Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazy Loaches
So the Tom AL is working good for you? Good, I have 4 of them waiting to autodose on two tanks. Did you have any problems with them so far? I know they arent as precise as a fancy peristaltic pump but at about 1/10th the price they seemed to be a good alternative  . And I thought the whole idea behind EI is that you dont have to be precise, as long as you dosing enough.
Let me see, the AL is rated 3.5G/hr. I'll have to measure the actual flow rate since head loss will reduce this I assume. But my setup will be next to a sump so assuming I get 3g/hr that would translate into a .189L dose (1 minute run time). Would a half EI dose (since will be doing daily) for a 250G tank be to concentrated in about .2L or is this concentration ok? With that concentration and a couple gallon tank I could get several weeks worth of ferts before needing to refill. Is there a recomended concentration? Sorry, I've always dosed dry. |
That is a good ball park figure to start with, but you'll have to time it in place and all setup to get the actual volume dosed over time. The run time can be varried depending on how much water you mix with the ferts, more water = longer run time.
For example mine pumps 1 gallon of water in a little over two weeks at being on for 2 minutes per day. I just mix 2 weeks worth of ferts with the gallon of water every 2 weeks using old milk jugs sitting on the floor next to my sump with the pump sitting ontop of the sump. To calibrate it all you need is a known volume and a stop watch.