Dosing Schedule

[ChrisC]

Another use for frequent dosing throughout the day in a reef tank is 2 part alkalinity/calcium. It works best if added at regular intervals through out the day. The more start times throughout the day the better for this application. I have been using the old controller with ac powered dosers. It only has 4 start times per day and it causes some wide swings in ph and alkalinity.

[Arne]

Yeah Chris, more dosing moments would be great.
I would say, at least 12 but that's up to Rob... ;-)

[Rob F]

This is stuff I would never know. This is how I'm thinking of setting it up, will it work?

There would be a page showing the 8 dosing pumps. Here would be a setting for the timer, each pump would have its own. It could be set to run anywhere between 10 minutes or 12 hours. If it was set to run every 2 hours you would get the 12 doses for the day. I'll probably have it do math so numbers that throw out the 24hour clock wouldn't be shown.

Since this option will be available I probably won't add more schedules. If a person only wants one dose per day they can use the regular schedule. If they need more than one the timer can be adjusted. If the timer is being used the schedule would be disabled.

I think this will be next after I finish the rules, now I can see how it could be useful and basically a must. On a side note the rules are coming along really nice, I'm excited to get it finished. There can be 30 rules (easy to add more) and I think it makes sense. :) I added the timer to reset the rule for the dosing pumps as Fietsenrex mentioned and another option to skip the outlet part of the rule if the schedule isn't running as Arne mentioned. The nice thing is the page to view the current rules. They all get sorted before being displayed so all rules for water temperature are together etc... Very easy to look back to see what rules are setup.

[Arne]

Hi Rob,

I think this should work. Of course schedules are more flexible but your idea makes more doses easier to implement I guess.

[Rob F]

I'll probably add another option so when lights are off dosing won't happen so the 24 hour clock would become 8-12 or however long your lights run, this could be turned on/off.

[rott]

That is cool as long as I can turn it off. I need to dose magnesium every day to keep up with my corals taking it out and a few other things I just can not think of at the minute

[Rob F]

Yeah each pump will be independent, some could use the daily schedule some pumps could be at any interval and a 24 hour timer and some could use intervals and only pump during the lighting period.

[Arne]

Don't make it too complex Rob, otherwise you might as well add extra regular schedulers... ;-)

[Rob F]

I promise/hope it won't be complicated. :) I'm still thinking about it, when I get ready to add I'll post some mock up screen images to see if it looks ok.

[ChrisC]

I think that will work, as long as you can define start times and duration for each dose so you can program the total amount being added to the tank each day.

[Rob F]

The more I think about it schedules seem to be better. Maybe some people want to dose multiple times but in an hour or two window, schedules probably cover all scenarios better and would work with AC outlet schedules better, this way an outlet could be scheduled to turn on/off before and after the dose if needed.

I like the idea of having it calculate and show the total amount that would be dosed in a day so it can't be confusing. Maybe it would say something like "32ml/day of magnesium split in 6 doses". This would be like a dashboard view for the pumps and have buttons to view schedules and pump settings.

[ChrisC]

I think that will will work well. Not near as confusing and will work with any way you choose to dose. :)

[Arne]

It's like you said Rob, this way you cover it all... ;-)
I'm sure you will come up with something great !

[Arne]

Great!
Rob, when do you expect the extra schedules for the dosing pumps?

[Rob F]

As soon as I can.

[Arne]

Rob, when I start to annoy you, just say so, okay?

[Rob F]

I hope you don't think that, you shouldn't with all the messaging we have done. I just didn't want to write a long reply in Niksu's build thread. I'm going to try and move these posts to a thread where we were discussing it so we can continue and not mess up this thread. :) 

EDIT:  I'll place these messages in this thread.
https://www.robo-tank.ca/forum/Thread-Dosing-Schedule