Tip to reefers, peristaltic pumps are awsome work eliminators

[jason_rohr]

Peristaltic pumps are nothing new to the hobby, but just know you don't hhave to pay a ton for them. I use mine with a float switch to refill evap water, and I'm going to rig one up to dose Bionic A/B too. They can be controlled by relays or timers. Great way to cut a lot of the daily maintenance out. Get them on ebay, I got one for 12$. It refils the evap slow and steady so there's no quick drops in salinity.

[rljlll]

could you explain a little more about these pump what is the diff between them and a normal one

[aztbs]

Wow, I have never seen them go that cheap on ebay. Expect $70-80 usually. I have one for top off too, and I agree that it is awesome.

[grenaria]

I love mine, got it used from Fliger. I don't use a float switch on mine, I just adjust the dial to match evaporation whenever it needs it. Water level changes very very little day to day.

They're nice because they can be set to very low flow rates, very adjustable, and best of all, the only thing that contacts the liquid is the tubing. To imagine how they work, think of squeezing the last bit of toothpaste out of a tube. Rubber rollers roll along the tube pushing the water through it.

BTW, how loud is this $12 pump?

[joeyf]

I love mine. I've been using it for about 3 years to feed my kalk reactor.

[jason_rohr]

I prob. got lucky for12 $, it was a bare bones little pump, but its silent and does the work.. Going without the float switch and just setting to match evap rate could be the way to go, cuz my float switch likes to 'bounce' turning it off on off on....

[Fliger]

Grenaria I'm glad its working for you. I never used that one long term. But I plan on getting one for my ca rx when I set it up permanantly. I had a Cole Parmer Masterflex and might get another if I can find one on ebay. Sometimes you can get a really nice unit for $125 or so.

AZTBS, what brand is $70, are they reliable and quiet?

[aztbs]

I have seen the kangaroo and other misc brand pumps go for that on ebay, but I have not used one, so I do not know if they are quiet.

I gave up after losing ebay auctions and I bought a Nautilus II from innovativeaquatics.com for $169 or something like that. It is very quiet and has been trouble free. At least it comes with a one-year guarantee.

Search for "dosing pump" on ebay and you will usually find more than if you search for "peristaltic"

[joeyf]

Marine Depot has an aquamedic peri pump almost identical to mine for $89. Works great, and all you have to do is get an auto-topoff kit w/ a float switch (like the ones from autotopoff.com or similar) and you have a nice quiet setup.

My favorite thing about them is that they function as their own check valve. A friend had one of those Tunze osmolators on his kalk reactor without a check valve and his supply bucket always ended up with kalk in the bottom. Also, they are great because they are just slow enough to not cause swings in your salinity, but fast enough to keep up with evap in most tanks.