Doser and Kalk reactor

[AquaAmator]

I am currently using Kalk in my ATO to maintain calcium and alkalinity and I like the Ph increase. What I don't like is cleaning the ATO reservoir and relying on evaporation for the dosing. My idea was to use a Kalk reactor and run a separate line to the ATO water reservoir with the BRS 1.1ml/min dosing pump. Using the dosing pump to push water through the reactor and into the tank. Then my maintenance is confined to the reactor which is much easier to clean.

Do you think this will work? I would appreciate your insight or if you have other suggestions for achieving the result.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

It’s a good idea but IME you should go with the 60 mL/min pump. 1.1 mL/min is too slow for kalk reactor.

 

[Bryson.bobby]

Deleted

 

[lbacha]

How big is your system?

I have about 60 gallons of water and I use a avast k1 stirrer with a BRS 1.1 ml/min dosing pump. It is on for 20 min and off for 10 min (controlled by my apex). This amount of kalk keeps my ph between 8.35 and 8.45 all the time. I dose ESV 2 part with a Neptune dos to cover the rest of my Alk and cal needs. This allows me to not worry about ph increasing as I dose more

 

[AquaAmator]

It’s a good idea but IME you should go with the 60 mL/min pump. 1.1 mL/min is too slow for kalk reactor.

I appreciate the comment. I am trying to use what I have instead of buying new dosing pumps. It sounds like you think it will work in principle, but may be too slow. My thought is I will try it and see.

 

[AquaAmator]

How big is your system?

I have about 60 gallons of water and I use a avast k1 stirrer with a BRS 1.1 ml/min dosing pump. It is on for 20 min and off for 10 min (controlled by my apex). This amount of kalk keeps my ph between 8.35 and 8.45 all the time. I dose ESV 2 part with a Neptune dos to cover the rest of my Alk and cal needs. This allows me to not worry about ph increasing as I dose more

This sounds like a good model for me to follow. My other concern is overcompensating evaporation. Based on these comments I think I will give it a try.

 

[CNDReef]

It’ll definitely work but you will get to your max evaporation rate and will still have to dose 2part. Currently I’m running the k1 stirrer off of my ghl 2.1. It works but larger less frequent doses of kalk work better to raise ph than smaller more frequent doses. I’ll be getting a bigger doser soon just for that reason.

 

[Biglurr54]

I run a geo Kalk reactor and a MasterFlex pump to does my kalk. It works great. The order is important to keep the dosing pump in good shape. Make sure you go: ATO Container, dosing pump, Kalk reactor, then sump or display.

If you dont have a kalk reactor yet i would look into building one. You could probably build a nice one with a sealed container and a magnetic pill stirrer. Just add some john guest fittings and make sure it seals up. Then you just have to turn the stirrer on a couple times a day.

 

[ShepherdTech]

I’m using a Avast K1 kalk stirrer with a DOS and dosing 4000 ml/day in my 210 gallon. What size tank do you have? That appears to be the determining factor as to whether the BRS 1.1 dosing pump will be able to keep up or not.

 

[Pete Luna]

Was reading this thread, thought I would jump in, Shepherd, 4000 mil/day? i just got the Avast K2 getting ready to put on a DOS, i put 2 cups of Kalk in stirrer, it's settled out so was going to start tonight. is there a specific amount of Kalk for the reactor since it's not based off of evaporation? I currently dose 300mil Alk of two part, looking for the PH bump

 

[Biglurr54]

Was reading this thread, thought I would jump in, Shepherd, 4000 mil/day? i just got the Avast K2 getting ready to put on a DOS, i put 2 cups of Kalk in stirrer, it's settled out so was going to start tonight. is there a specific amount of Kalk for the reactor since it's not based off of evaporation? I currently dose 300mil Alk of two part, looking for the PH bump

I am dosing 1.4ml per minute, 24 hours a day or 2016ml a day of kalk. This compliments the Calcium reactor. If your doing 2 part, I would figure out you minimum evap amount. Then dose that in kalk daily and measure alk like you would to figure out your 2 part dosing. This maximizes the kalk addition and it is dosed in controlled amounts via the dosing pump. You just dont want to exceed the amount of evap which varies by season so set the dose lower than what you expect the evap to be and have the ato finish to top off.

I didnt maximize my kalk dose because as the tank grows, I want to increase calcium reactor and kalk doses together to keep a stable ph. (unnecessarily complicated)

If I was doing 2 part, I would maximize the kalk addition based on evap rate (Approximately 1.5 gallons, 5677ml a day for my tank ) and then set the 2 part to dose the remaining need of alk and calc.

 

[C. Eymann]

I always ran a Precision marine kalk reactor inline with my Tunze osmolator, that way I avoided lalk in my ATO reservoir.

I was running halides and was using evaporative cooling( fans) so I had a pretty high evap rate.
However, I was also using a calcium reactor too.

 

[Pete Luna]

New to Reefing so bear with me, by reading your response, Kalk is evaporating hence the reason to match evap rate? If thats the case I never connected the two. I had Kalk in my ATO but the swing was major peaks and valleys. I evap about 2-3.5 gal a day, system is 300 gal. Until this thread I was going to start at 200mil/Day and turn my trident to check every 2 hours instead of 6 until I got it tuned in.

 

[ShepherdTech]

New to Reefing so bear with me, by reading your response, Kalk is evaporating hence the reason to match evap rate? If thats the case I never connected the two. I had Kalk in my ATO but the swing was major peaks and valleys. I evap about 2-3.5 gal a day, system is 300 gal. Until this thread I was going to start at 200mil/Day and turn my trident to check every 2 hours instead of 6 until I got it tuned in.

The evaporation in your tank limits how much kalk you can add. If you add more kalk than what your tank evaporates, the water level in your tank would keep rising beyond the normal water level. 200 mil per day is next to nothing, unless you are running a very small tank. I just reduced my kalk dose to 2000ml/day and have started adding 2 part, since evap is lower due to weather changes, also want more ph rise from soda ash.

 

[Biglurr54]

New to Reefing so bear with me, by reading your response, Kalk is evaporating hence the reason to match evap rate? If thats the case I never connected the two. I had Kalk in my ATO but the swing was major peaks and valleys. I evap about 2-3.5 gal a day, system is 300 gal. Until this thread I was going to start at 200mil/Day and turn my trident to check every 2 hours instead of 6 until I got it tuned in.

Kalk doesnt evaporate. Adding kalk also adds fresh water.

The idea is to match the mount of water that evaporates out of your tank, with kalk mixture (Kalk and ro water). This assumes that you use that much calcium and alkalinity. The reactor and a dosing pump approach to dosing kalk allows you to slowly add a measured amount of Kalk mixture through out the day. This levels out the peaks and valleys and unpredictable doses that kalk in top off water creates. If you are dosing 2 gallons of kalk through out the day with a dosing pump it will naver change. If your ato pumps in 2 gallons of kalk, it will give you peaks and valleys and if you evaporate 2.5 gallons it will be an extra .5 gallons of kalk which will drive your alk and calcium up.

Since you have a trident, life got alot easier! I would turn off your 2 part dosing and your ato. Then set the dos to dose 1.5 gallons of kalk over 24hours. (5677ml). Have trident measure as normal for 24 hours. If you alkalinity goes up, you know you need to lower the amount of Kalk mixture dose. If your sump water level raises, you will have to lower the kalk mixture dose. If your alkalinity lowers and your sump level lowers, then you can increase the dose of Kalk mixture. Once you either meet your alkalinty needs, or you raise the level in the sump, you have to hold the kalk mixture dose where it is (this is the maximum amount of Kalk you can dose to your system). If you hold the Kalk dose due to the sump level rising, then you will use 2 part to raise your alkalinity and calcium to the level you keep it at.

In an ideal world, you ATO will never kick on because your tank will evaporate the same amount of water every day and you have tuned you kalk reactor and dos to dose the Kalk mixture in the same volume as water evacuating. If you spring a leak or forget to turn off your ato during a water change, the ato wont dump large amounts of kalk mixture into the tank.

Once you have the Kalk reactor and Dos dialed in, then you can turn on the ATO.

Does this make sense?

 

[Pete Luna]

light just went on, I understand what you are saying. make complete sense now.

 

[Pete Luna]

Makes complete sense. I truly appreciate both of your help. I would have crashed the tank or flooded the house.

Thanks Again - Pete

 

[Neoalchemist]

I will be running two gravity fed top offs one kalk and one fresh controlled by ph with a soloniod switch.
Ph above 8.35 switch to fresh, ph below 8.2 switch to kalk. I will dose two part to maintain levels.
Probably switch to a calcium reactor and kalk when demand gets high.

 

[Neoalchemist]

Kalk doesnt evaporate. Adding kalk also adds fresh water.

The idea is to match the mount of water that evaporates out of your tank, with kalk mixture (Kalk and ro water). This assumes that you use that much calcium and alkalinity. The reactor and a dosing pump approach to dosing kalk allows you to slowly add a measured amount of Kalk mixture through out the day. This levels out the peaks and valleys and unpredictable doses that kalk in top off water creates. If you are dosing 2 gallons of kalk through out the day with a dosing pump it will naver change. If your ato pumps in 2 gallons of kalk, it will give you peaks and valleys and if you evaporate 2.5 gallons it will be an extra .5 gallons of kalk which will drive your alk and calcium up.

Since you have a trident, life got alot easier! I would turn off your 2 part dosing and your ato. Then set the dos to dose 1.5 gallons of kalk over 24hours. (5677ml). Have trident measure as normal for 24 hours. If you alkalinity goes up, you know you need to lower the amount of Kalk mixture dose. If your sump water level raises, you will have to lower the kalk mixture dose. If your alkalinity lowers and your sump level lowers, then you can increase the dose of Kalk mixture. Once you either meet your alkalinty needs, or you raise the level in the sump, you have to hold the kalk mixture dose where it is (this is the maximum amount of Kalk you can dose to your system). If you hold the Kalk dose due to the sump level rising, then you will use 2 part to raise your alkalinity and calcium to the level you keep it at.

In an ideal world, you ATO will never kick on because your tank will evaporate the same amount of water every day and you have tuned you kalk reactor and dos to dose the Kalk mixture in the same volume as water evacuating. If you spring a leak or forget to turn off your ato during a water change, the ato wont dump large amounts of kalk mixture into the tank.

Once you have the Kalk reactor and Dos dialed in, then you can turn on the ATO.

Does this make sense?

Solid plan.

 

[Pete Luna]

Update,

Started the Kalk stirrer at 18:00 10/28/19 @ 5677mL over a 24 hour period. water level in sump was fine, I turned on my ATO last night but lowered the top sensor so it would shut off 2.5gal below full