Dumb questions about dosing pumps

[chousecat]

Hello,

I am about to start setting up my dosing pumps for my AIO 34g. There isn't much room so I would have to put them under the stand and have them pump upwards into the back chambers. I have 3 BRS 1.1 ml dosers.

My questions are:

1. Can the BRS dosing pumps pump that high? It will be around 4ft height
2. I'm looking at dosing 3 mls of Calcium a day, which means the BRS doser will run for 3 minutes right? But since I have a considerable amount of height for it to pump upwards, I have to account for the travel time right? So does that mean I should be setting it up to run longer than 3 minutes?
3. Do the lines that go in and out of the dosing pumps have to be the same length? So the line that goes up to the tankwill be obviously 4ft but should the line that goes into the dosing container also be 4ft?

Thanks!

 

[Darren in Tacoma]

It can easily pump 4' high, the tubing length does not have to be equal and you only need to run the pump 1 time to fill the lines. When setting up the discharge tube, the end of the tube should be cut straight, pointing straight down and not submerged at any time. The chemical will fill the tubing and should not drain out under these circumstances. If the tubing is not set up in this fashion it may drain after the pump stops. Not always, but sometimes it will.

 

[JCTReefer]

Make sure you check the calibration on those dosers. Sometimes they say 1.1ml a minute and they’re off a little. As stated above, the doser should have no issues pumping up that high.

 

[chousecat]

It can easily pump 4' high, the tubing length does not have to be equal and you only need to run the pump 1 time to fill the lines. When setting up the discharge tube, the end of the tube should be cut straight, pointing straight down and not submerged at any time. The chemical will fill the tubing and should not drain out under these circumstances. If the tubing is not set up in this fashion it may drain after the pump stops. Not always, but sometimes it will.

Oh so I was under the impression that after the doser finishes dosing, all of the liquid will go back into the container. So the liquid stays in the pump and the lines?

 

[JCTReefer]

Yes, the lines will/should stay filled. There should be no back siphoning. The rollers on the dosing heads should stay in contact with the tubing at all times so the line is pinched basically. So both lines should be full of liquid at all times. Both the line coming from your container going to the doser and the feed line coming out of the doser to your tank or sump. However you have it configured, the lines should be full. When I say “the tubing will be pinched, I’m referring to the tubing on the doser itself.