First of all I want to thank Tom and gsjmia for the input.
Well I pulled the trigger last night and purchased 2 of the BRS Drews dosing pumps, 2 liquid holding containers and a pin style timer. I also picked up a graduated beaker so that I can calibrate each pump. I had a hard time deciding between the standard BRS dosing pump and the Drews dosing pump. I like the fact that the standard pump puts out 1.1ml per minute versus 1.6ml with the Drews pump. The deciding factor was that the Drews has 4 contact points with the tubing whereas the standard pump has 2. This may not be a big deal, but it seems that with 4 contact points, it's less likely that there will be back siphon issues as pointed out earlier by gsjmia. I did read that this will cause the tube to wear out faster though. I also like the way that the Drews mounts to the cabinet/ wall. The standard pump needs to slide onto a mounting bracket which requires extra overhead space that I don't have due to where I plan to mount the pumps. The Drews simply screws to the wall. The other deciding factor was that BRS states that they use the Drews pumps on their own systems. That sealed the deal for me.
I did a bunch of research on dosing pumps and learned quite a bit. For our use, either one of the dosing pumps from BRS are ideal. There are some more sophisticated pumps that have built in computers, but most of them seem to have cheaper pump motors. The computer controlled units with decent pumps get pricey. I could see where they would be worth it if you were dosing "stuff" multiple times a day, but we don't need to do that with our planted tanks.
Here are links to the items that I purchased-
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-drew-s-doser-peristaltic-dosing-pump.html
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/1484/
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/1875/
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/792/
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338187531&icep_item=161015355338
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002N5FO/?tag=barrreport-21
Well I pulled the trigger last night and purchased 2 of the BRS Drews dosing pumps, 2 liquid holding containers and a pin style timer. I also picked up a graduated beaker so that I can calibrate each pump. I had a hard time deciding between the standard BRS dosing pump and the Drews dosing pump. I like the fact that the standard pump puts out 1.1ml per minute versus 1.6ml with the Drews pump. The deciding factor was that the Drews has 4 contact points with the tubing whereas the standard pump has 2. This may not be a big deal, but it seems that with 4 contact points, it's less likely that there will be back siphon issues as pointed out earlier by gsjmia. I did read that this will cause the tube to wear out faster though. I also like the way that the Drews mounts to the cabinet/ wall. The standard pump needs to slide onto a mounting bracket which requires extra overhead space that I don't have due to where I plan to mount the pumps. The Drews simply screws to the wall. The other deciding factor was that BRS states that they use the Drews pumps on their own systems. That sealed the deal for me.
I did a bunch of research on dosing pumps and learned quite a bit. For our use, either one of the dosing pumps from BRS are ideal. There are some more sophisticated pumps that have built in computers, but most of them seem to have cheaper pump motors. The computer controlled units with decent pumps get pricey. I could see where they would be worth it if you were dosing "stuff" multiple times a day, but we don't need to do that with our planted tanks.
Here are links to the items that I purchased-
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-drew-s-doser-peristaltic-dosing-pump.html
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/1484/
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/1875/
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/792/
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338187531&icep_item=161015355338
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002N5FO/?tag=barrreport-21
Last edited by a moderator: