ale36 (3 Apr 2013)

TarkMalbot said:


> Just realised if you use tapatalk you can't see signatures and you Can copy posts so here goes:
> .



Thanks man thats really helpfull


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## LondonDragon (3 Apr 2013)

TarkMalbot said:


> Just realised if you use tapatalk you can't see signatures and you Can copy posts so here goes:


With the responsive style who needs Tapatalk?!?! I don't use it any more


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## ale36 (4 Apr 2013)

LondonDragon said:


> With the responsive style who needs Tapatalk?!?! I don't use it any more


i do but mainly because im a menber on other forums and just check all at once


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## Notator (17 Apr 2013)

In answer to the original question - how do you remember to dose - I,...wait for it..it's very sad...
I have a spread-sheet on my desktop with a reminder programmed into my task scheduler....
Ahem.

ANYWAY...
@ TarkMalbot -
To save leaving the bottles open you could drill a hole and put a one way non-return valve into the hole...
That way it could suck in some air when it needed it and it's sealed the rest of the time.

(I've just done something similar for a totally different purpose - and on a larger scale!!)
(But in my defence the hole was precision cut with a Laser - I gotta get points for that!)


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## ale36 (18 Apr 2013)

Notator said:


> (I've just done something similar for a totally different purpose - and on a larger scale!!) (But in my defence the hole was precision cut with a Laser - I gotta get points for that!)


this sound like you are doing something interesting what is it?


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## LondonDragon (18 Apr 2013)

Notator said:


> To save leaving the bottles open you could drill a hole and put a one way non-return valve into the hole... That way it could suck in some air when it needed it and it's sealed the rest of the time.


Thats what I did on mine! have a look here: Aqua One AR-850 | Page 2 | UK Aquatic Plant Society


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## jojouk (18 Apr 2013)

Dag nammit...forgot to dose mine this morning before coming to work...


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## DTL (18 Apr 2013)

Does the Marine Magic pump come with spare tubing?
When I lived in the States I used a couple of ex medical peristaltics  which  had the thinner  tubing, for my reef tank , and it wore out every month or so. Be interested in whether there's any probs like this with the MM pump?


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## ian_m (19 Apr 2013)

I used these in my DIY dosing pumps. Not the cheapest, but very high quality.
Series 100 Micro Peristaltic Pumps
The ones I used were 3ml/minute.

Using a 4 roller version means no one way valve is required. The marine dosing people suffering from failed/gummed up one way valves and is quite common on the marine forums, so much so that they often place their dosing liquids at same height as the tank so no back flow or syphoning can occur.

With these pumps the lifetime of the pump & pump tubing is greatly increased by choosing low rpm (3 rpm), biggest diameter pipe (3mm) and using Norprene pipe. Williamson support suggested that 3rpm at say 7minutes per alternate day will most likely last for ever, unlike the 200hour run time quoted for the dosing pumps on Ebay, which I am sure must be wrong. Mind you 7minutes a day to total of 200hours is 4.5years...so OK'ish lifetime.

Here is my original article.
DIY dual peristaltic dosing pump with alternate switching. | UK Aquatic Plant Society


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## clonitza (19 Apr 2013)

I dose 5 types of ferts in both of my tanks daily using ADA and the new Tropica bottles, it takes me around 30s and when I'm away I leave a note.


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## George Farmer (21 Apr 2013)

Dosing is part of my daily routine. I do it before I have breakfast. I guess I'm so obsessed with this hobby I couldn't forget, even if I wanted to.


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