On the surface (no pun intended), it seems like it would be easy to keep an aquarium full of fish. You pour some water into a tank, dump the fish, periodically feed them, and that’s it, right?
Wrong. Aquarium enthusiasts will tell you that for your underwater ecosystem to thrive, the water and other environmental conditions must be kept within very specific parameters. If there is too much alkalinity in the water, the pH is too high, or the tank gets too dirty, the fish will die.
One of the most common approaches to address this problem is through the use of an aquarium dispenser. This type of device acts as a kind of “time-release” mechanism for whatever chemicals are needed to preserve the delicate life-sustaining balance in your tank. Below are four of the best metering pumps on the market today.
- Bubble Magus BM-T01: This product is controlled by a microcomputer that will save your settings even in the event of a power outage. The Bubble Magus pump has three channels for dosing, but can be expanded to seven or eleven channels with a dosing pump extension (sold separately). To prevent chemical interference from different liquids being added to your aquarium simultaneously, this Bubble Magus features automatic time sharing between channels.
- Kamoer 3-channel dosing pump: This dispenser is quickly becoming popular in the states. It is similar to the Bubble Magus pump but has more programmable features and better quality components.
- Kamoer 4-channel pump: These are the same internal working components as the Kamoer 3 channel, but with an additional channel that allows you to dose a fourth component, such as coral food or trace elements.
- Tom Aquatics Aqua-Lifter: This is a simpler product because it is basically a specially designed vacuum pump. The Tom Aquatics Aqua Lifter has the capacity to pump water up to thirty inches at a flow rate of 3.5 gallons per hour. This durable dosing pump is ideal for dosing trace elements for aquariums (as well as for reptile terrariums).
In general, we believe that a metering pump is extremely important when maintaining a reef aquarium. The Bubble Magus pump, the Kamoer metering pump or even the Aqualifter will help you get a healthy reef aquarium. As always try to remember that nothing good happens “Quick” in a marine aquarium, so take your time and you will have a wonderful aquarium to enjoy for a long time.