mitch91175
2500 Club Member
If the DOS had a 4 head then I could maybe see that, but without a 4 head I do not even consider them for any of my personal dosing needs.
Your preferred doser... need suggestions
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If the DOS had a 4 head then I could maybe see that, but without a 4 head I do not even consider them for any of my personal dosing needs.
markstubb
Well-Known Member
How do you store your ALK for dosing? This actually seems like a good idea to me, but I haven't heard of any legitimate alk stirrers worth buying.
BigJohnny
2500 Club Member
I know you were asking mitch but since he uses a dosing pump I'm guessing he doesn't use a kalk stirrer and just mixes up kalk in a container and doses it from there. I also dose kalk with a dosing pump and store it in a 5 gallon jug.
markstubb
Well-Known Member
Well my game plan is always to automate everything. So I automate filling up my ATO container already, but for using kalk with the alkatronic D pump, I'd prefer to use a kalk stirrer as the Alkatronic pump would just pull in tank water through a kalk reactor and dose that, which would mean I'd have to mix up kalk much less often, it would take up less space because it's only a little reactor and not a 5 gallon container, and I can forget about it for a while and just let it work 
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I REALLY wish Neptune would do this. A 4-headed doser unit would be awesome! Of course, it would ruin the pun of calling it the DOS... maybe they could call it the DOS-DOS.
markstubb
Well-Known Member
I REALLY wish Neptune would do this. A 4-headed doser unit would be awesome! Of course, it would ruin the pun of calling it the DOS... maybe they could call it the DOS-DOS.
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BigJohnny
2500 Club Member
Well my game plan is always to automate everything. So I automate filling up my ATO container already, but for using kalk with the alkatronic D pump, I'd prefer to use a kalk stirrer as the Alkatronic pump would just pull in tank water through a kalk reactor and dose that, which would mean I'd have to mix up kalk much less often, it would take up less space because it's only a little reactor and not a 5 gallon container, and I can forget about it for a while and just let it work
Wait you are trying to use the alkatronic to dose kalk instead of carbonate? I wouldnt recommend that as pump D will be working much harder and stray from calibration much quicker. I think mitch doses kalk with his vertex dosing pump and then lets the alkatronic dose carbonate as needed, but maybe not.
There are many disadvantages to kalk stirrers imo but whatever floats your boat. The main ones are fluctuations in strength of the solution and stirrer failure. Conceptually they are awesome but many people end up throwing them in the trash.
chipmunkofdoom2
Always Making Something
Jebao doser here, 4 heads. Using for well over a year with, no problems yet. My only regret is that I didn't get the 8-head model.
markstubb
Well-Known Member
My game plan was to set the carx to be about .2-ish dkh lower than what I wanted, and let the kalk through Alkatronic take up the rest. It'd help my low pH, which is really all I'm after. I have to run a co2 scrubber on my skimmer to get up to a 8.15 peak (8.0 floor).
tastyfish
Well-Known Member
I don't have one (I run a pair of DOS), however the Kamoer X4's are getting good reviews. I would be cautious about low end dosers - my marine color (identical to jebao, BubbleMagus and the older kamoer) failed after a a year and a half, crashing the tank - I lost 30+ SPS colonies & frags).
My advice would be to go for the best one you can and move to the bigger tank when you have it.
Be wary of app controlled dosers however - they may be dependent on the vendor releasing apps which work on the latest version of device OS. Unless you are going to have a dedicated device to control it, which you will never update, this is an often overlooked issue.
My advice would be to go for the best one you can and move to the bigger tank when you have it.
Be wary of app controlled dosers however - they may be dependent on the vendor releasing apps which work on the latest version of device OS. Unless you are going to have a dedicated device to control it, which you will never update, this is an often overlooked issue.
mitch91175
2500 Club Member
Exactly BigJ. I have the Vertex dosing kalk and the Alkatronic picking up the slack.
markstubb
Well-Known Member
So you just mix up a solution of kalk and dose that from a reservoir? No reactor?
mitch91175
2500 Club Member
I'd suggest just getting an AquaLifter or some other type of pump to dose kalk and not try to use the Alkatronic for that purpose, but if it works for you then have at it. I do have to agree with BigJ though on the kalk stirrer. You do not have the consistency that you would expect out of them. I think I may modify mine with a homemade magnetic stirrer instead of the slow stirrer that it has. Bad design I guess (bought it used for a steal so was giving it a chance). I will do the modification and just remove the stirrer part with my own and have it stir when I am dosing to get a good concentration dosed.
markstubb
Well-Known Member
Yeah my intention was to tune it at some point where the alkatronic is only intervening a small amount, hopefully just enough to push my pH up. The last thing I want to do is put kalk in my ATO and deal with the nightmare of keeping it clean.
Maybe I should just dose a consistent amount of kalk with a doser and set the carx up to make the difference, and just let the dkh flop around .1 a day like it does anyway.
Maybe I should just dose a consistent amount of kalk with a doser and set the carx up to make the difference, and just let the dkh flop around .1 a day like it does anyway.
mitch91175
2500 Club Member
No kalk through the Vertex and Soda Ash through the Alkatronic. They both have an affect on pH, but I do not use them to maintain a higher pH, just to keep my ALK in check. The pH boost is for me just a side effect. I run a dual reactor CO2 scrubber for increased pH and recently started running my refugium light 24/7.
mitch91175
2500 Club Member
.1 a day is nothing to be worried about. If that is all your swing is, then I wouldn't change anything to try to get it to 0.0 swing. Now if you are talking about 2.0 then that is something to look at. Also my Alkatronic on intervenes by dosing small amounts.
What the Alkatronic has done for me is measure consistently and catch any major drops in ALK.
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