Easier macro dosing

[epicfish]

Ordered me some test tubes and got some white/opaque rubber stoppers. Should look pretty esthetic (I hope) soon enough!

[DiabloCanine]

Good idea......DC

[Wasserpest]

DC, read some of the more recent posts...

I don't see much benefit for water storage tanks... there you can just add whatever is needed to reach a certain level.

In the tank, on the other side, you have a constant fertilizer usage, which would be offset with the slow macro dosing.

[captured!byrobots]

I really like this idea....

I might finally start dosing....
Keep it up.

This might be off topic,
and a bit bigger than what you're talking about,
but would the equivilant of an IV bag above the tank
with a very slow drip do the same stuff?
(those IV valves have a very fine adjustment rate)
It would require no pumps, gravity feed....

Just wanting your opinions on it...

[Wasserpest]

Hey JBOT, yep, there is something like you are describing, the Kent Aquadose drip thing. I am sure it works, drawbacks are visual... imagine having an IV bag hanging over your tank... Plus there could be some settling in the solution. Plus the other issues similar to waterpump dosing... you have to mix solutions, which might degrade over time.

This here is small and simple. Once the valve is set correctly, you can hide it behind plants, off to the side, or of course feature it on the front glass to impress visitors.

I am trying hard to come up with problems and disadvantages since it just seems too simple. So far, no luck.

[captured!byrobots]

Yeah, I like your idea better.

I didn't know about the kent IV thingy.

Keep going with this idea.
I love it....

[Naja002]

Well, once you get it sorted out--I'll give it a try. I think I already have everything.....

[vidiots]

I tried the Kent Aquadose Drip thing. It works by pinching the hose to reduce the flow. The problem I had with it was that it required too much adjusting to maintain a constant flow rate. If you adjusted it for too slow of a flow rate the kink in the hose would relax over time and seal it off completely and it would stop flowing all together. I haven't thrown it out though, because it works very well for drip acclimating my new fish to my water where I'm using a faster drip rate by dosing over a period of hours instead of days or weeks.

It also has the same problem as the other auto dosers with the dose rate varying signifigantly with fluid height.

[DiabloCanine]

Originally Posted by Wasserpest

DC, read some of the more recent posts...

I don't see much benefit for water storage tanks... there you can just add whatever is needed to reach a certain level.

In the tank, on the other side, you have a constant fertilizer usage, which would be offset with the slow macro dosing.

I reread the thread and edited, missed most of the posts the first time......DC

[essabee]

My top up system is hang on the side trough with a float valve, height adjusted for the aquarium level, and connected to the aquarium with a 6mm pvc pipe siphon, the ball valve is connected to my RO output.

As I have decided to change the aquarium into a CO2 dosed and fertilised one, I have built a 3” fertiliser tube to be put into the top up trough. It is merely a ½” plastic pipe with a lot of holes, plugged at one end and a rubber bung on the other. The side of the entire tube is covered with the fabric of an old nylon socks. I intend to just fill it up with the fertiliser dose and drop it into the trough of the top up system and adjust the quantity of fertilizers by observation.

As there is no current affecting the material inside the F-tube, I expect it would work.

[Wasserpest]

Nylon socks? The possibilities are endless

Another way to do this would be some sort of canister filter inline applicator, modifying something like this for example.

Right now I am trying to optimize the setup. Searching for those perfect glass tubes, with plastic threaded stopper, where you can plug the airvalves in, maybe sideways to prevent oxygen bubbles from blocking them. I have some acrylic pipe leftovers from my filter in/outlet adventures, there might be a good starting point.

[tazcrash69]

Wasser,
Thanks for all the work.
I've been looking around the house, and some stores for me to build some of these. So far nothing that will hold the amount of dry ferts I need for a 125 for a whole week (~8 tsp. )

I think I need to hit the Container store. My wife picked up some ketchup squeeze style bottles, that might be able to be modified.

LIGHTBULB!!! I'm using the eheim install kit which has that screw cap! Hmm, lots of possibilities.

[Wasserpest]

They sell these food/water containers for birds that you can clamp outside of the cage:

Vertical Tube Feeders/Waterers

Might be worth a trip to the petstore to get one of them to play around with. Still need to find a suitable cap though. But try it... it works.

[Wasserpest]

After much excitement I ran into a first serious snag...

While finetuning the dosing, I noticed that over the course of the week, the slurries coming out of the air valve would become less and less. Thinking that there might have been an airbubble blocking the flow, I cleaned them. There was no airbubble, but now more swirly slurries began to show.

So what I am thinking is... Similar to what killed the aliens in War of the Worlds... there is enough microbial activity to grow a biofilm on the air valve surfaces which ultimately blocks the tiny hole.

One hope is that the biofilm only grows so much, and opening up the valve just a tad more will lead to a still consistent dosing.

[ianmoede]

Hah, -2 points for referencing a tom cruise flick. DO YOU KNOW THE HISTORY OF AUTODOSING? Wasserpest, wasserpest, youre being glib. You dont know the history of autodosing like i do.