What does "peristalyic" mean when referring to dosing pump?

[StoutLager]

First - what does "peristalyic" mean?

Second- why does Marine Depot say I have to have a peristalyic dosing pump for my Korallin 1502 Calcium Reactor, and not any dosing pump?

[smatter]

It means that the solution is forced through the tubing by rollers, it never actually comes into contact with a pump. I am not familiar with the Korallin 1502, are you sure it is not a kalkreactor? If it is, the caustic solution breaks down pumps rapidly.

[manderx]

some people feed calcium reactors with peristaltics, but most people feed either with a small powerhead or just tee off a return pump or something. if you do go with a peristaltic make sure it moves enough water to give you the effluent rate you need. and you can't valve down a peristaltic to reduce the flow (it would just blow most fittings before the flow reduced) so i'd try to get a variable speed one if you wanted to go this route.

ebay has lots of decent lab-grade peristaltics to choose from. i've gotten a few from there (for topoff) and never had a problem with any. they are very simple devices, not much can go wrong with them.

[bureau13]

I just double-checked the MD web site...they don't say anything about using a peristaltic pump with the Korallin. In fact, their description indicates that suction from the mix pump is used eliminating the need for any other pump (which, by the way, everyone that has one of these seems to dispute, but whatever).

I have this same reactor, although its not hooked up yet. I will be using an Aqualifter with mine. Hopefully that will suffice!

jds

[sugarbaker]

"peristalyic" is the term used to describe a pump that uses parastalsys as the means to move a substance through a tube. It's the same motion that an animal's GI tract uses to move nutriants from one area of the body to the other... your intestines for example. The pumps kind of work like you were squeezing toothpaste from one end of the tube to the other. By squeezing the hose/tube at one end and sliding/rolling the pinched part towards the exit end of the hose, it forces all the substance on the exit side of the pinched area forward in the system. I don't know much about perstalyic pumps for the aquarium trade other than they are often used for dosing pumps. They are used in the medical industry as in systems for IV pumps, dialysis, bypass systems etc. Hope that gives you a better understanding. If you google parastalsys you will probably see some pics of how it works.

Stephen