Kalk in topoff questions...

[8mpg]

Well, I will admit, Im lazy and dont want to mix kalk water every night and set it up to mix every night. I was looking for some advice when it comes to topoff.

Randy, I read taht you topoff out of a 44gal bucket with a slow pump and you have had good results. Well, I have a smaller tank and sump than you so I run into problems. I have a 55 gal tank and a 15gal sump (15gal of water, 20 gal tank) and want to mix 10 of kalk water at once and just leave it in my topoff bucket. Here is my plan... do you think its too much to add at once into the sump?

The tank uses about 1 gal a day of water (evaporation). My topoff is a MJ1200 pump with a float switch to turn it on and off. Well, I also have it on a digital timer to ensure teh float switch doesnt mess up and flood my room. Well, I want to set the timer to run for 1 min, 15 times a day (once an hour for 15 hours of the dayand off at night). If the lights were on all day, it would basically pump 1 cup of lime water everytime it runs. This would be pumped straight into my return pump area and into the main tank. Is this too much at once?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you really delivered 1/15 of a gallon each time to a 15 gallon sump, then the pH will rise in the sump, but not unacceptably so. Probably about 0.2 to 0.4 pH units, depending on the alkalinity and the starting pH.

You might just check the system to be sure it doesn't overshoot and send in a lot more on some of the additions.

Is there good mixing in the sump?

[8mpg]

If need be, I can add a small powerhead. I figure the kalkwater would drain into the return area of teh sump and be pumped into the main tank. Basically it would be a high ph concentraion of water being pumped into the main tank and from there, plenty of circulation.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, you just don't want it to hit your return pump without mixing into the sump water well as that will encourage CaCO3 precipitation on the warm pump impeller.

[8mpg]

Last idea... What if I pump that 1+- cup of kalkwater into a dripper that flows 1 cup in 30-45 min... You think that would work? It should drip fast enough to drip the whole 1 cup before the next auto top off starts...

Heck, if I did that, and got a 1gal milk jug and pumped into there, I could drip all day and and run the topoff 2 tiems a day. Make sense?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you can engineer that, it is a good solution. :)

[sparkey65]

hi 8mpg if i may add to this thread i would like to say that i have a 120g tank and i have a sump under it i ahve a 10g rubbermaid trash can sitting avove the sump with a plastic valve in the bottom of the trash can about an inch from the bottom i drip kalk mixed with ro water and i drip it into my tank about 1 drop every 2 or 3 seconds i mix about 1 tablespoon per 3 gallonns for me but you can add more or less you have to . if you have room somewhere above your sump that would be a great alternative to a pump and i make enough water for about three days worth of top off

[8mpg]

Thanks for the idea sparkey...Im gonna see if I can rig up a shelf to hold up a container like that.

Tim