Magnum 35 cannister filter as Kalk reactor

[kstockman]

I have been contemplating adding a Kalk reactor to my system. I ahve been think about ways to make a DIY Kalk reactor and I really want to avoid the whole stir bar thing. I have been thinking about the machanical stirrer idea but I need to have an air tight seal at the stirrer shaft/ring seal interface. I fear that this is not necessarily impossible, but probably hard to do.

So I got to thinking that a magnetically coupled stirrer should work, but I know that I can't DIY that. SO is there a solution.

What about the Magnum 350 cannister filter? The stirrer at the bottom is a magnet driven propeller. The magnet portion slides into a slot at the bottom of the container and is rotated via a magnet on the outside of the cannister housing. Therefore, the motor is completely independent of the stirrer. The cannister closes to give a completely air tight system. SO it should work. Right?

I will have to say that the cannister volume is low--about 1/2 gallon and I evaporate about 4-5 gallons a day. But the motoer can be hooked up to a dimmer switch to decrease the rotational speed of the stirrer. Maybe the stirrer can stay on all the time.

Just some random thoughts. I would appreciate some random thoughts in return.

BTW--cheap only $70 from That Pet PLace.

Thanks
ken

[T Sandman]

That would be pretty ambitious. One way to find out. ANything wrong with using pvc? Seems like a power head would do a decent job. drip water in, mix, drip water out. Am I missing something?

[kstockman]

My top off system is gravity fed through a float valve from a 30 gallon trash can. The Kalk reactor has to be in line from the top off system and the float valve. The system has to be air tight for that to work and I believe that a stirring mechanism is required.

This will be totally automated and I would only have to refill the Kalk every 2-3 weeks.