SpectraPure LiterMeter III

[Playdope]

Just purchased a LiterMeter III, and it's on it's way in the mail. I thought I would ask a few things to help me be prepped for when it gets here (for those of you that know this unit).

What size tubing do I need for it?

I bought a 23 gal trash can for top off water that I plan to use with the LiterMeter... I just dont know how the unit runs with a trash can. Should I need to drill the trash can? Whats the best way to do this?

Thanks for any help,
Jon

 

[Ben1]

It uses standard air line size tubing going in the tubing already on the unit. I use RO tubing on mine as its stiffer.

I run my RO/DI to a 5 gal bucket with a float valve to keep the bucket always full. The liter meter has one hose in this bucket and pulls the water through it self and into my kalkreactor. The kalkreactor puts the water back in the sump to keep the sump always perfect.

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

It comes with tubing. It can suck water up against gravity or be located below the reservoir, whatever you like. You don't need to drill. You'll really like it. It makes topping off so much easier and simpler.

 

[Apophis924]

You can use standared airline tubing or standard RO/DI tubing. the unit is qyite verstile. You will love it! Mine has been running for over 18 months no leaks, no calibration problems, and NO breakdowns. what i like about ti is that you can program it and disconnect it from its power source and it will still retain hte program. its great for using wiht timers and such. It is one of the few itmes that cost so mucht hat is actually worth what you pay for it.

 

[Anonymous]

I strongly suggest using the supplied tubing. It's stiffer than standard airline tubing and won't kink. This is especially important if you plan on using Kalk. Also, unless you want to clean precipitate off your tubing regularly, have the tubing sit an inch or two above the water level in your sump.

 

[Ben1]

Of course use the tubing that comes with it. But for the tubing that goes into the tubing thats included RO tubing works great. I have an older model, about 3 years old I guess still havent had to replace the tubing or had any problems.


great units!

 

[Playdope]

Sounds like I made a good purchase . Glad to hear so many nice responses, thanks. I have thought about dosing kalk with it, but with kalk you always need a something mixing it right? I couldn't just mix up a big batch and let it sit in a 23 gal tub right?

I bought some BIonic thinking it would work better with this unit.. and planned on using 2 pumps - one for each part of the supplement.

Jon

 

[Ben1]

Yes with kalk if left in an open container and mixed in a big batch that sits too long it will react with to much C02. B-Ionic is great stuff too.

 

[kskvarci]

Mine pumps from another room, into the basement and back up to the tank in the living room. Here is the remote room.... All of my make up water comes from the litermeter.

My reservoirs are standard 5 gallon water jugs. Both are full of Kalkwasser ( mixed once at the start ). The jugs last 1.5 - 2 weeks on my 65G tank...

I've had great results. Good coraline growth and Calcium/Alk levels. There isnt much oxygen contact with the kalkwasser due to the sealed jugs and film over the water.. I sometimes supplement with B-Ionic.

I use tubing from an icemaker kit.. same as RO tubing.

 

[Playdope]

Wow, some nice ideas.

Is the unit fairly easy to set dosing small ammounts? I can't see how it could dose Bionic without diluting the Bionic. Will the unit dose as little as 250 ml at a time? I think thats how much I need to dose to my system since there are about 100 gals of water.

I made the stupid mistake of not calc the exact ammount of water in my system prior to adding rock and sand.

Jon

 

[kskvarci]

you can dose that amount no problem. It wont be in one shot however. The litermeter will dose as little as 50ml in 24 hours spread out over 150 doses.

Are you going to get two external pumps? I think that this pump is most valuable to automate top off. You wont be able to do that and the two part without two external pumps.

 

[Playdope]

Wow, thats great!! Yeh, I knew about needing the extra two pumps. I haven't even started adding the Bionic, so I'll order the 2 extra pumps once I have a more regular dosing ammount.

Will I be having to add a little more Bionic almost everytime I add a coral?

Jon

 

[kskvarci]

At a simplistic level, yes. The amount you need to dose is dependant on more than the number of calcifying organisms that you have in the tank however.

If you've got a bunch of free time point your browser here and start reading: http://advancedaquarist.com/index/ChemAqua.shtml

 

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind you'll have to buy anotther pump module at around $110 if you want to dose a 2 part additive. The litermeter can control 3 pumps but only comes with one.

 

[Playdope]

I'll need to buy two more pumps because I am going to be using the one that comes on the unit for top-off.

 

[Anonymous]

You don't have to buy two more, just 1...as far as I know 2 part additives can be diluted down. Just have 2 reservoirs filled with RO/DI water as your topoff. Add Part 1 to one reservoir, and Part 2 to the other. Set each pump to the same volume per day (which would be half your evaporation rate each) and you're done.

 

[Playdope]

Good idea. How do I make a dillution? Lets say I need to dose 200ml of part A per day. How would you make up this resouvoir (assuming it's a 23 gal trash container.

Jon

 

[kskvarci]

You don't have to buy two more, just 1...as far as I know 2 part additives can be diluted down. Just have 2 reservoirs filled with RO/DI water as your topoff. Add Part 1 to one reservoir, and Part 2 to the other. Set each pump to the same volume per day (which would be half your evaporation rate each) and you're done.

One disadvantage to the above approach: You evaporation rate is most likely going to vary considerably given changes in humidity and temperature. That being the case, the amount of calcium and alk ( & PH ) that you are dosing is going to vary in lockstep. I have this issue currently with my kalk dosing.

It may be advantageous to be able to vary the top off on one pump while remaining consistent with your two part dosing on separate pumps.

Im considering getting another pump to address the above issue. I may put the top off on a top off module so that I'm not forced to adjust the dose rate with the temp and humidity.

 

[D.W.L.]

Do you guys consider the LiterMeter that much better than a Reefiller dosing pump? Darn near twice as much here in Canada.

 

[Apophis924]

reeffiller is loud and bulky, litermeter quite and compact and i have yet to see a post from anyone that thought the litermeter was not one of the few exspenisve reef items that was worth the price and does what it says it can do. I would buy a litermeter II before i would take a reeffiller or any other dosing pump for free. Litermeters wer desgined for the reef in mind. Most other dosing pumps are modified medical dosers or scaled downed industrail dosers.