K1 Kalk Stirrer Outlet Clogged

[LobsterOfJustice]

Today I noticed that my K1 kalk stirrer was completely filled up and overflowing out of the top. It seems that somehow the outlet got clogged... I shoved a tube in and some water drained out but it didn’t seem like it was completely blocked. It started draining more once I took the top off. It seems like maybe the hole drilled on the internal elbow was plugged with kalk, maybe this caused an airlock in the drain?

Anyone else encountered this? Should I drill out a larger vent hole on the inner elbow? Am I not running enough flow through the reactor?

 

[Big G]

Bump

 

[Mastiffsrule]

have an old one. My line to the sump goes straight out with no bends. Once and a while I will take it apart and use a pick or something pointy and strong and chisel out the kalk buildup. Not sure what you mean about vent hole

 

[dwest]

Today I noticed that my K1 kalk stirrer was completely filled up and overflowing out of the top. It seems that somehow the outlet got clogged... I shoved a tube in and some water drained out but it didn’t seem like it was completely blocked. It started draining more once I took the top off. It seems like maybe the hole drilled on the internal elbow was plugged with kalk, maybe this caused an airlock in the drain?

Anyone else encountered this? Should I drill out a larger vent hole on the inner elbow? Am I not running enough flow through the reactor?

I’ve used the K2 for almost a year now. I rod out the outlet every couple of weeks when I do other maintenance. So far, no clogging. How long was yours in use before it overflowed? I can see how the drilled elbow could get clogged. I would email Avast. They are very helpful.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

The hole in my elbow clogged years ago. I have my drain line above the water level so air is not a problem. Cleaning your regularly should solve the issue as dwelt mentioned

 

[Sod Buster]

The newer K1 is a 1/2" outlet that should never plug

 

[Reefcowboy]

I reduced the outlet of mine to 1/4” OD making the outlet almost a 90 degree angle, facing down the sump.

I also have the outlet higher as splashing of the tank water can clogg it quick.

The larger diameter outlet ball valve it comes with in a way is nice from the principle of being less prone to clogging, but there is a large amount of air getting in touch with the solution in the stirrer, dropping its potency.

With the reduction to 1/4” at the end of each dose the last drop seals the outlet, so no new air goes in.

 

[Sod Buster]

Are you running it off a dosing pump, or just through the ATO?

 

[Reefcowboy]

Are you running it off a dosing pump, or just through the ATO?

Dosing pump.
Just finally dialled my kalk dosage with my alk dosage. Had to dial down the last one as alk was rising too fast.
Kalk dosing has given me some great results so far

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Well this just happened again and this time I could tell the vent hole in the elbow was not clogged. So I guess the outlet line is getting clogged, which is surprising because it’s something like 1/2” so not tiny. I will probably be taking this off my system as it has complicated my dosing and made it more prone to failure, when the intention was the opposite.

 

[justingraham]

Well this just happened again and this time I could tell the vent hole in the elbow was not clogged. So I guess the outlet line is getting clogged, which is surprising because it’s something like 1/2” so not tiny. I will probably be taking this off my system as it has complicated my dosing and made it more prone to failure, when the intention was the opposite.

Hey now gotta relax I know ur mad
What u have to do is just breath in and calm down the k1 is great but with everything in this hobby it needs to be checked on
The guy like four post above gave a good example of how to fix it by dropping it down to 1/4 tubing
If you don’t want to do that periodically your going to have to check the 1/2 tubbing as the kalk starts to block the tube when it comes in contact with tank water

It takes a lil work but it’s not worth taking the k1 completely off I’ve had mine in my system for shoot 2 weeks and my line was starting to close as well but I knew to look because it’s a known problem so my next course of action is to drop it down to 1/4 and see what happens

 

[dwest]

Well this just happened again and this time I could tell the vent hole in the elbow was not clogged. So I guess the outlet line is getting clogged, which is surprising because it’s something like 1/2” so not tiny. I will probably be taking this off my system as it has complicated my dosing and made it more prone to failure, when the intention was the opposite.

Duplicate

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Hey now gotta relax I know ur mad
What u have to do is just breath in and calm down the k1 is great but with everything in this hobby it needs to be checked on
The guy like four post above gave a good example of how to fix it by dropping it down to 1/4 tubing
If you don’t want to do that periodically your going to have to check the 1/2 tubbing as the kalk starts to block the tube when it comes in contact with tank water

It takes a lil work but it’s not worth taking the k1 completely off I’ve had mine in my system for shoot 2 weeks and my line was starting to close as well but I knew to look because it’s a known problem so my next course of action is to drop it down to 1/4 and see what happens

Don’t worry, I’ll not mad. I’m just not looking for a new item to clean every 2 weeks. Maybe that’s fine for some but not for me. My system is built on redundancy and failure-proofing so an item that fails twice in a few months (even if it’s due to lack of weekly cleaning) won’t cut it on my system.

 

[Mjl714]

Using kalk in my ATO, i need to watch the end of output line into display tank, because over time (much longer than a few weeks) the end line gets clogged.

 

[justingraham]

I reduced the outlet of mine to 1/4” OD making the outlet almost a 90 degree angle, facing down the sump.

I also have the outlet higher as splashing of the tank water can clogg it quick.

The larger diameter outlet ball valve it comes with in a way is nice from the principle of being less prone to clogging, but there is a large amount of air getting in touch with the solution in the stirrer, dropping its potency.

With the reduction to 1/4” at the end of each dose the last drop seals the outlet, so no new air goes in.

Do u have a pic of yours?

 

[Reefcowboy]

I can take a pic later today.
Coincidence or not last night I walked to my fish room and smelled a burn-like smell, almost like burning plastic.
Looked around and didnt find anything.
I removed the K1 stirrer rotor cap and the motor must have been burning or something.
I shut it off and will check again today if it is working properly.
If it works fine, I'll probably set it to go on 20 mins and off 40 mins or so to hopefully save it from burning off

 

[justingraham]

I can take a pic later today.
Coincidence or not last night I walked to my fish room and smelled a burn-like smell, almost like burning plastic.
Looked around and didnt find anything.
I removed the K1 stirrer rotor cap and the motor must have been burning or something.
I shut it off and will check again today if it is working properly.
If it works fine, I'll probably set it to go on 20 mins and off 40 mins or so to hopefully save it from burning off

My cowboy I think it’s a relatively cheap pump u should reach out to avast so if it does go u have a back up

 

[TexasReefer82]

The outlet of any Kalkwasser dispenser, whether from a reactor or a top off tank, will always clog over time. There is typically residual kalk water in the line and it reacts with dissolved CO2 from the air to form CaCO3 (calcium carbonate) that precipitates. Cleaning the outlet with some regularity is just the cost of doing business with kalkwasser.

 

[Lighthouze08]

I think what clogged is the little hole in the 90 elbow inside the reactor. Happened to me twice so I drilled a bigger hold in the elbow. Have not happened again since then. Also I put the reactor straight in the sump so it would not overflow onto the floor

 

[dwest]

@LobsterOfJustice My kalk stirrer outlet line has clogged a couple of times recently. Did you do anything to fix yours?