Carbon Vodka Dosing

[Paul_Velasco]

Thinking about starting this on my current tank. It is 180 gallon system with 40 gallon sump. Dosing would be daily. Right now the only feasible way to dose is by hand. Recommended dosage is .1 to .2 ml of Vodka per 25 gallons of water.

Eventually the dosage will go up and I approximate the final maintenance dosage will be in the 15-30 ml / day range.

Questions:

Can I automate this process with the Reef Angel?
Is there a set-up available for Reef Angel to dose 5-10ml at a time over a few minutes? Thinking to break-up the dosage into three increments, 8hrs apart.
Are the components compatible with a 20-80% Ethanol solution?

[rimai]

The RA dosing pump should be able to do it for you, but if you want 5-10ml over few minutes, then you will need a different doser.
The RA pumps doses about .75ml per second.

[rimai]

BTW, let me know how it goes.
My experience with dosing carbon source wasn't the greatest and would like to hear about yours since you have not done it before.
I started getting some bacterial white slime that was growing all over the place, especially inside my return pipe. I couldn't stop the return pump or when I started again, my display would end up full of the slime that was lodged inside the pipe and loosened up when I stopped the flow.

[lnevo]

It would be cool to implement the recommended vodka dosing table into an automated program... Maybe when i get the dosing pump class working i can tack that on. In any case its a bit of work and not something i can do anytime soon. I'll start thinking about it though

[Paul_Velasco]

The RA dosing pump should be able to do it for you, but if you want 5-10ml over few minutes, then you will need a different doser.
The RA pumps doses about .75ml per second.

Not that I do not want to buy the RA dosing pump, but any suggestions on which one would be available? Can you do a custom pump?

BTW I also have the 12V (DC?) IO module. Is there a 12VDC model I can run on the IO module or not enough current? Or I have some extra dimming ports can a DC pump be run on this or again not enough current?

Any takers on making a low volume dosing pump?

[lnevo]

BRS 1.1ml/minute should be your best bet

[Paul_Velasco]

BRS 1.1ml/minute should be your best bet

TY

[Paul_Velasco]

So nothing should be done fast in a reef aquarium. Experimenting with vodka and vinegar dosing the last few months. This has been a great success for my tank. I have achieved 0 to near 0 readings on both nitrate and phosphate with little effect on the tank inhabitants and SPS corals.

Finally going to automate the process.

Will this code work? Can someone do a sanity check for me?

Vodka dose at 8 AM for 11 mins
Vinegar Dose when lights are on between 9AM and 9 PM. Dosed on the hour for 4 minutes
Will Mg dose later, ran out of money for dosing pump.

Will the standard dosing code handle an 11 minute dosing time?

Code: Select all

///Code to make Vodka Dosing Work one time a day
  ReefAngel.DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port6,0,1440,660);
//Turn on between 8 - 9 AM
  if (hour()>=8 && hour()<9) {
    ReefAngel.Relay.On(Box1_Port6);
  }else{
    ReefAngel.Relay.Off(Box1_Port6);
  }
///Code to make Vinegar Dosing Work
  ReefAngel.DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port8,0,60,240);
///Do not turn on Vinegar if lights are off
  if (hour()<=9 || hour()>21) {
    ReefAngel.Relay.Off(Box1_Port8);
  }
//Code to make Magnesium Dosing Work
//ReefAngel.DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port4,15,60,180);

[lnevo]

Why are you turning on your vodka pump box1_port6 for the whole hour 8-9am? That will override the 11 minute once a day dosing you have right before that.

[Paul_Velasco]

I want to turn it on at 8 AM and bolus dose the vodka for 11 minutes. How would I tell the DosingPumpRepeat to do the dose at 8AM? That was the only way I could figure it out.

[Paul_Velasco]

This vodka dosing is awesome. Just wanted to show off tank, controller, and doser.

(removed pictures,will resize later)

[lnevo]

Just change the offset to 8hours and keep repeat 24 hours

DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port6,480,1440,660);

[mudcat1]

I want to turn it on at 8 AM and bolus dose the vodka for 11 minutes. How would I tell the DosingPumpRepeat to do the dose at 8AM? That was the only way I could figure it out.

Try this

if (hour() ==8 && minute() == 00) { // At 8:00 am
ReefAngel.DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port6,0,0,660); // Dose Vodka for 11 minutes (660 seconds).
}

[Paul_Velasco]

Just change the offset to 8hours and keep repeat 24 hours

DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port6,480,1440,660);

Ahh so the offset is from midnight, 00? Mudcat1 will try yours as well

How does the vinegar dosing part look? Only dose during lights on

[lnevo]

Mudcat's wont work. It will only work the first minute. The vinegar one looked fine.

[Paul_Velasco]

The doser did not turn on today? Any thoughts?
Vinegar dosing relay is the last blue graph

Code: Select all

///Code to make Vinegar Dosing Work 4 mins 
  ReefAngel.DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port8,0,60,240);
///Do not turn on Vinegar if lights are off
  if (hour()<=9 || hour()>21) {
    ReefAngel.Relay.Off(Box1_Port8);
  }  

[Paul_Velasco]

It turned on at Noon?

Instead of this code:

ReefAngel.DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port8,0,60,240);

Should it be this code:

ReefAngel.DosingPumpRepeat(Box1_Port8,540,60,240);

Turn on at 9AM?

What is the math on DosingPumpRepeat? Thought the reset was at midnight (00)?

[mudcat1]

You will have to watch the dosing pump to see if it starts and runs at the desired time. I was told that if the relay is not running for at least 5 minutes it may not show up in the charts on the portal. At least that is what I have encountered when I run my dosing pumps for 140 seconds. Sometimes they show up in the charts sometimes they don't.

[lnevo]

The first arg is the port, second is the offset from midnight. 3rd is runtime and last is the repeat time. As mudcat said the portal only gets updates every 5 minutes starting at last reboot. Sometimes that might capture your dosing pump, sometimes not.

[Paul_Velasco]

Ok will watch tomorrow morning

[Paul_Velasco]

Starting at 2PM want to start at 9AM? Having the portal send me an email everytime the relay triggers. Emails start at 2PM.
Any ideas?

[lnevo]

Again the portal cannot send you reliable notifications like that. Your best method would be to use WiFiAlert to send an alert immediately. Are you using the first or second line that you posted above? I would recommend the second if you want it to start at 9am.

[cosmith71]

Here's a way you can track it. This is for 2 pumps. The way this works is when your dosing pump relays come on, this turns on relays in a "ghost" expansion relay for 5 minutes so the portal can track them. It is only good for seeing that the relays came on, not for the actual length of time they were on.

Put this up top in the globals section:

Code: Select all

unsigned long LastUpdate1=0;    // For virtual dosing pumps
unsigned long LastUpdate2=0;    // For virtual dosing pumps

This goes in loop:

Code: Select all

// *******************  Turn on imaginary relays for 5 minutes when dosing pumps activate so Portal can track them  *******************
  if (ReefAngel.Relay.Status(AlkPump) && LastUpdate1==0)
  {
    LastUpdate1 = now();
    ReefAngel.Relay.On (VirtAlk);
  }
  if (now() - LastUpdate1 >= 300 && LastUpdate1 != 0)
  {
    LastUpdate1 = 0;
    ReefAngel.Relay.Off (VirtAlk);
  }
  if (ReefAngel.Relay.Status(CalPump) && LastUpdate2==0)
  {
    LastUpdate2 = now();
    ReefAngel.Relay.On (VirtCal);
  }
  if (now() - LastUpdate2 >= 300 && LastUpdate2 != 0)
  {
    LastUpdate2 = 0;
    ReefAngel.Relay.Off (VirtCal);
  }

AlkPump and CalPump are the outlets your dosing pumps are on. VirtAlk and VirtCal are outlets on an expansion box that you don't actually have connected (yes, it works!).

I have one expansion relay(Box1) so I use Box2_Port1 and Box2_Port2 for my imaginary relays.

When your real pumps turn on, these imaginary relays turn on and stay on for 5 minutes and will show up on the portal tracking.

HTH,

--Colin

[Paul_Velasco]

Thanks for all the help!
Physically verified that the relays are turning on at 9am, do not show on portal
Will try above code to track

Happy turkey day to everyone

[Paul_Velasco]

Cosmith71 works perfect!! TY

[cosmith71]

Cosmith71 works perfect!! TY

You're welcome!

--Colin