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Dosatron Water Powered Nutrient Doser
- Thread starter BillFarthing
- Start date
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
Adjustables are closer to 300. You don't really need it to be adjustable in most cases. For instance. I have a BIG adjustable mix rite that i run all different stuff through. It doesn't have the same salts running through every day. Some things i have uses it For wouldn't dissolve if it was at .005 or .01%. But it goes all the way to 10% dilution. I can run organic powders through it with agitation.
I used to run calcium nitrate with a base fert that had potasium sulfate at 4% dilution in the same stock tank and i never noticed precipitation.
But 1% is fine for most salts. Like beta said, you control how much you feed by your stock tank
I used to run calcium nitrate with a base fert that had potasium sulfate at 4% dilution in the same stock tank and i never noticed precipitation.
But 1% is fine for most salts. Like beta said, you control how much you feed by your stock tank
I use dosers exclusively and they are great. The best doser is the chemilizer since it has a Venturi type injector that is much more reliable than the dosatron or minidos injectors. I’ve had several dosatron and minidos injectors gum up and/or cause flooding; I have had none of these issues with the chemilizer.
This is the chemilizer: https://www.qcsupply.com/120177-1-100-chemilizer-hn55-injector-1100.html
And the adjustable pump head for it: https://www.qcsupply.com/chemilizer-adjustable-ratio-viton-pump.html
There are two downsides to the chemilizer:
1. There is no built-in bypass, so you have to plumb that yourself (a minor annoyance).
2. The lowest ratio is 1:168, which may still be too hot for some pre-mixed liquid nutes for immature plants. I dilute all my nutes to half strength with distilled water to solve this issue, which effectively gives the variable pump head a range of 1:100 to 1:336; perfect for any fertilizer application.
Edit: looks like a similar mechanism to the gator XL. Highly recommend this style! Have not personally used the gator XL yet.
Oh and f-e, I use one-part botanicare CNS nutes in my chemilizer pump and it works great. I use 1gal containers that I fill from bulk jugs. I shake once when I fill and it seems to stay well mixed for about a month by which point I need to refill. The same nutes clogged my minidos pumps constantly, so I would say: do not cheap out on the doser! You need to rely on this thing. If it clogs or floods that could put your garden at risk of loss, not to mention the anxiety with having to deal with that issue and the TIME you will spend messing around with it. It is so worth it you will wonder why you did not bite the bullet sooner! I don’t think going cheap on the doser is your best move based on my experience, good luck!
This is the chemilizer: https://www.qcsupply.com/120177-1-100-chemilizer-hn55-injector-1100.html
And the adjustable pump head for it: https://www.qcsupply.com/chemilizer-adjustable-ratio-viton-pump.html
There are two downsides to the chemilizer:
1. There is no built-in bypass, so you have to plumb that yourself (a minor annoyance).
2. The lowest ratio is 1:168, which may still be too hot for some pre-mixed liquid nutes for immature plants. I dilute all my nutes to half strength with distilled water to solve this issue, which effectively gives the variable pump head a range of 1:100 to 1:336; perfect for any fertilizer application.
Edit: looks like a similar mechanism to the gator XL. Highly recommend this style! Have not personally used the gator XL yet.
Oh and f-e, I use one-part botanicare CNS nutes in my chemilizer pump and it works great. I use 1gal containers that I fill from bulk jugs. I shake once when I fill and it seems to stay well mixed for about a month by which point I need to refill. The same nutes clogged my minidos pumps constantly, so I would say: do not cheap out on the doser! You need to rely on this thing. If it clogs or floods that could put your garden at risk of loss, not to mention the anxiety with having to deal with that issue and the TIME you will spend messing around with it. It is so worth it you will wonder why you did not bite the bullet sooner! I don’t think going cheap on the doser is your best move based on my experience, good luck!
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CrushnYuba
Well-known member
The external injection on the chemalizer isn't really that unique anymore. The gator has it, and dosatron and mixrite both offer models with it.
The chemilizer isn't a venturi. Venturi's are those 15$ garden hose attachments for lawn fertilizing. Chemalizer is a hydraulic diaphragm motor powering a pump. Most dosers are piston dosers these days except for the chemiliser and like 1 dosatron model. I think piston is better then diaphram for 99.9% of applications.
Gator xl is kind of a judist spin off company of chemiliser started by the engineer that designed the Chemilizer. He went to the plastics manufacturer that was contracted to make all the parts for Chemilizer to assemble, and convinced them to form their own injector company with him. It's basically a chemiliser updated with a piston motor and a couple other things.
The chemilizer isn't a venturi. Venturi's are those 15$ garden hose attachments for lawn fertilizing. Chemalizer is a hydraulic diaphragm motor powering a pump. Most dosers are piston dosers these days except for the chemiliser and like 1 dosatron model. I think piston is better then diaphram for 99.9% of applications.
Gator xl is kind of a judist spin off company of chemiliser started by the engineer that designed the Chemilizer. He went to the plastics manufacturer that was contracted to make all the parts for Chemilizer to assemble, and convinced them to form their own injector company with him. It's basically a chemiliser updated with a piston motor and a couple other things.
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
If you Google it, you can find a computer generated video of the way the different units work. Look up a mixrite video and a chemilizer video.
All dosers will steal a little pressure ( and flow) to operate. The pistons slide and have a long stroke. They use less of your available pressure to operate and parts generally wear slower.
The diaphrams don't slide. They are like thick rubber condoms that have to stretch in either direction. Diaghrams tear easily from running to much pressure through it or water hammer.
The only positive of a diaphragm is you can run discusting Sandy water through it without filtering because there it's no sliding piston seal. But why would u do that.
The Chemilizer is the only diaphragm unit hydro systems makes. The dosmatic line (minidos, superdos) and aqua blend lines are both piston. Dosatron also only offers one diaghram unit out of their huge catalogue.
All dosers will steal a little pressure ( and flow) to operate. The pistons slide and have a long stroke. They use less of your available pressure to operate and parts generally wear slower.
The diaphrams don't slide. They are like thick rubber condoms that have to stretch in either direction. Diaghrams tear easily from running to much pressure through it or water hammer.
The only positive of a diaphragm is you can run discusting Sandy water through it without filtering because there it's no sliding piston seal. But why would u do that.
The Chemilizer is the only diaphragm unit hydro systems makes. The dosmatic line (minidos, superdos) and aqua blend lines are both piston. Dosatron also only offers one diaghram unit out of their huge catalogue.
dj digigrow
Active member
bump bump bump..
May I please ask a little help on using cns17 with doseatrons. I have 3 units that i can use. 1 will be for ph down, and the other 2 i will use for the remaining:
-CNS17 Bloom
-Cal-Mag
-Hydroguard
-Silica Blast
I know some of them cannot be combined together in the same bottle, so my question is which ones can i put together in order for me to have the 4 remaining nutrients into 2 bottles?
May I please ask a little help on using cns17 with doseatrons. I have 3 units that i can use. 1 will be for ph down, and the other 2 i will use for the remaining:
-CNS17 Bloom
-Cal-Mag
-Hydroguard
-Silica Blast
I know some of them cannot be combined together in the same bottle, so my question is which ones can i put together in order for me to have the 4 remaining nutrients into 2 bottles?
p0opstlnksal0t
Active member
You guys running jacks 321 out of a single stock tank and single doser?
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
I don't run jacks.. But i run calcium nitrate, epsom and mpk sometimes. It definitely precipitates a little. Even with the adjustable doser set all the way at 4% dilution. I will mix it up and use it all right away. By the end of the feeding I'm noticing a tiny bit at the end of the bucket. If you were using a 1% doser it would be terrible.
I mix the calcium nitrate in a bucket of hot water. Mix the Epsom and mpk in the other one. Mix the 2 solutions together and use it right off the rip. U can't save anything for a later feeding. You can see it starting to go cloudy and sink by the end. It doesn't really work.
If you wanted to do 1 doser you could use magnesium nitrate, cal nit, mpk. You have to adjust for the extra nitrate in the magnesium nitrate. Since jacks uses a little potassium nitrate in their base, you would be a little high in n or a touch low in cal.
I mix the calcium nitrate in a bucket of hot water. Mix the Epsom and mpk in the other one. Mix the 2 solutions together and use it right off the rip. U can't save anything for a later feeding. You can see it starting to go cloudy and sink by the end. It doesn't really work.
If you wanted to do 1 doser you could use magnesium nitrate, cal nit, mpk. You have to adjust for the extra nitrate in the magnesium nitrate. Since jacks uses a little potassium nitrate in their base, you would be a little high in n or a touch low in cal.
If the person applying water is turning the valve on and off, dosatrons WILL NOT dose correctly. They require constant flow.
Dosatrons really are toys and not very good ones at that.
Dosatrons really are toys and not very good ones at that.
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
Is that true? I haven't heard that. Dosatron brand specific? All piston powered dosers work the same way i thought. Water driven motors seem pretty accurate with varying flow
p0opstlnksal0t
Active member
Well the tried-and-true method is probably the simplest I think I'll stick to two dosers one for Jacks and Epsom The other for the calcium nitrate. It's one thing for me to mix the solution in a large 275 gallon tote but to try and concentrate that down at 100 to 1 might cause issues. Thanks for your wisdom and knowledge though.
Have you ever tried to power two sprinkler solenoid valves on one 24-volt DC channel? I was thinking about using a normally open and a normally closed solenoid valve to create a bypass around the dosatron set on one channel to allow for pure water flush once a week or every other week. I imagine I could do the same thing on two separate channels but it seems like it would be simpler to have both solenoid valves functioning on one channel to create a bypass
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
Yes. I have used a solenoid valve in the dosing manifold for the plain water flush. They are 24vAC, not dc. The dc latching solenoid are like 9v? They latch. It's just a pulse of electricity. They latch open or closed. The 24vac are normally closed and when electricity runs through them, they open. Multiple valves can be ran on one channel no problem, but I'm not sure i understand why u would need 2 valves on 1 channel.
U need 1 valve that goes to the dosers
1 valve for the bypass
Check valves to make sure water flows in the right direction.
p0opstlnksal0t
Active member
Ah Youre Right they are AC I don't know why I thought they were DC.
I may or may not be overthinking the bypass. You could have one valve on each side downstream of a tee on separate channels one opens to send feed water to the dosatrons or you would open the other channel to send fresh water bypassing the dosatrons. Having a normally open and normally closed valve on a single channel basically feeds the dosatrons all the time until that channel gets power then it blocks flow to the dosatron while simultaneously opening the valve to bypass sending fresh water
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
You can connect the doser solenoid to the master valve connection in your irrigation controller. It will come on any time you water a zone.
You get a 15$ double throw relay timer and use that to switch to the bypass valve for whenever u want straight water.
You get a 15$ double throw relay timer and use that to switch to the bypass valve for whenever u want straight water.
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
Cheap-o orbit irrigation timer from home depot and a 15$ timer. Ur runnnin.
Smart wifi controllers are under 100$ now. A dumb controller is like 40$
Smart wifi controllers are under 100$ now. A dumb controller is like 40$
p0opstlnksal0t
Active member
I ended up with a hunter pro HC 12 zone controller and Hunter 1 in globe valves. I will be testing this on my outdoor 78 plant Grove this year then I will be upgrading all of my indoor pops to a similar setup once I dial it in no more massive reservoirs if I can help it
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
The hunter is the same. Just connect the valve before the doser to the master valve/pump start relay port. Use the 15$ double throw timer relay to switch to the bypass valve. I would use a 15$ thc15a.
p0opstlnksal0t
Active member
thats an idea thanks for that, although the best option would be to have the feed and fresh water bypass controls all on the same controller so i can keep track of it all wirelessly.
CrushnYuba
Well-known member
You could use a wifi smart relay like a sonoff instead of the basic timer. Any double throw will work. It would be wordless but you would be using a second program for ur doser bypass
Maybe you could use a 24vac double throw relay and somehow plug it in to your hunter controller. I don't know what the hunter software looks like. Not sure if there is really a way to do it all with 1 program. Does it have any accessory ports for sensors or something?
p0opstlnksal0t
Active member
It does have two sensor ports.
I'm thinking that the simplest solution though might be to have a normally open valve feeding the dosatrons and the bypass would use a normally closed valve. I wire them together and when I designate that channel to energize the feed header closes and the bypass valve opens simultaneously. Allowing me to run the whole system off of the controller
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