Bionic w/ dosing pump?

[blueboy]

would it work to use dosing pumps to dose Bionic? i don't see anything on the label about shaking it before each use(even though i always do). i'm looking to automate my system a little more(for when i'm away). is anyone doing this?, it seems like most here are using reactors.

[GaryP]

B ionic actually used to make an autodoser system. I inherited a set of these. Rather then a dosing pump it used an air pump to pump air into a chamber and displace the liquid into the tank. The air pump was supposed to be on a timer to adjust the amount dosed at one time.

To answer your question, yes, you can use a dosing pump. The salts in B-Ionic are completely water soluble so you shouldn't need to shake it unless it got really cold and the salts precipitated out. Warming it back up to room temp. and shaking it should get them back into solution.

[blueboy]

thanks gary. i'm planning on being away for a week or so a few times in the coming months, and wanted the system to be automated enough so that i could just have a freind feed every couple of days.

[JimD]

You really need to know the output of the pump and adjust it to the tanks requirements. Plus, since B-Ionic is a two part system and you cant mix them together, youre gonna need two pumps and timers. Its going to take a little cypherin to get the ammounts exact. I suggest getting it correct way before you leave.

[hammondegge]

yep, cypherin can take some time :D

[GaryP]

I forgot to mention that you will need a 2 head pump. Thanks for the catch Jim.

[JimD]

What I would probably do is to find out how long it takes to fill a container to the exact ammount needed, then set the timers to that duration. Chances are your gonna need a digital timer with shorter time lengths, most of the appliance timers can only be adjusted in 15 minute incriments, that may or may not work depending on the pump and tank demand..... No problem Gary.

[GaryP]

Jim, don't some of the newer dosing pumps have built in digital timers and rate controllers? I think I saw something like that that someone else posted a while back. I think they make them with up to 4 heads.

[GaryP]

Here it is. Blueboy posted something about it in an earlier thread.

http://www.aqua-medic.de/seawater/en/13/reefdoser/

[JimD]

I know Ive seen some of the "kangaroo" type p-pumps with two heads, programable, but those things can get pretty pricey. I used to use paristaltics, now I use $12 Aqualifters that do an excellent job as long as you only put water through them.

[GaryP]

Well, these are german, so I can imagine the price. Just another off the shelf product with a hobbyist price slapped on them.

[blueboy]

yeah, i knew i'd need a two head pump, or two pumps, but i know, you gotta be sure. would it not be possible to adjust it to run 24/7 at a very slow rate? the one i'm looking at adjusts in 0.3ml increments, so 24 hrs. that would be 7.2 ml per unit. i guess that's not precise enough is it? timers would complicate things. i was wondering why more people didn't go this route. maybe it's not as simple as it first appeared. thanks for yall's input, any more suggestions?

[scuba_steveo]

I have the b-ionic auto doser.
Love it!
Try and find a used one because they are super expensive new. But ESV is a sponsor so support them!

[blueboy]

is the ESV doser air driven? i think i have seen some DIY plans for something like this.

[blueboy]

just checked their site, that looks pretty much like the DIY diagrams i saw. they are pretty proud of those dosers on their site, but then a 2 channel dosing pump would be close to that.