Cali Kid Corals

Words of experience and caution regarding inexpensive dosing pumps?

I don’t know about the jebao dosers, but I can share what helped me decide when I needed a doser. I went back and forth on it but inevitably went for the more expensive option for ease of use, reliability, customer support if something breaks, and expandability. I’d rather buy one that last for awhile than risk something breaking and risking the corals/tank health
 
I have been using jebao 4 channel for over a year now and no issues but in case of dosing pump staying on for soda ash I dose, I set the apex to turn off the doser if ph goes over a specific level (I haven’t got around to programming the apex to turn on the doser for 1 min and then off at the times I set the dosing pumps to dose, which would be another layer of safety).
 
I appreciate reliability. And accuracy important. My primary dosing pumps are Neptune DOS.

What I'm working on is a version of a fresh food auto-feeder. Since I'm experimenting and DYI-ing, lowest cost is appealing. If a $70 4-head doser is something I'll end-up disappointed with I'd rather not waste the cash on it. But for pushing food I'm hoping it might be reliable and durable enough.
 
Experience as follows:
-Jebao/Jecod/any of the other brands selling this pump. Some are DOA, the rest seem to hold up well enough. Are they perfect? No, not really. Are they good enough? Probably. Expect zero warranty support. To an extent you are rolling the dice. I'd almost buy a used one before a new one just to be sure I wasn't getting an infant failure.
-Bubble Magnus. Better quality import, but still some weird things about them. Program can be a bit goofy, and I had my revert to a different program randomly at least twice. Seems odd because I expect the logic in these is extremely basic, but it happened. What was incredibly disappointing was zero reply after contacting their customer service multiple times. I was reasonably happy with them until that, and haven't gone back since.
-BRS dosing pumps. Very robust for their price point (or at least that was the case 3 years ago). Replacement line is cheap. Cost effective IF you already have controllable outlets such as an Apex EB8. Not particularly cost effective if you have to buy a new EB832 to drive them, but great if you already have spare outlets or are getting a $100 used EB832. Don't expect them to be super accurate over short portions of their dose, but they do average out to the correct value given how the rollers are configured. Here is a lovely web page to write your dosing code for you: https://www.reeftronics.net/adpg/dosingcalc.php.
-Neptune DOS. Very good Apex integration. Expensive for what they are, but very easy to use. For what they cost the fittings should be substantially better and the delivery rate should be smoother, but those are gripes more than needs. You want to either use the Neptune branded dosing line, or cut and modify the outlets in order for them to not blow off the dosing lines periodically. I'm currently using some of these, but when I return to a larger system may well go back to the BRS ones. You're basically paying for a slightly easier to use programing interface. I wish it was easier to write additions to the Fusion interface because getting a normal dosing pump to interface like these is not technically complicated, but that's the price I pay for being in a captive ecosystem.

Plenty of good options beyond these, but they are the only ones I have used.
 
Edit: He is using a different doser
I believe @Scott Sweet has a live food feeder and is using the jebao doser for it since it is placed in the refrigerator. It may be worth checking warranties on the dos, ghl, versas to see if they have any exceptions if the doser is in a unique environment like a fridge.

I do not have personal experience but my plan for an auto feeder for live foods would use the brs dosers since accuracy is not as essential as it is for dosing more concentrated additives like 2 part and N/P. They integrate easily with GHL, and it looks like they can be integrated with that 3rd party website if using apex. They have a nice price point and of the low cost dosers I would expect at least some support from BRS where jebao would leave you SOL
 
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If you want a Bubble Magus, I have an older T01 that I was going to use, but stopped because dosing without automated testing started scaring the bajabbers out of me. I can test it and make sure it still works, I'd just want what I paid for it ($50).
 
IOnceWasLegend said:
If you want a Bubble Magus, I have an older T01 that I was going to use, but stopped because dosing without automated testing started scaring the bajabbers out of me. I can test it and make sure it still works, I'd just want what I paid for it ($50).
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Yes, please! And thank you :D
 
max_nano said:
Edit: He is using a different doser
I believe @Scott Sweet has a live food feeder and is using the jebao doser for it since it is placed in the refrigerator. It may be worth checking warranties on the dos, ghl, versas to see if they have any exceptions if the doser is in a unique environment like a fridge.
Click to expand...

Also why I like the low price point.
 
Squist said:
Also why I like the low price point.
Click to expand...
max_nano said:
Edit: He is using a different doser
I believe @Scott Sweet has a live food feeder and is using the jebao doser for it since it is placed in the refrigerator. It may be worth checking warranties on the dos, ghl, versas to see if they have any exceptions if the doser is in a unique environment like a fridge.

I do not have personal experience but my plan for an auto feeder for live foods would use the brs dosers since accuracy is not as essential as it is for dosing more concentrated additives like 2 part and N/P. They integrate easily with GHL, and it looks like they can be integrated with that 3rd party website if using apex. They have a nice price point and of the low cost dosers I would expect at least some support from BRS where jebao would leave you SOL
Click to expand...
I am using GHL pumps.

I have also finally sourced a working tubing for the GHL pumps rather than having to buy them from GHL...which is OUTRAGEOUSLY priced. It is silicon rather than the novaprene tubing, but that is fine...i don't need the novaprene tubing. I worked really hard on trying to actually buy the tubing for the pumps. It is made by a German company and tried to go direct...they wouldn't sell it to me. I bought 50 ft ($150) at about 30% of the cost...will last me a lifetime LOL! GHL charges $19+shipping for 29"!
 
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If you want to go real cheap, this is the dosing pump I use for my "Refrigerated dosing pump system". I've been using it over a year with no issues. The pump is small enough that is fits in the fridge, and if it breaks, $20 to replace. Also is a picture of the fridge I used for the setup, just drill a small hole for the tubing in the bottom. Got both on Ebay.
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Scott Sweet said:
I am using GHL pumps.

I have also finally sourced a working tubing for the GHL pumps rather than having to buy them from GHL...which is OUTRAGEOUSLY priced. It is silicon rather than the novaprene tubing, but that is fine...i don't need the novaprene tubing. I worked really hard on trying to actually buy the tubing for the pumps. It is made by a German company and tried to go direct...they wouldn't sell it to me. I bought 50 ft ($150) at about 30% of the cost...will last me a lifetime LOL! GHL charges $19+shipping for 29"!
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Try usplastic.com - that's where I get all my masterflex tubing from.
 
Well...for the GHL pumps, the sizing is really important. I found one that works from Cole Parmer - they sent me some samples that I tried. US Plastics is simply a distributor.... I found www.hosewarehouse.com to be the best pricing and variety...

I was trying to keep the ID as large as possible for the Reef Nutrition food. The issue is that GHL uses a company called Thomas that is based in Germany. The white pump head looks very similar to other brands. The dimensions for the tubing they use is metric, made specifically for them and most of the generally available tubing is SAE. For example, the generally available Pharmed BPT from Saint Gobain is all SAE, not metric. The smaller ID tubing works fine provided the OD is right....but the aftermarket larger ID tubing will not work in their heads.

It took a lot of samples to find one with the larger ID that will work with the right OD.
 
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