Thinking about a kalk doser

[andro]

I have been thinking about a Kalk doser for my tank instead of using B-Ionic. I figure that I can make one cheaper than my next purchase of B-Ionic and also have $$ left over to spare.

I have 2.5 gallon pails from HD that I have never used. I also have more tubing that I never thought I would use, so here is my thinking.....

Take one 2.5 gallon pail and drill a hole in the bottom, attach a ball valve one of the 1/4" push in fittings on one side, and a threaded one on the other. I have one lying around, I also have a 1/4" - female NPT lying around also, so basically all I would need to buy is the Kalk powder.

I was going to mix the solution in a 2.5 gallon and then transfer it to the 2.5 gallon one which would be on top of my sump. The drip rate would be set to one drip per second. I might use 2 valves now that I think about it (still kind of planning it in my head, its not till I write it down that I actually come up with the plan, did that with my auto-topoff also.) the first valve will be adjusted to have the drip rate correct, the second will be to turn it off when needed. This way, once the drip is dialed in, I would not have to change it. I would have to buy that too.

I am going to test to see how many drops I will be able to get out of one gallon, in an experiment I saw online they got 20 drops per milliliter, at that rate, you get 20,000 drops per liter which is 75,600 drops per gallon and 189,000 drops per 2.5 gallon (my bucket)

If I could achieve the same results with a Kalk solution, that 2.5 gallons would last me 13 days. Since Kent suggests mixing one week of solution at a time, I would then have to only use 1 gallon of Kalk in the bucket.

If I take a step back and look further into this, since the $8.00 (100 gram) Kalk powder makes 50 gallons, then at one drop per second, then it would last 260 days.

Now this is based upon 1 drop per second actually keeping my calcium at the right level, I would obviously have to make sure that it worked, but so far, it seems like it will be more cost effective to do this.

If you actually read this whole post, 2 things, 1 did I screw up my math and 2 am I crazy for even trying to compute this?

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.


Things I would need to buy:

1 – Ball valve ¼�
2 – Kalk 100 grams

-Ian

[WAGERJA]

I don't know if I followed all that but it sounds well thought out so go for it. I use saturated kalk for all my top-off water but that’s me. However you get it done depends on your set-up and personal likes.

[andro]

If I was still using my old top-off, I would do it that way, but since it is now automated through my RO/DI it cuts that part out.

-Ian

[WAGERJA]

yeah, you might want to rethink the RODI auto top-off. do a search on "TDS creep" and see what you get. I don't think its a big deal(I don't use a RODI) but check it out. what I would do is set-up the RO into a brute, add kalk to it weekly, then use a pump to top-off as needed. use a 2nd brute to store RO or make SW.
your mileage may very
J

[WAGERJA]

if the "TDS creep" is something you can live with then do it the way you 1st thought of. But if you start keeping SPS, large LPS or clams you may need to use more saturated kalk then your system evaps. or close to it to keep your Ca/Alk up. then your auto RO top-off will just sit there not doing a thing.
J

[andro]

When I get to the point of SPS, I will most likely have some kind of calcium reactor running. I test my TDS on a regular basis, so it doesn't bother me too much. just the fact that I have not had to worry about topoff for the past 2 or 3 months has made me very happy. I'm not trying to take the easy way out or anything by lessening the amount of stuff I have to do to the tank or anything, but trying to lessen the fluctuations as much as possible.

Thanks for the feedback though.

-Ian

[WAGERJA]

I hear ya brother. You got my $.02, do what you will with them, and good luck on all of your DIY projects. I know I will one day be able to benefit from all your mad scientist :wildone: :hammer: tinkering so thank you in advance.
J

[andro]

http://hvreef.org/members/andro/images/AZ000887_100.jpg

[WAGERJA]

LOL

[skearse]

The only suggestion I would make would be to maybe use one of those IV drip dose control units with the thumbwheel to control the drip rate-might be easier than the valve. Adam may be able to get you one, or let you know where you may be able to pick one up.

[skearse]

Oh yeah, no, your not crazy for calculating this stuff-at least; you can call it 'engineering', and then you can get away with just about anything...

[andro]

Stacy, I am actually going to try to get one of the IV drip dose control units. I have a dr. in the family so maybe he can get me one. I forgot to post that I might be getting one of them.

you can call it 'engineering', and then you can get away with just about anything...

LOL


-Ian

[andro]

Well last night I built my kalk doser. I took stuff that I had from my house and it only took about 15 minutes to do.

1) Drilled thru the bottom of a 2 gallon pail from HD
2) I have one ball valve with 1/4" push fittings and 1/2 threaded male that I screwed into the hole
3) Then I took the 1/2" female threaded 1/4" push fitting that I had and screwed it onto the ball valve.
4) The seal leaked a slight bit, but hot glue fixed that right away.

That part took me about 5 minutes, maybe a little longer because I needed to wait for the hot glue to heat up first.

The tough part was getting the drip rate constant. This is what I did for that:

1) Right after first ball valve I have about a 1" piece of tubing that goes into another ball valve, then a 1" piece out of the second ball valve. (you will see why I use 2 valves)
2) I took a piece of flexible tubing that came with one of my via aquas venturi tubes and slipped it over the last piece of tube.
3) With some fishing line I tied a slip knot and put it on the middle of the flexible tubing and tightened it until I had a small hole.
4) With one valve closed and the other fully open, I slowly opened the closed valve until I got a drip rate I wanted.
5) To refill the bucket I close the one valve that remains open so I do not have to adjust the drip rate again. (Still waiting on the IV drip control)

After I got that part working, I needed a way to put it on my sump, so I took the plexiglass cover that was on my sump, and drilled a 2" hole in it and now I put the pail on top of the hole and let it drip right into the middle chamber of my sump.

I will post pics tonight in my gallery.

I am well aware that I DIY'ed something that I could have bought for $20.00, but what the hell.

-Ian

[Tomzpc]

Sounds great Ian. I've thought about this for years but have just never done anything about it. The B-ionic routine grows more tiresome every day. Only been using the stuff for about six years now. :rolleyes:

[skearse]

Very cool, Ian, can't wait to see pics. The DIY part is the best part, I think, even if you could have bought it for $20.