Setting Up Dosers

So I was wondering if someone could give me some tips on what they did to set up their dosers.  A technique that worked for you to get them dialed into the correct amount of time to run each day, etc.  I got a pair of BRS dosing pumps for Christmas and I've got them installed...now to get them set for the amount of time to run each day.  Here's the plan that I was going to use, but I don't know if there's a better/easier way.
1) Test water daily for a week.  Each day, adjust the parameters as needed until the tank is at 9 dKH, calcium of 420 and magnesium of 1350 (target parameters).
2) Once the baseline has been set and the water parameters look good, continue to test each day and watch values over the week. 
3) Determine the approximate daily usage of calcium and alkalinity.
4) Use the BRS Calculators to determine the amount of 2 part to add each day. 
5) Divide that number by 1.1 to determine the number of minutes for the pump to run.
6) Set up a schedule in my Apex to turn the doser on and off.
7) Continue to monitor water parameters on a weekly basis and adjust the schedule as needed
It seems like a pretty time consuming process but is about the only way that I can think of to set this up accurately.  Is there a better way that I'm overlooking?  Suggestions are welcome!
--AJ

 

Here's a thread that shows parameters for new water - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505

If anything, the water change would give you a bump in the positive direction...still a variance, but it wouldn't take your numbers down.

--AJ

 

Great info Casey...thank you.  I'll be running off of my Apex so I shouldn't have to worry about the separate timers.  I should think about getting one for mag too it looks like...
--AJ

 

For all you DIY folks out there, I found this post on njreefs.com really interesting. Basically a DIY method to save about $15 per pump on dosing pumps if you want to do a little work. It could also serve as a way to integrate your pumps into something else...interesting project for those interested...

http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=22519.0

--AJ

 

Yeah, lots of horror stories about failed automation.  One thing that's
nice about these pumps is that they dose pretty slow so things would
have to go very wrong in order to dose enough to really impact things. 
I would hope that alarms set to watch the pH and ORP values would
notify of a failure condition, but you never know.

And thanks for the reminder about the water chemistry forum on RC.  I rarely hit that one...definitely much less than I should.

--AJ

 

Care to post your code?  Are you using the TIME statement or the OSC statement for controlling the outlet?  I was thinking about using the OSC and only having it run when the lights are off.  And are you only dosing alk right now?
--AJ

 

Today I finally got my water parameters to my desired settings.  I think my calcium is dialed in as it's been pretty constant for the last few days.  I'm not sure if alkalinity is close or not since I just got it up to 9, so I'll know more over the next few days and adjust accordingly.  And the magnesium, I'm *finally* at 1350 (after over a gallon of BRS magnesium solution), I suspect that I'll need to cut back since I've read it takes *significantly* less magnesium to maintain your levels vs. to get it up to your desired levels.  For calcium, I'm dosing 13.2 ml per day (12 cycles, 1 minute per cycle @ 1.1 ml per min), alkalinity 79.2 ml (12 cycles, 6 minute per cycle @ 1.1 ml per min), and magnesium 66 ml a day (12 cycles, 5 minute per cycle @ 1.1 ml per min).  Here's my programming for the outlets:
Calcium

Basically, they are all the same...running for a certain number of minutes per hour.  Using the OSC function instead of using the TIME function, allows me to dose an equal amount per hour, plus, you can get more specific in the periods of time.  You can dose down to the second vs. the minute and an equal amount for the entire time the lights are off.  Since the expressions are evaluated in order, OSC turns the pumps on, the Time turns them off for the time period where my MHs are on.  It would probably be better if I used a virtual outlet so that I could manage the MH light cycle in a single place, then reference the virtual outlet in the Time statement...so maybe that will be an improvement that I will implement later.  Anyway, I'll continue to watch things over the week and see if the levels are properly maintained.
Oh, and how I got to this point.  I just kept a spreadsheet of how many minutes I had the dosing pump set for each day, and made up the difference using supplemental doses that I added manually.  Now that I'm at the desired levels, I can tune the daily dose.  I think I should have things tuned by the end of the week.  Then I'll switch to weekly tests instead and adjust the dose weekly according to more/less usage.
I think my original plan was over complicated... 
--AJ

 

I went home and checked water params over lunch to make sure that things were not out of control. Params were: Alk 9, Calc 425, Mag 1350. Looks like I have things dialed in just right. I'll continue to check daily for a while, but pretty pleased with the results so far!

--AJ