Been thinking about running kalk in addition to my calcium reactor.

[Maximus]

What do you guys think? I've seen lots of successful tanks run kalk in conjunction with a reactor and have seen some impressive results. I've always either ran kalk or a reactor, but never at the same time. Kalk has lots of benefits such as increasing ph, precipitating phosphates and maintaining alk and calcium. Here is my question. Instead of using a kalkreactor, I plan on simply dumping in some kalk into my 30g topoff reservoir. The reservoir feeds into my sump via a Kent float valve. I would also hook up a small mj pump to keep it stirred 3-4x/day via my AC3. I know that I have a risk of the kalk plugging up my float valve, but it is an acceptable one. Does anyone see any flaws in this setup?

[tonggao]

I run both calcium and kalk reactors at the same time, and am happy with the results. I used to use kent float valve, and found it not reliable at all. With kalk water running through it, you will be risking it breaking down pretty fast, and flood your tank with 30G of kalk water is going to be pretty bad. Also, unless your reservior is totally sealed, the kalkwasser is going to react with co2 and lose its effectiveness in a few days.

[Maximus]

Ahh good point about not being sealed. I totally forgot about that! Which kalkreactor do you run and how do you get the kalk into the system?

[tonggao]

I use a PM kalkreactor, and am happy with it. But I think GEO one might be better (seems to be easier to add new kalk from the top, and has a drain valve that the PM one does not have). I use Littermeter III topoff pump with level sensor for top off, which is really good since I can set the daily amount limit and I do not have to worry about accidentally overdosing.

[Paradox009]

I add kalk from a 20 gallon top off tank and have no problems. The kalk will cause a hard skin to develop on the top of the water line after mixing. This actually seals it and prevents it from further reacting. This is a commonly used process. WIth this setup, the trick is to not keep mixing it after the initial mixing, so no powerhead is necessary.

With a kalk reactor, you will need cosntant stirring, because the amount of kalk in the reactor is much more then the volue of water can take, so new water goes in wil require mixing. With a set amount of liquid such as a top off resevoir, you add enough to saturate the solution and then leave it.

I use a polystaltic pump to slowly pump the top off/kalk solution to the sump.

In anticipation of my CA/ALk demands increasing, Ive recently built a calc reactor and will be adding this as well. I will continue to add kalk for ph stability and other beneficial affects.

[hiepatitis]

I dose kalk using a drip in addition to my calcium reactor. It helps keep my pH higher which helps precipitate phosphates out of the water. The only complaint is it's a pain in the butt to mix it every other day. The reason I got a CaRx was so that I didn't have to dose everyday so now I want to get a kalk reactor to eliminate the mixing.

[GreshamH]

Originally posted by tonggao
I run both calcium and kalk reactors at the same time, and am happy with the results. I used to use kent float valve, and found it not reliable at all. With kalk water running through it, you will be risking it breaking down pretty fast, and flood your tank with 30G of kalk water is going to be pretty bad. Also, unless your reservior is totally sealed, the kalkwasser is going to react with co2 and lose its effectiveness in a few days.

While your first part I totally agree with, both science and I do not agree with your second part (CO2 + kalk + few days = ineffective kalk). Read this article, it tells it all:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

Of the balanced additives, limewater (aka kalkwasser) is one of the most popular. I have been using limewater in my reef aquarium since it was set up years ago. Recently, many aquarists have become interested in using a reactor, often referred to as a Nilsen reactor, to deliver limewater to their aquaria. One of the purported advantages of such reactors is that they are easier to use and the limewater solution is less prone to degradation by atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) than by dosing from still reservoirs.

This supposed advantage simply does not hold up under scrutiny, however. As will be shown in this article, the degradation of limewater by atmospheric CO2 is inconsequential in many systems. Consequently, while there are potential reasons to use a Nilsen reactor (especially if space is limited), degradation by atmospheric carbon dioxide in simpler systems is not typically one of them.

[Matt_Wandell]

Originally posted by GreshamH
While your first part I totally agree with, both science and I do not agree with your second part (CO2 + kalk + few days = ineffective kalk). Read this article, it tells it all:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

+1.

[Thales]

+1 and a bucket of puke*.





*guess what I have been doing.

[Matt_Wandell]

Originally posted by Maximus
What do you guys think? I've seen lots of successful tanks run kalk in conjunction with a reactor and have seen some impressive results. I've always either ran kalk or a reactor, but never at the same time. Kalk has lots of benefits such as increasing ph, precipitating phosphates and maintaining alk and calcium. Here is my question. Instead of using a kalkreactor, I plan on simply dumping in some kalk into my 30g topoff reservoir. The reservoir feeds into my sump via a Kent float valve. I would also hook up a small mj pump to keep it stirred 3-4x/day via my AC3. I know that I have a risk of the kalk plugging up my float valve, but it is an acceptable one. Does anyone see any flaws in this setup?

1) The float valve will fail pretty quickly IME.

2) The mj won't last long, even if it is only on a few times a day. A much more permanent solution would be to install a top mounted motor with nylon propeller, as decribed here:

http://web.archive.org/web/200112172...io/default.asp

Best of luck.

[Maximus]

Ahh, that's good to know Gresham. Yeah, on second thought, I don't think it's a good idea to run kalk through the float valve.

[Paradox009]

Some people use pumps such as an aqualifter with a timer, but if the timer malfunctions, the pump will not stop causing a big problem.

I use a peristaltic pump, which pumps in very small volume. A drip every second or so. Even if accidentally set to full blast, your only going to get a little more, which will not crash your tank.

I have my peristatlic pump pumping kalk water slightly less then the evaporation rate. I then have my rodi connected to a flaot valve in the sump, to complete all top off to ensure the same level consistently.

Once my 20 gallon resevoir is finished (approx. 3 weeks), I turn a valve on and the rodi fills it to the top, stopping it with a float valve. I then close the valve, throw kalk in, mix it once and leave it.

This process has worked great. Requires very little maintenance and does not have potential for disaster.

[Maximus]

Do you have a link to your pump by chance?

[tuberider]

I use doser . So far so good.

[Paradox009]

The doser will work just as good if not better. I use an old medical pump I got for 15 dollars on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Buchler-Polystal...QQcmdZViewItem

I use one like this, but a new doser like the one tuberider mentioned would work really well also. I had to fiddle with mine a bit, but for 15 bucks I was fine with that.

[Matt_Wandell]

Originally posted by Maximus
Do you have a link to your pump by chance?

These pumps will work fine... $72.

http://www.aptinstruments.com/Mercha...t_Code=SP200FO

If you leave it on for 12 hours at night you'll get up to 6 gallons of dosing. You can check the specs on the pump for your application. Cheap and simple.

[Matt_Wandell]

Originally posted by Paradox009
Some people use pumps such as an aqualifter with a timer, but if the timer malfunctions, the pump will not stop causing a big problem.

I use a peristaltic pump, which pumps in very small volume. A drip every second or so. Even if accidentally set to full blast, your only going to get a little more, which will not crash your tank.

I have my peristatlic pump pumping kalk water slightly less then the evaporation rate. I then have my rodi connected to a flaot valve in the sump, to complete all top off to ensure the same level consistently.

Once my 20 gallon resevoir is finished (approx. 3 weeks), I turn a valve on and the rodi fills it to the top, stopping it with a float valve. I then close the valve, throw kalk in, mix it once and leave it.

This process has worked great. Requires very little maintenance and does not have potential for disaster.

[Thales]

I have a fresh water reservoir with a small powerhead in it, and the powerhead is connected to a double float switch (not valve) in the sump. When the water level in the sump is low, the float switch kicks the pump in the reservoir on (if that float switch malfunctions, there is another one about an inch above it as a back up - www.autotopoff.com), and it pumps a low flow (adjustable) into my kalk reactor - output at the bottom of the reactor. The reactor fills and 'overflows' into the sump. There is a mj 400 in the reactor that comes on for 15 minutes 2-4 times a day. The current mj 400 has been in there over 6 months, and the previous one was there well over a year. Even without the mj400, kalk still gets mixed every time water flows into the reactor because the input to the reactor is at the bottom of the reactor.
The freshwater reservoir has a float valve in it connected to my DI system so it always stays full, unless I shut off that feed valve.

I like Paradox's system too, but I don't like the idea of having to balance the peristaltic pump against evaporation. Over the year, the evaporation in my systems varies a whole lot, and I didn't like having to constantly adjust the peristaltic pump in order to keep up with salinity fluctuations due to evaporation. The one thing that would make it difficult for me to sleep at night in Paradox's system is the float valve in the sump to complete the top off. In that environment, I would be too worried that something would foul the valve or make the valve malfunction leaving it either off or on. Also, going on vacation on Paradox's system gives the tank sitter something a couple extra things to pay attention to, and I would rather lessen the amount of stuff they have to think about.

I don't think one system is necessarily better than the other, they are just different with different maintenance requirements. Once a year I let the float switches sit in vinegar for a day instead of checking peristaltic tubing on a peristaltic pump.

There is always potential for disaster, in any system.

Back to bed!

[Paradox009]

Originally posted by Thales


I like Paradox's system too, but I don't like the idea of having to balance the peristaltic pump against evaporation. Over the year, the evaporation in my systems varies a whole lot, and I didn't like having to constantly adjust the peristaltic pump in order to keep up with salinity fluctuations due to evaporation. The one thing that would make it difficult for me to sleep at night in Paradox's system is the float valve in the sump to complete the top off. In that environment, I would be too worried that something would foul the valve or make the valve malfunction leaving it either off or on. Also, going on vacation on Paradox's system gives the tank sitter something a couple extra things to pay attention to, and I would rather lessen the amount of stuff they have to think about.

There is always potential for disaster, in any system.

Back to bed!

Very true that there is always potential for disaster. Its funny that you dont trust float valves, because Im the same way with float switches I trust a hinged valve over an electrical component, but again, there are many ways to do this. That being said, Ive had the same float valve in the sump from two different tanks for 7 years and never had a problem. Honestly, I think I only cleaned it once, but will be cleaning it more often now that we are talking about potential disasters.

The tubing does need to be checked. Every few months, I take the input and output end of the tubing and put them both into a cup of vinegar and let the pump run for 15-20 minutes and they are cleaned out.

Again, of course there are many methods to this.

I often think that the best system may be the simplest for the more systems you add to the tank (closed loop, kalk reactors, CA reactors, media reactors, skimmer reservoirs, remote sand beds, refugiums etc), you are just adding more potential points of failure. However, I like the ability to control as many parameters as possible. What else am I gonna spend all my money on!

[Maximus]

I've used Kent float valves on all my tanks in the past 12+ years and none of them have ever failed. I really don't see how they can fail unless they get plugged up w/kalkwasser. I'll take a mechanical float valve over an electronic one any day.

[Thales]

The float switch I am talking about is mechanical. There is a magnet in the float, and its rising or falling due to water level opens or closes the circuit.

Both of the float switch and the float valve can fail by something blocking their action or by build up on the moving surfaces. I don't like float valves in saltwater environments because the valve itself can be blocked. Since the float switch does not have the valve, that possibility of failure is removed.

I like the double switch controllers because they have the extra float for backup if something goes wonky with the first switch..

[Maximus]

Ok, gotcha Thales. Do you know that we registered around the same time and have almost the same number of posts? Yeah, I'm bored.

[Thales]

I just edited my post at the same time you posted. It must be hold over from our similar registration!

[Maximus]

Originally posted by Thales


I just edited my post at the same time you posted. It must be hold over from our similar registration!

LOL! We are RC brothers!!

[Maximus]

The valve really doesn't ever get blocked because of the constant flow of rodi water. If there were salt deposits near the valve, the rodi water would dissolve it. I really think the Kent float valve, as simple as it is, is almost foolproof. However, if kalkwasser was added to the mix, then it probably would fail over time.