Who doses Kalk through a Kalk stirrer/reactor?

[AZMSGT]

I'd like to set up my Kalk stirrer soon and am looking for some advice. I've seen several videos on line but they really don't talk much about how to test prior to set up so you can narrow down just how to get the dosing straight.

1. How did you figure out how much to pump into your system?
2. What testing schedule did you do to get it nailed down initially? ( I say initially as I know things will need to increase as growth kicks in.)

 

[AZMSGT]

Bump in hopes that someone out there has been doing this.

 

[OrionN]

Dosing Kalk is straight forward. However, you should use a dosing pump. Do not use a water level dosser
You cannot really adding too much Ca and Bicarb into your tank dosing Kalk. However, if there is any reason where you loose water, if you use a water level trigger dosser, the Kalk reactor would add too much Kalk. This would irritated the animals resulting in mucus production. This in combination with a Protein skimmer can cause your tank to loose more water (the skimmer will dump more liquid skimmates) which result in adding more Kalk solution. This vicious cycle can/will crash your tank.

I only use dosing pump for Kalk and Calcium reactors. I use lab grade varible speed Cole-Palmer pumps. These are cheaper and much, much more reliable and cheaper than hobby pumps.

 

[ca1ore]

Been running the avast kalk stirrer for years. Not my main source of minerals to the tank though, so I just maintain it so that there is always about a half inch of slurry in the bottom. I have mine hooked through the ATO.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

I just put 3 table spoons in my 5g ATO. Usually last about 3-4 days for my 120g. My level is at around 11DKH, 430CA and MAG1300

 

[br88dy]

I'd like to set up my Kalk stirrer soon and am looking for some advice. I've seen several videos on line but they really don't talk much about how to test prior to set up so you can narrow down just how to get the dosing straight.

1. How did you figure out how much to pump into your system?
2. What testing schedule did you do to get it nailed down initially? ( I say initially as I know things will need to increase as growth kicks in.)

I'll answer the original questions with a YouTube video I thought you'd benefit from:
--- ---

He goes over how much he doses and how he figured it out.

 

[AZMSGT]

I'll answer the original questions with a YouTube video I thought you'd benefit from:
--- ---

He goes over how much he doses and how he figured it out.

Thanks, I was thinking I might have to do a trail and error method and that's essentially what he did too.

 

[OrionN]

What I do is I have a variable speed dosing pump. I set it a reasonable flow and the crack up the CO2 until I get what I want.

one thing that would really help your Ca reactor is to modify the CO2 input. Put it through a capillary tube instead of normal air tube. This way the CO2 bubbles are tiny and easily chew up by the pump. This really help the CO2 dissolve in the chamber of the Ca reactor.
I should pattens this modification because as of now none of the commercial Ca reactor are doing it. Mine works a lot better with no excess CO2.

 

[Gene Ashton]

I does manually in a gallon drip jug. I’d like to follow along and see what is happening g.

 

[br88dy]

What I do is I have a variable speed dosing pump. I set it a reasonable flow and the crack up the CO2 until I get what I want.

one thing that would really help your Ca reactor is to modify the CO2 input. Put it through a capillary tube instead of normal air tube. This way the CO2 bubbles are tiny and easily chew up by the pump. This really help the CO2 dissolve in the chamber of the Ca reactor.
I should pattens this modification because as of now none of the commercial Ca reactor are doing it. Mine works a lot better with no excess CO2.

I think he's just talking about his new Kalkwasser setup.

 

[OrionN]

I somehow answer Ca reactor in my second post on this thread instead of Kalk reactor. Sorry.

 

[Hermie]

Dosing Kalk is straight forward. However, you should use a dosing pump. Do not use a water level dosser
You cannot really adding too much Ca and Bicarb into your tank dosing Kalk. However, if there is any reason where you loose water, if you use a water level trigger dosser, the Kalk reactor would add too much Kalk. This would irritated the animals resulting in mucus production. This in combination with a Protein skimmer can cause your tank to loose more water (the skimmer will dump more liquid skimmates) which result in adding more Kalk solution. This vicious cycle can/will crash your tank.

I only use dosing pump for Kalk and Calcium reactors. I use lab grade varible speed Cole-Palmer pumps. These are cheaper and much, much more reliable and cheaper than hobby pumps.

does kalk clog up the dosing pump tubing? or require maintenance?

 

[OrionN]

Dosing kalk by pumping RO water to the Kalk reactor. Thi displace the satulation solution of kalk which flow into the sump. The pump just pump RO water.

 

[Hermie]

Dosing kalk by pumping RO water to the Kalk reactor. Thi displace the satulation solution of kalk which flow into the sump. The pump just pump RO water.

That's kind of what I am doing now but I only have a 2 litre soda bottle, not a real kalk stirrer, so the dosing pump pushes RODI into the bottle, and the kalkwasser slowly "deconcentrates" over time... loses potency, since there isn't much stirring action going on. The alternative for me is to dose from the 2 litre bottle through the dosing pump, then into the tank, but I am worried that the dosing pump tubing will accumulate precipitation or something that will affect performance or cause leaking. I wish there was a DIY kalk stirrer...

 

[OrionN]

That's kind of what I am doing now but I only have a 2 litre soda bottle, not a real kalk stirrer, so the dosing pump pushes RODI into the bottle, and the kalkwasser slowly "deconcentrates" over time... loses potency, since there isn't much stirring action going on. The alternative for me is to dose from the 2 litre bottle through the dosing pump, then into the tank, but I am worried that the dosing pump tubing will accumulate precipitation or something that will affect performance or cause leaking. I wish there was a DIY kalk stirrer...

I would just drip the Kalk in overnight using an ball vale to control the rate using RO line. No problem with clogging of the line doing it this way.

 

[OrionN]

..... I wish there was a DIY kalk stirrer...

Below is the post by br88dy on DYI Kalk reactor.

I'll answer the original questions with a YouTube video I thought you'd benefit from:
--- ---

He goes over how much he doses and how he figured it out.

 

[br88dy]

That's kind of what I am doing now but I only have a 2 litre soda bottle, not a real kalk stirrer, so the dosing pump pushes RODI into the bottle, and the kalkwasser slowly "deconcentrates" over time... loses potency, since there isn't much stirring action going on. The alternative for me is to dose from the 2 litre bottle through the dosing pump, then into the tank, but I am worried that the dosing pump tubing will accumulate precipitation or something that will affect performance or cause leaking. I wish there was a DIY kalk stirrer...

If you're looking for a cheap solution to make your current 2 liter bottle setup work better, you may consider purchasing a $30 magnet stir plate on Amazon and hook it up to a cheap wifi timer. I wouldn't run that cheap magnet stir plate all day, I would just have it turn on every 6 hours or so for 60 seconds.

I built the Kalk reactor in the video, but I modified it to gravity drip the overflowing kalk solution into my sump instead of pressurizing the reactor and sending the fluid output through an RODI line. I cut a 3rd hold in the reactor and installed 1/2" PVC to drip the fluid into the sump. I recently cleaned the build up in the pipe for the first time since installation 1 month ago. It was pretty easy, the only buildup was at the end of the PVC where it drips out.

I don't know how consistent the dosing was at the end of this first month compared to when I started, but I'm going to test it over the coming weeks to find out. I could've left it for a few more months without it getting clogged, but I want to maintain a consistent dosage so I'm going to keep it clean.

Good luck with your build!

 

[trout]

My set up is simple. I feed my kalkstirrer with RODI using a dedicated peristaltic pump. The dosing rate of effluent is 4 ml per minute. This set up is completely independent of my auto top-up set up.

 

[br88dy]

My set up is simple. I feed my kalkstirrer with RODI using a dedicated peristaltic pump. The dosing rate of effluent is 4 ml per minute. This set up is completely independent of my auto top-up set up.

Nice setup. Does it pull from a dedicated RODI reservoir? That's how mine is set up.

 

[trout]

Nice setup. Does it pull from a dedicated RODI reservoir? That's how mine is set up.

Yes, that’s right.