Best way to control ATO with kalk?

[Reefinmike]

Hey all, I'm really stumped on how I want to go about dosing kalkwasser to my tank. my aquarium is a 90 with a 55 sump and it evaporates between 1/2 to 3/4 gallon a day. the tank's alk and cal consumption should allow at or near full saturation.

Currently I am topping off with ro/di from a ten gallon reservoir that gravity feeds to an apex solenoid and through a float valve in my sump. I have a magfloat on my reservoir with a float switch and the line drawing water such that I can easily adjust the maximum amount that can be used. the float switch sends an alarm when the ato is a half gallon from drawing air. Using two float switches and the simple apex ato task code, this system has worked very well and consistently for several months. The ATO kicks out water about once an hour for one minute at a time. it dispenses 4 ounces in a minute.

I would like to adapt this current system to dose kalkwasser. I like the float valve for a manual backup but the return chamber it sits in is rather stagnant and kalkwasser would precipitate out without a powerhead on it. I'm also concerned about precipitation fouling up the valve quickly. Would it be stupid to add a second solenoid valve in place of the float valve and have it drip directly into the high flow going over the baffles? The other obstacle is the speed kalkwasser would drain and the frequency. for instance instead of it kicking on about once an hour for a minute, what about coding it to top off once every 30 minutes for 30 seconds at a time? Or slow the speed with a valve and have it come on twice an hour for about a minute?

Sorry for the rambling, I know there are a thousand ways to skin a cat. I guess I'm just looking to see how you dose kalkwasser with extreme caution? I know a dosing pump will be recommended but I'd like to see if anyone has an innovative way to slowly gravity feed top off with kalk using an apex system to control solenoids.

 

[Brew12]

Hey all, I'm really stumped on how I want to go about dosing kalkwasser to my tank. my aquarium is a 90 with a 55 sump and it evaporates between 1/2 to 3/4 gallon a day. the tank's alk and cal consumption should allow at or near full saturation.

Currently I am topping off with ro/di from a ten gallon reservoir that gravity feeds to an apex solenoid and through a float valve in my sump. I have a magfloat on my reservoir with a float switch and the line drawing water such that I can easily adjust the maximum amount that can be used. the float switch sends an alarm when the ato is a half gallon from drawing air. Using two float switches and the simple apex ato task code, this system has worked very well and consistently for several months. The ATO kicks out water about once an hour for one minute at a time. it dispenses 4 ounces in a minute.

I would like to adapt this current system to dose kalkwasser. I like the float valve for a manual backup but the return chamber it sits in is rather stagnant and kalkwasser would precipitate out without a powerhead on it. I'm also concerned about precipitation fouling up the valve quickly. Would it be stupid to add a second solenoid valve in place of the float valve and have it drip directly into the high flow going over the baffles? The other obstacle is the speed kalkwasser would drain and the frequency. for instance instead of it kicking on about once an hour for a minute, what about coding it to top off once every 30 minutes for 30 seconds at a time? Or slow the speed with a valve and have it come on twice an hour for about a minute?

Sorry for the rambling, I know there are a thousand ways to skin a cat. I guess I'm just looking to see how you dose kalkwasser with extreme caution? I know a dosing pump will be recommended but I'd like to see if anyone has an innovative way to slowly gravity feed top off with kalk using an apex system to control solenoids.

I consider a dosing pump ideal, but obviously that isn't an option for everyone. Do you have an option to establish a slow drip with a separate container? My biggest issue with using kalk in an ATO is that it was hard to maintain a constant alk. I had a very inconsistent evaporation and couldn't deal with it. If you could use a separate container and let it drip out continuously your ATO would make up the different of what was evaporated. Just make sure you set your drip less than your lowest evaporation rate. A high pH alarm would be important to make sure you don't over drip.

You shouldn't have much in the way of trouble with precipitation with a gravity drain system. Just keep an eye on it for the white deposits and clean it if it start building up.

 

[Reefinmike]

Yes, that certainly is an option. I also have a 5g bucket reservoir intended for my 40 breeder and a 5g reservoir for test kit cleaning, food preparation, etc. I thought ahead and ran a spare 1/4” line from this closet to my 90. My only concern with a constant drip is that it may need constant tweaking to get say 1/2 gallon of saturated kalk per day. I suppose I could establish a constant drip and use my float switch on a magfloat to warn of excessive kalk usage. A solenoid would be a must as well to shut off with high ph, high sump level etc. I have been toying around with the idea of having the 10g reservoir open a solenoid once a day to fill a *sealed* 1 gallon container. That container will have a line on top up above the kalk reservoir to vent. A drain on the bottom could be adjusted between 1/2 gallon to the full gallon amount, a solenoid on the drain could open once every 20-30 minutes for xx minutes and a valve could be used to adjust the drip to dispense 1-2 ounces at a time. the solenoid would also have additional safety code to have the drip off while the 1 gallon reservoir is filling and factoring in PH, salinity, and an additional high sump level float switch... but at this point it may be easier to just get a doser and have a kalk reservoir under my kitchen cabinet.

So many ways of doing it but I'd love to use my current system of reservoirs with gravity drains and solenoids.