Auto Dosing EI with a dosing pump (diagram and calculations)

[StevenA]

Tony have you still got those tubes?

 

[Tony Swinney]

Yep. Drop me a PM with your address, and I'll stick them in the post

Cheers

 

[Superman]

Just doing mine, does the bottle need to be airtight?

 

[StevenA]

I've got a half inch hole at the top of mine for refilling, which is also where the tube from the dosing pump goes in. As shown in the diagram on the first page. Works a treat 😀

 

[Superman]

Thanks, just set mine up with a 10 day dose trial.
Exciting times.

 

[a1Matt]

I set mine up last night too 🙂

I found out the following...

Cheap Argos timers do not work very well; the switching is very erratic.
If you leave a peristaltic pump in continuous use for 10 minutes it overheats and stops working.
If you change the fuse it starts working again, phew!
Other than the 2 minutes of stressful ranting while I changed the fuse, so far so good.

My wiring was just a quick lash up - I still need to sort out a proper casing for the pump so that the electrics are waterproofed (and of course buy a decent timer )

Dosing wise, I did a 20 day trial (1litre solution dispensed @ 50ml a day).
I intend to keep up with 20 days at a time until I am either satisfied with my fert mix or get bored tweaking it!

Then I will switch over to a 5L container I have. That will be pretty cool, having automated dosing that only needs refilling every 3 months 🙂

 

[StevenA]

You won't regret it guys, best thing i've added to my main setup, makes life so much easier, better for the plants too with regards to consistant timing of fert input etc... 😀

 

[LondonDragon]

You won't regret it guys, best thing i've added to my main setup, makes life so much easier, better for the plants too with regards to consistant timing of fert input etc... 😀

Sure does, specially when I had to go away for 8 days out of the country and knowing the tank was going to get dosed normally.

 

[Steve Smith]

It's starting to get tempting... I have a 3 week roadtrip around the USA planned for september... I'd need to dose at least 3 tanks though

 

[a1Matt]

I am often away for a couple of days here and there, that is what swung it for me to invest the money in the peristaltic pump.
I have a feeling I will see good benefits from the exact regularity that pump dosing will bring as well 🙂

 

[Superman]

I've noticed that if I don't keep on top of it, my dosing water returns back to the bottle.
I don't have a non-return valve so that's why it's happening.
What type of valve is required?

 

[LondonDragon]

I've noticed that if I don't keep on top of it, my dosing water returns back to the bottle.
I don't have a non-return valve so that's why it's happening.
What type of valve is required?

First you don't place he tubbing inside the water, just let it hang over the tank.
And the non return valve is the same you would use on a CO2 system or an air pump.

 

[Superman]

I've noticed that if I don't keep on top of it, my dosing water returns back to the bottle.
I don't have a non-return valve so that's why it's happening.
What type of valve is required?

First you don't place he tubbing inside the water, just let it hang over the tank.
And the non return valve is the same you would use on a CO2 system or an air pump.

Its is just hanging over the side, I'll one of those non return valves.

 

[AdAndrews]

Great idea, would this work for a 35litre? do you just down size the pump so less is getting in? i would only want about 1.5ml

 

[LondonDragon]

Great idea, would this work for a 35litre? do you just down size the pump so less is getting in? i would only want about 1.5ml

You will need more specialized "reeffers" dosing pumps that will set you back a couple hundred quid, this only can dose minimum 40ml for one minute, unless you get a seconds timer rather than minutes, but then I would not recommend using the Aquamedic pumps for that.

 

[AdAndrews]

oh ok, thanks anyway mate.

 

[a1Matt]

Great idea, would this work for a 35litre? do you just down size the pump so less is getting in? i would only want about 1.5ml

One possible solution is to make the allinone solution 25x more diluted so that 40ml is (approximately) the correct amount to dose.

 

[AdAndrews]

could do i spose, i will think about it

 

[LondonDragon]

Great idea, would this work for a 35litre? do you just down size the pump so less is getting in? i would only want about 1.5ml

One possible solution is to make the allinone solution 25x more diluted so that 40ml is (approximately) the correct amount to dose.

I have been trying that on my tank and I am not getting great results, after I come back from holidays I am going to manually dose the tank with the same quantities the pump was suppose to dose daily and then check if things improve.

 

[a1Matt]

I hope you get it sorted Paulo. Might be worth testing out the timer, I had two timers and one of them was very sporadic, it often cut the timing short, or just failed to come on at all. The other (identical make and model) worked fine.


(Auto dosing in my tank was not viable anyway as my PH is too high (no Co2 injection) which causes the chelator within the allinone solution to break down as soon as soon as it hits the water... causing very cloudy water)