kalk stirrer dosing container? Does it exist....

Vmacisback · Oct 22, 2015

Hey guys,
Im going to be running a Cal reactor and know kalk will be needed to keep up PH and overall stability. Id like to find a dosing container that stirs kalk and I can hookup to my BM dosing pump. Seems like after researching all im finding are options to run kalk through your ATO ie reef octopus, avast and aqua medic.

If anyone has a setup like this or knows of a stand alone stirring dosing container please chime in!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 23, 2015

I'm not understanding why it matters if this is an ATO or not. The dosing pump will still send water slowly through the stirrer.

Vmacisback · Oct 23, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'm not understanding why it matters if this is an ATO or not. The dosing pump will still send water slowly through the stirrer.

ok well maybe I am not understanding how they work either. I dont want a reactor hooked straight up to my ATO because the dosages are not exact and change everyday. I will be running a cal reactor, dosing pumps and kalk so id like to get each as exact as possible and an ato would be shooting an unspecified amount in.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 23, 2015

That's a fine approach, but you'll still need a freshwater reservoir that the dosing pump draws from, passes it through the reactor, and then into the tank. So all you need is a normal kalk stirrer, the dosing pump, and a freshwater reservoir. You cannot run seawater through it, if that was the thought.

Alternatively, you can just mix the calcium hydroxide (kalk) into the fresh water in the reservoir and not use a reactor. Just use the dosing pump to deliver a fixed amount daily.

That's how I do it, except instead of a dosing pump on a timer, I use a slow pump on a float switch (my ATO).

Vmacisback · Oct 23, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That's a fine approach, but you'll still need a freshwater reservoir that the dosing pump draws from, passes it through the reactor, and then into the tank. So all you need is a normal kalk stirrer, the dosing pump, and a freshwater reservoir. You cannot run seawater through it, if that was the thought.

Alternatively, you can just mix the calcium hydroxide (kalk) into the fresh water in the reservoir and not use a reactor. Just use the dosing pump to deliver a fixed amount daily.

That's how I do it, except instead of a dosing pump on a timer, I use a slow pump on a float switch (my ATO).

So realistically I can just use a gallon jug and mix Kalk with rodi h2o and just dose a specific amount daily. No reactor? Sounds too easy

Will it eventually clog my doser u think?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 23, 2015

Vmacisback said:
So realistically I can just use a gallon jug and mix Kalk with rodi h2o and just dose a specific amount daily. No reactor? Sounds too easy Will it eventually clog my doser u think?

No, it shouldn't clog that sort of pump.

You may get tired of mixing up 1 gallon at a time. I make up 132 gallons at a time and dose it over a month.

This has more on limewater:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

Vmacisback · Oct 23, 2015

Where do you store 132gallons of lime water?

Also how much Kalk do you think I'd really have to use daily if I'm just trying to keep ph up? I'll already be using the cal reactor and dosing pumps for cal and alk?

yarddoctor123 · Oct 23, 2015

Vmacisback said:
Where do you store 132gallons of lime water?

Also how much Kalk do you think I'd really have to use daily if I'm just trying to keep ph up? I'll already be using the cal reactor and dosing pumps for cal and alk?

My 2¢...
1. Read EVERYTHING that Dr. RH-F has written on tank chemistry... and if he were speaking, I'd fly to Timbuktu to go see him.

2. Occam's Razor/protocol.[emoji57]

Vmacisback · Oct 23, 2015

yarddoctor123 said:
My 2¢...
1. Read EVERYTHING that Dr. RH-F has written on tank chemistry... and if he were speaking, I'd fly to Timbuktu to go see him.

2. Occam's Razor/protocol.[emoji57]

Thanks no clue what this has to do with anything I was asking.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 23, 2015

Vmacisback said:
Where do you store 132gallons of lime water?

Also how much Kalk do you think I'd really have to use daily if I'm just trying to keep ph up? I'll already be using the cal reactor and dosing pumps for cal and alk?

All you can dose, relative to evaporation. Never with a CaCO3/CO2 reactor does the pH get too high from limewater. Usually it is still too low.

I use three x 44 gallon Brute cans plumbed together in my basement for limewater.

evolved · Oct 23, 2015

I use an Avast K1 stirrer for this.

frogman_reefer · Oct 24, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
No, it shouldn't clog that sort of pump.

You may get tired of mixing up 1 gallon at a time. I make up 132 gallons at a time and dose it over a month.

This has more on limewater:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

What ratio do you mix at?