Equipment Failure - Jeabo 4 head dosing pump near disaster

[Richard Kagen]

My 55 gallon sump for my 120 DT on the 1st floor is in the basement, while this does present some challenges overall I am very pleased with the approach, now the story...

The other day I went down to check on things and the sump water level was quite high. When the return pump need a citric acid cleaning I can tell as my primary overflow drain starts sucking air and that had not happened. Upon investigation two head of the dosing pump are running. (I run 2 as RO water to take the load off the ATO, 1 CaCL and 1 Soda Ash). Pump 3 and 4 were stuck on free flowing RO and CaCL. I have unplugged and replugged and the 2 pumps are stuck on so that is junk now. Ca levels were up around 1500, but salinity was strangely elevated also when I would expect all of the RO to drop salinity, must be the excess CA throwing off the spectrometer reading. 3 water changes in and I think i am close to 1000, will do another today and test. Coral is clearly unhappy as are the nems. Fish seem unaffected.

I think I am giving up on dosing and moving towards a DIY auto, 1 gallon a day water change system

 

[srit1]

Can you think of a way to add a fail safe to a doser doing that? ATO can be on a timer/float switch. Could you wire in a float switch to the power (through a relay, like DIY ATOs) of the doser so if it trips power is cut to the unit?

 

[Richard Kagen]

Can you think of a way to add a fail safe to a doser doing that? ATO can be on a timer/float switch. Could you wire in a float switch to the power (through a relay, like DIY ATOs) of the doser so if it trips power is cut to the unit?

though about that, but for the Ca or Alk the damage would be done before the level would change especially with the level of evaporation I have. I was lucky it was only RO and Ca, if it was Alk I suspect it would have been a total loss

 

[srit1]

I dose 120ml of my kalk every hour, and to your point, even if it dropped in 10 litres, that would only change the sump level by 1cm or so. I was thinking if the doser went into a smaller container first which then dripped over the course of an hour into the sump, I could have a float on that small container which may then catch this type of failure.

 

[FishieBusiness]

Really sorry to hear about that. Hope that the loss is not bad