Having issues with my kalk reactor

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Dannyboy402

Dannyboy402

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Hey guys I just recently moved to a kalwasser reactor but I’m having issues. The setup consist of an avast marine k1 and kamoer fx-stp peristaltic pump. I started at what I thought was a low dose but I’m finding that it’s too low of a dose and my alk tonight is 6.7dkh. I’ve been testing every night at the same time and can’t get the alk to go back up to where it was. I assume my test are accurate as I’ve tested with my Hanna and salifert test. Both writhin .2 of each other. Inside the k1 I have about a cup of kalk in it.
I used to use kalk with my ato but I figured I’d get better dosing with a reactor.
Below is what my programming looks like for the kamoer. The reactor I have set to stir for 10 minutes every 4 hours. Kamoer is set to 30ml/min. Can anyone tell what is going wrong? I need to get my alk to where it used to be. Thank you!!!

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/000:17/029:43 Then ON
If pH > 8.35 Then OFF
 
Deltec
The avast reactors are made for continuous stirring. That could be one of your issues. The other could be where your ph probe is compared to where the kalk drips, if the kalk is before the probe your programming will turn off the kalk.
 
Sorry there were a few things I forgot to mention. The tank is roughly 130 gallons. I started with 200ml a day to 300ml a day. I think I may have figured out that i've been dosing too little to make an impact. I've changed it to 1000ML per day. I roughly go through 5 gallons of RODI a week for top up. Hopefully 1000ml a day is a better starting point. Also should I keep my kalk reactor stirring constantly?
 
Dannyboy402 said:
Sorry there were a few things I forgot to mention. The tank is roughly 130 gallons. I started with 200ml a day to 300ml a day. I think I may have figured out that i've been dosing too little to make an impact. I've changed it to 1000ML per day. I roughly go through 5 gallons of RODI a week for top up. Hopefully 1000ml a day is a better starting point. Also should I keep my kalk reactor stirring constantly?
Click to expand...
I have a K1 stirrer and keep it stirring 24 hours a day. I added the stirrer to the system a few months ago. I run the stirrer all day.

Currently, I'm adding about 2000 mL / day for a 330 gallon system in addition to 2 part. But the volume of kalk to maintain alkalinity and calcium really depends on your consumption and what you are keeping in your system. I gradually worked my way up to that volume. I added the stirrer primarily with the intent of bumping up the pH which currently runs 8.1 - 8.4, averaging 8.2 - 8.3.

One thing to be aware of is that the potency of the kalk solution gradually decreases. I added a conductivity meter just to help me get a handle on how the potency would change, and in my case its a couple percent per day. Doesn't make a substantial difference day to day, and I add kalk to the stirrer every couple weeks and clean the stirrer once every 6 weeks or so.
 
Dannyboy402 said:
Hey guys I just recently moved to a kalwasser reactor but I’m having issues. The setup consist of an avast marine k1 and kamoer fx-stp peristaltic pump. I started at what I thought was a low dose but I’m finding that it’s too low of a dose and my alk tonight is 6.7dkh. I’ve been testing every night at the same time and can’t get the alk to go back up to where it was. I assume my test are accurate as I’ve tested with my Hanna and salifert test. Both writhin .2 of each other. Inside the k1 I have about a cup of kalk in it.
I used to use kalk with my ato but I figured I’d get better dosing with a reactor.
Below is what my programming looks like for the kamoer. The reactor I have set to stir for 10 minutes every 4 hours. Kamoer is set to 30ml/min. Can anyone tell what is going wrong? I need to get my alk to where it used to be. Thank you!!!

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/000:17/029:43 Then ON
If pH > 8.35 Then OFF
Click to expand...
30ml/min is equal to 1.8L/hour and therefore 18L a day if you run it during night hours.. there is some kind of maths that are you clearly doing wrong here..

The dosing for your tank should be limited to about 4ml/min if dosed continously 24/7 (based on approximate evaporation rate and size of your tank).
 
Also if you had PH 6.7 - all of your corals would have melted... I don't think you can "naturally" reach PH 6.7 - so some other maths problem here..
 
Tidal Gardens
I dose about 2.5L/day of Kalk in my 100g tank. That elevates PH from otherwise 7.8-7.9 to 8.1-8.2..
 
Kalk does not need to be stirred continously unless the reactor is small and your usage is large. The problem with not stirring the Kalk is however that your stirrer gets bogged down as Kalk tends to solidify if not stirred. My stirrer stirs Kalk every 2 min - however not because potency of solution drops, but because that's how the stirrer bit stays "alive" and not buried in Kalk.
 
WWC
14 foot reef said:
DKH 6.7......Not PH 6.7
Click to expand...
Ahh my bad - apologies, indeed the post talks about DKH.

Let me give you some DKH potato maths that may help (or not):

DKH of saturated Kalk solution is ~120 (give or take 5). If your tank evaporation rate is 1% and you aim to dose saturated Kalk solution to exactly replace the water that's evaporated, you would be adding roughly 1.2DKH a day.

1.2DKH a day is not massive but is substantial - what kind of corals have you got?
 
Borat said:
Ahh my bad - apologies, indeed the post talks about DKH.

Let me give you some DKH potato maths that may help (or not):

DKH of Alk solution is ~120 (give or take 5). If your tank evaporation rate is 1% and you aim to dose saturated Kalk solution to exactly replace the water that's evaporated, you would be adding roughly 1.2DKH a day.

1.2DKH a day is not massive but is substantial - what kind of corals have you got?
Click to expand...
If your tank demand is higher than 1.2DKH a day - there is not really much you can do using Kalk reactor alone, you need to supplement with either 2 part dosing or calcium reactor (you can try to dose Kalk slurry to boost dosing strentgh - but it's a dangerous path to instable DKH)...

I run both the calcium reactor and the Kalk reactor and each of them provides roughly half of the tank Alk consumption each day...
 
Hey update! I figured it all out! My daily dosage was WAY too low. I've had it set for 1500Ml/day and the KH is where it used to be. PH is also rock solid.
 
Borat said:
Ahh my bad - apologies, indeed the post talks about DKH.

Let me give you some DKH potato maths that may help (or not):

DKH of saturated Kalk solution is ~120 (give or take 5). If your tank evaporation rate is 1% and you aim to dose saturated Kalk solution to exactly replace the water that's evaporated, you would be adding roughly 1.2DKH a day.

1.2DKH a day is not massive but is substantial - what kind of corals have you got?
Click to expand...
I've got mostly LPS right now and 4 frags of SPS that have based out and starting to grow. I've got a few more SPS on the way :)
 
CNDReef said:
The avast reactors are made for continuous stirring. That could be one of your issues. The other could be where your ph probe is compared to where the kalk drips, if the kalk is before the probe your programming will turn off the kalk.
Click to expand...
My avast says not to run the motor continuously.
 
Dannyboy402 said:
Hey guys I just recently moved to a kalwasser reactor but I’m having issues. The setup consist of an avast marine k1 and kamoer fx-stp peristaltic pump. I started at what I thought was a low dose but I’m finding that it’s too low of a dose and my alk tonight is 6.7dkh. I’ve been testing every night at the same time and can’t get the alk to go back up to where it was. I assume my test are accurate as I’ve tested with my Hanna and salifert test. Both writhin .2 of each other. Inside the k1 I have about a cup of kalk in it.
I used to use kalk with my ato but I figured I’d get better dosing with a reactor.
Below is what my programming looks like for the kamoer. The reactor I have set to stir for 10 minutes every 4 hours. Kamoer is set to 30ml/min. Can anyone tell what is going wrong? I need to get my alk to where it used to be. Thank you!!!

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/000:17/029:43 Then ON
If pH > 8.35 Then OFF
Click to expand...


I run both a Co2 Scrubber and a Stirrer to keep my PH up. My main issue was if I turn the Stirrer up high enough to keep my PH up, my water level would go too high and set off my ATO alarm because I wasn't evaporating enough lol. So unfortunately I have to run them both
 
MichaelReefer said:
I run both a Co2 Scrubber and a Stirrer to keep my PH up. My main issue was if I turn the Stirrer up high enough to keep my PH up, my water level would go too high and set off my ATO alarm because I wasn't evaporating enough lol. So unfortunately I have to run them both
Click to expand...
Dang that sucks. What's your pH at? At night mine drops down to 7.95 and mid day it's at 8.2X. I used to run a recirculating scrubber but took it offline once I got my new skimmer.
 
Dannyboy402 said:
Dang that sucks. What's your pH at? At night mine drops down to 7.95 and mid day it's at 8.2X. I used to run a recirculating scrubber but took it offline once I got my new skimmer.
Click to expand...
at night I sit around 8.0 , during the day about 8.3. I wish I was higher but cant seem to get any more than that.
 

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