Please explain OCS for dosing

[u4ick]

1st off computers frustrate the hell out of me and after reading a bit of things on this forum I'm wondering if I did the right thing by getting involved with this apex stuff

My 1st question of many is to figure out the dosing pump situation.

Can someone explain the "how to" on this OCS stuff please....


How do I set up a pump to run for a given time span each day?

Thanks for the help.......I'm sure I will have many many more questions as I try to learn this thing.


On a side note: With a lot of the programming figuring out that people "try" when setting something up or diagnosing problems, it seems to me that a really helpful feature would be to "test" an outlet by having the ability to speed up time frames to see how ones program is operating. This would be especially helpful for those needing to program LED lighting using dimming features. It would be nice to watch ones 12hr program over just a few min time span, or to see how variable speed pumps do their thing with multiple programs throughout the day. Just a thought....

[drparker]

How do you want it operate? Do you want it on once for a given time or on multiple times?

example: I dose vinegar for 25 seconds every 40 minutes during a 10 hour time frame.

[u4ick]

Well I just read and kind of copied the example given in the UUG.

This is what I have at the moment.
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 059:00/001:00/000:00 Then ON
If Time 04:00 to 23:00 Then OFF

As my "understanding goes this should have it off from 4am to 11pm and then operate for 1 min every 59 min between 11pm and 4am.
So this should dose us 5.5ml each day in the middle of the night.(usinf BRS dosing pump, rated for 1.1ml/min)

This just isn't "clicking" with me yet

Also I'm not sure yet if this is even close to the proper amount as I have yet to determine what my consumption rate is. I've replaced an AquaEuro 400 calcium reactor with 3 dosing pumps and BRS's 2 part. So I still have to get the Ca and Mg dialed in as well.
The tank is a 340gal with 500lbs of rock with a 180gal sump. It has few LPS, virtually no SPS, but does have 2 clams, 1 about fist size the other about the size of a Nerf football.

Any ballpark recommendations on an amount to dose as a place to start would be great....

[drparker]

Your program and understanding of the program are correct. BRS dosing pumps need to be on the physical relay outlets. Mine are on outlet 4 and 8.

Mg changes slowly compared to Alk and Ca and it can be added in large doses. So i measure it the day after my water and manually dose if needed. Ca and Alk will be used in a set ratio. The change is Alk is easier to measure. So monitor Alk and dose equal amounts of Ca and Alk.

5.5ml is very low for your water volume. If I guesstimate your water volume to be 300 gal then it would take 30ml of recipe 1 calcium solution to raise it 1 ppm.

I would take measurements to get a baseline and not dose anything for a few days taking daily measurements for a few days to get an average drop. If you just have to start dosing now, I'd start with 15ml and measure daily and adjust the dose after a few days.

I'm recommending basing the dose on a several measurements to get a trend. In a low use tank it might take days or weeks for the level to change enough for our crude test kits to detect it.

[Xcali1985]

The OSC command works two ways depending on the ON or OFF with at the end.


OSC INITIAL OFF TIME/ON TIME/OFF TIME Then ON
OSC INITIAL ON TIME/OFF TIME/ON TIME Then OFF

Basically the initial off or on times are for when the outlet is initially set up and when disconnected from the apex base unit. For example, when you change the coding, if initial time is 0:50 it will turn on for 50 seconds then start the on time off time loop.

I only use it for the "Then ON" statement, so if the my assessment is wrong please correct.

[drparker]

OSC 059:00/001:00/000:00 Then ON = will dose for 1 minute at the bottom of the hour. Would dose for 1 minute at 1:59 and then again at 2:59

OSC 000:00/001:00/059:00 Then ON = will dose for 1 minute at the top of the hour. Would dose for 1 minute at 1:00 and again at 2:00

OSC 029:30/001:00/029:30 Then ON = will dose for 1 minute in the middle of the hour. Would dose for 1 minute at 1:29:30 and again at at 2:29:30.

[u4ick]

Thank you for the replies.

It is starting......only starting and just barely at that to make sense lol

I just need to read and reread it and then it will "click" for me.

drparker Your examples helped......so did the explanation of function Xcali1985

Thank you.

[RussM]

Originally Posted by Xcali1985

I only use it for the "Then ON" statement, so if the my assessment is wrong please correct.

You are right. It works either way. But I don't recall ever seen anyone here actually use OSC xxx/xxx/xxx Then OFF.

Useless trivia:

OSC 0/1/1 Then ON
OSC 1/1/0 Then OFF

are functionally the same.

[96slowbra]

is there a benefit to using OSC statements? i just use the IF statements, and it has been good so far. but this is my first week of having a controller...

[RussM]

Originally Posted by 96slowbra

is there a benefit to using OSC statements? i just use the IF statements, and it has been good so far. but this is my first week of having a controller...

If Time statements are fine for something bat only happens once or twice a day, like for lighting. OSC is what you want to use for anything that repeats several times a day or in short repeated cycles. Power heads, dosing, and other uses are good for OSC

Another advantage of OSC is that is granular to the second whereas If Time is by the minute.

[ricwilli]

Originally Posted by drparker

OSC 059:00/001:00/000:00 Then ON = will dose for 1 minute at the bottom of the hour. Would dose for 1 minute at 1:59 and then again at 2:59

OSC 000:00/001:00/059:00 Then ON = will dose for 1 minute at the top of the hour. Would dose for 1 minute at 1:00 and again at 2:00

OSC 029:30/001:00/029:30 Then ON = will dose for 1 minute in the middle of the hour. Would dose for 1 minute at 1:29:30 and again at at 2:29:30.

Thank you very much for taking the time to write these examples. It make a lot more sense now. This should be put in the original Apex doc and in the Unofficial doc.

[drparker]

thanks! I'm glad you found helpful.

[96slowbra]

Originally Posted by RussM

If Time statements are fine for something bat only happens once or twice a day, like for lighting. OSC is what you want to use for anything that repeats several times a day or in short repeated cycles. Power heads, dosing, and other uses are good for OSC

Another advantage of OSC is that is granular to the second whereas If Time is by the minute.

that makes sense. i am going to set up my ph probe this week, so i can see my ph swings throughout the day. then i will fine tune my alk dosing times. as far as amounts, they seem to be pretty close. consistant 9.8dkh and 400 cal, so i would like to bring them up just a hair.