Jebao Programmable Auto Dosing Pump DP-4, Black

Came in today. Was pretty pleased on how the original box was in perfect shape.Everything inside the box looks in order, item as described. Will be testing a run soon after the weekend.Update: Accurately precise when well calibrated, stumbled over one video from Utube by FishOfHex. He probably has the better video instructions on setting up this unit, very easy to understand with his step by step walk through in calibration and time/schedule and final setup.Do take note that in calibrating your unit, you should use airline tubing cut-to-fit the unit’s final placement. If you do calibrate the unit with a different length of airline tube compared to the final length of airline tube you will be using for the unit’s final placement, then there will be a slight if not a huge difference (depending on how long or short the airline tube will be used) in the amount of dose the unit will pump in. So, the longer tube you’ll be using for placement compared to the original length you used for calibrating will therefore result to an under dose and an overdose if the airline tube is shorter than the ones used for calibrating it.Update: Seems to be working very well!One final point though, if you’re using a longer airline tube to feed the pump as directed by FishOHex, make sure the feed cycle does not exceed 250rotations/cycle. When calibrating at a 100ml, the unit only permits a maximum of 250rotations/cycle. With a longer airline, you won’t be able to achieve this.The key is Manual Feed the pump with the additive you desire, make sure the line is filled with the fluid then you can start calibrating it with a 100ml, this way you will not consume all the 250pump rotation/cycle. This is how accurate it can get, it’s spot on!

This Doser is super awesome and for the price you cannot beat it. Do not expect anything fancy, it works, and it is accurate. It is just a couple of boards with a shell connected to dosing heads. No fancy apps or remotes you just set it and forget it. One thing to keep in mind is that if you have issues with it not keeping the schedule and time you set that you may have to replace the internal memory battery or make sure the contacts on the battery are not bent out of shape. In my experience, I set it and when I unplugged it would reset the time and schedule. I then opened it to check to see if it had a battery and it did. I checked the battery, and it was reading the proper voltage. I noticed that the contacts were barely touching, so I bent them slightly and it worked as advertised.

This thing is a pain to program/adjust, but works okay for the price point. I wish it had a mounting plate of some kind, but it doesn't, so I had to get creative with the installation.I used it for a while, but then ended up buying a used Red Sea ReefDose 4 so I could program it remotely. Such a better dosing pump, especially if you need to dose very small amounts (like the Reef Moonshiners dailies) and have a good wifi connection.Maybe the wifi version of this dosing pump would be an improvement, but it still needs a mounting plate. (See the difference in the two dosers on the right side of these sump pics. The Jabao looks so cumbersome and sloppy in comparison. You get what you pay for.)

First, the programming is very limited. If you want to do alternating days, you have to set it to 23:59 and 00:01 daily. Since it was do-able, I wasn't too annoyed.Then I found only two out of the four pumps worked. The last two would make a strange sound but not pump the solution.The first pump would only do a few drops, so I had to take the dial off, make sure all the components were on right, and eventually found I had to loosen/unpinch the hose inside to get it working.Now after all this I was glad to have it set up and working. I followed the steps to calibrate the pumps, and purged the tubing of all air. This last part was meticulous but important to do.Over the next few days I noticed rather large air bubbles had gotten into the tubing. I checked that the connections were on tight between my solution containers and the pumps, and purged the tubing again.Again, large air bubbles. I assumed it was the tubing, that maybe there were tiny holes in it, so I went and bought new tubing. Not from the local pet store again, in case it happened again, but from a store online.Calibrated, purged the tubing, crossed my fingers.Nope! Large air bubbles! Seeing as it might be the connections to the tubing, I sealed shut all the connections with glue. Next day, air bubbles, but I noticed I missed some spots and some connections, so I did a better job of sealing.Annndd... air bubbles. The only thing I can think of is that the hose that is inside the pumps has holes in it, but would that be the case for both pumps? I'm not sure what the chances are. So, I've given up on the Jebao DP-4. The entire planted tank and aquarium community can recommend it but apparently I just don't have any luck with it.

this repeats, holding my cal and mag level and steady. we will see after a year if its been good or not but 2 months and its still doing its job. i have not used the other 2 pumps but tested all 4 and they repeat.

I was looking at expensive alternatives and finally decided to buy this one before I went on vacation. I had a nano tank that was taking about 40 ml of two-part per day, and I preferred doing it in two intervals of 20 ml in the morning and 20 ml in the evening. I did not mind hand dosing, but I did not want to have to hassle someone to come in and dose for two weeks and have to go by twice a day.The unit came in, and I quickly calibrated it and set it up to dose the 40 ml into four doses per day. I may change it to 8 later on but for now its working great. I am only using two of the four channels. I am looking to possibly set the other two channels to do small daily water changes to automate the water changing process.How it is a less expensive alternative, I am testing the amount it is releasing every month, and I have a couple of extra heads available. I may buy a second unit to have as a back up just in case.